Globe brand disinfection bulb showing up in stores

[PhotonWrangler]

A small rant about this bulb that's showing up in a number of retail and DIY stores lately. It is marketed as an NUV disinfection bulb.

The truth is that there is some solid science behind the disinfection action of wavelengths between 400-460nm by inducing oxidative stress in bacteria. Some but not all bacteria are susceptible to damage from blue light irradiation, and this can be helpful in the food industry in particular.

The problem is that this is not applicable to viruses at all. Viruses are much smaller than bacteria and are not technically living organisms. They can only be deactivated (not "killed) by shortwave UVC. The shortwave energy in a UVC lamp is able to break apart cell membranes of viruses, which kind of disassembles them. NUV can't do this.

But this NUV disinfection bulb contains artwork on the back of the box that is misleading. It includes depictions of coronaviruses as well as other microbes, implying that this product can be effective against viruses. NUV lamps cannot do this.

 

[Dave_H]

I picked up one of these a year or so ago, not for germicidal purposes, but to check usefulness for near-UV fluorescence. I would not have payed the going regular price at the time $13-$15 IIRC.

It has so much visible light that fluorescence effect is not great. Looks like a regular blue/white visible light.

Ability to flip between regular and UV modes is mildly useful. It could be used as regular porch light, flip to UV to light up Hallowe'en costumes..except that the current LED porch light in use is a 100 lumen, 0.9W filament bulb from Ikea which does a surprisingly good job on a small porch. The combo bulb is actually overkill.

Agreed that packaging implied usefulness is a bit dodgy. Marketing looks a bit overboard.

I guess I need to go find me some bacteria (but not viruses)(not that it should be so hard)!

Dave

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Scrutiny of your images indicate that it takes 3 hours and no more than 9 feet away for germicidal activity. The artwork to me looks to deceive about virus effectiveness, but the words do not say that; only 'other harmful pathogens' (some definitions include viruses as a type of pathogen). If I were to look at that drawing without context, the guess would be some of the elements look like pollen grains.

 

[Dave_H]

I am finding several Globe brand small UV sanitizer products on sale $10-$15, apparently surplus, at a local
Canadian store chain. Looks like possible over-estimated demand, although COVID is not gone; or some other reason as I find these still online at much higher prices.

They are mostly LED but at least one has miniature UV tube. No plans to buy them all to evaluate
despite their low price, but did pick up product #66461, handheld 254nm tube which runs from 4xAAA or USB.

This model has orientation switch which only allows operation pointing down i.e. normally away from eyes, and a timer. Its flat tube appears fairly dim, no filter so fluorescence effects suffer a lot of visible. It does light up the border of Canadian postage stamps as does another stronger UVC lamp. No opinion on its efficacy for intended purpose.

Another small handheld version product #66464 uses single LED, internal battery with USB recharge.

The LED versions use square SMT devices with gold finish.

Dave

 

[Dave_H]

I've come across yet another Globe branded LED UV disinfection light #66466`on surplus OTC locally, this one a worklight-style lamp using 3x4 square gold-coloured SMT LEDs, exclusively 280nm, no mix with UV-A/B LEDs. Internal power is by 2x18650 7.4v 2000mAh.

(Almost) needless to say, great caution is essential with lights like this. There are warnings but few safety features apart from 10s turn-on delay.

Dave

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I've come across yet another Globe branded LED UV disinfection light #66466`on surplus OTC locally, this one a worklight-style lamp using 3x4 square gold-coloured SMT LEDs, exclusively 280nm, no mix with UV-A/B LEDs. Internal power is by 2x18650 7.4v 2000mAh.

(Almost) needless to say, great caution is essential with lights like this. There are warnings but few safety features apart from 10s turn-on delay.

Dave

Where did you find this one, Dave? If I can find it locally for a decent price I might snatch one up.

 

[alpg88]

400-460nm does pretty much nothing, ^^^^ No consumer led uvc even comes close to that.. 8w fluorescent. I have 2 of these, extremely useful. kills the smell in the bathroom after my cat poops in his box. 15 min of running those 2, kills pretty much any stink of bacterial origin. i also use it to remove musty smell from window air conditioner, i take a cardboard box that is larger then front of ac, cut a hole so the box fits tight over the front, put two of these inside, and run AC in fan mode for 30 min. no more smell for entire season. It makes ozone which is what does most of the work. have to take precautions with it, but it is amazing what it can do.

 

[Dave_H]

Where did you find this one, Dave? If I can find it locally for a decent price I might snatch one up.

It's through the Princess Auto chain which has stores in Canada. Not sure the circumstances (oversupply, product discontinuation, liquidation...) but they seem to latch onto Globe products as "surplus".

Dave

 

[JustAnOldFashionedLEDGuy]

View attachment 36190

400-460nm does pretty much nothing, ^^^^ No consumer led uvc even comes close to that.. 8w fluorescent. I have 2 of these, extremely useful. kills the smell in the bathroom after my cat poops in his box. 15 min of running those 2, kills pretty much any stink of bacterial origin. i also use it to remove musty smell from window air conditioner, i take a cardboard box that is larger then front of ac, cut a hole so the box fits tight over the front, put two of these inside, and run AC in fan mode for 30 min. no more smell for entire season. It makes ozone which is what does most of the work. have to take precautions with it, but it is amazing what it can do.

Not all produce Ozone. On many the glass does not pass the wavelengths needed for ozone production.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Yes. There are two versions of fluorescent germicidal bulbs on the market. One allows all UVC wavelengths through the glass envelope including the ozone producing wavelength, while the other allows one of the sterilization wavelength (254nm) through while blocking the shorter 185nm ozone-producing one.

 

[alpg88]

Not all produce Ozone. On many the glass does not pass the wavelengths needed for ozone production.

True, sellers usually post it in description, at least they should, but it is easy to tell, ozon has a smell that is similar to chlorine.

 

[Dave_H]

I latched onto another Globe UV-C light #66464 which is compact handheld size using single gold UV LED and Li-ion cell (USB); early Xmas present I suppose. The light is much more localized than other models which are better for mass sterilization. It lights up the border of stamps, which is all I can say about the wavelength but seems to fit their 280nm spec.

I've had it completely apart (and back together, still working). The claim of 1W is fuzzy as the Li-ion is 500mAh which is around 1.9 Wh with claimed runtime 6h (which has not been verified), which does not add up.

Dave

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Nice. The Feit 6W UVC LED wand that has 6 (presumably 1-watt) gold colored UVC LEDs in it is down to $39.95 at the DIY chain whose name rhymes with Bernard's. I bought one awhile back at full price and confirmed that it produces UVC, as well as some visible light from two smaller longer-wavelength LEDs, probably included for visual indication that it's on.