Info on Ultra Violet Based flashlights

[OrBy]

1st off i gotta say i just found this site last night and i am glad i did as i have learnt many things already that i dont know where else i could have learnt them!

ok here goes - i want info on UV LED based flashlights!
i know of 3 major ones out there at this point: the photon, the arc light, and some other pen model.

so far right now i am looking at picking up the arc based one because it takes really easy to find batteries but i would like to know how the major ones stack up in brightness, over all distance, and fov.

i have read about the uv photon on craig's site but it seems a bit unimpressive for the price. i have found no 3rd party info on the arc based one or the pen one. (craig:i love your site, i actually work for your isp and my jaw dropped when i saw where your site was hosted!)

who here has bought any of the uv led based lights? whats you opinion on them?

also a question to the pres of the arc light company: are you going to release a uv version of your new light that you are just comming out with?

Thx !

 

[Brock]

I would say Craig would be the best person to ask. He did send me the UV photon to look at and it was nice but dim.

Peter do you know if the LS will come out in a true UV version? A UV version of the Luxeon Star should be bright enough to replace those flourescent tube 4AA models.

 

[Gransee]

I asked our rep about this when he was here a couple of weeks ago. They have no plans for a UV model. The royal blue model does produce some UV (and looks a very nice deep blue) but they are not even sure they are going to manufacture that color.

All three lights above use the Nichia 590 part which has a 10 degree beam. Rated output is 0.750mw- not very much. All the lights I have seen overdrive it- as does our model.

There are designs for lights that pulse near UV blues to get some UV, but they are more trouble than they are worth.

UV LEDs are about where white LEDs were 5-10 years ago. Not very bright and horribly inefficient. They are the state of the art for now though.

They are a good buy if you need a small amount of UV in a durable, compact package.

Peter Gransee

 

[Chas]

OrBy,

I have both the Arc and the Photon UV lights.

The Arc seems brighter to me and it takes a AA battery versus the flat cells used in the Photon. If I could have seen both before I bought them (both

) I would have chose the Arc because of the AA battery, seeming to be brighter and the heavy duty aluminum case. But I have had no problem with either light.

Personal choice enters into it too.

Best Regards,

 

[OrBy]

thank you very much for your input Gransee and Chas !
Chas thats the type of info i was looking for comparing the 2. i think i will be picking up a uv arc soon... now just to find the best price (my poor canadian wallet)
lol

 

[The_LED_Museum]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PeLu:
A rock collector to whom I gave my UV Photon told me that it is actually brighter than most 4AA tube lights.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You should find out what's in his pipe.
It might be crack, or it might be Comet.

The UV Photon emits (with new batteries) at most a couple of mW of near-UV (at the longer end of the UVA range).

A tube light might emit ten times as much... but the UV Photon might be able to beat that if the light were held only an inch or two away from the target. That's why it could appear "brigher" than tube type UVA lights.

More than a few inches away though, and that cheap 4-AA "blacklight" will out-do the LED version.


Here's an experiment for you's all...

Take a Photon UV, and a cheap ($8 typ.) fluorescent blacklight. Go someplace where there is one of those wall urinators in the bathroom.
Shine both of them on the wall next to the urinator, and see what happens.

P.S.
If you don't feel comfortable going to a men's room with your hands waving around near the bottom of a urinator, take both lights and shine them around the walls in your own bathroom near the toliet!!) :-O :-O :-O

 

[PeLu]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brock:
He did send me the UV photon to look at and it was nice but dim.

Peter do you know if the LS will come out in a true UV version? A UV version of the Luxeon Star should be bright enough to replace those flourescent tube 4AA models.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

A rock collector to whom I gave my UV Photon told me that it is actually brighter than most 4AA tube lights.

 

[PeLu]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Stingmon:
You should find out what's in his pipe.
It might be crack, or it might be Comet.

The UV Photon emits (with new batteries) at most a couple of mW of near-UV (at the longer end of the UVA range).<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Actually they compared it with a lot of these lights and where impressed. Only the Photon's price shocked them (high exchange rate + shipping cost + customs (on Photon AND shipping cost) + 20 % sales tax (on Photon, shipping AND customs). For my wife's monthly income I could by some 8 UV-Photons!

Maybe these rocks give better 'answer' to near UV.

greetings from Austria

 

[The_LED_Museum]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PeLu:
{high exchange rate + shipping cost + customs (on Photon AND shipping cost) + 20 % sales tax (on Photon, shipping AND customs
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Jeez... that's NASTY, NASTY, NASTY!!
Sounds like your government is hard up for money more so than ours!

 

[OrBy]

ok now where to find a distro that carries the uv arc lights for the best price

 

[OrBy]

didnt want to start a new thread on this but still wanted to know:

why does the UV arc aaa have a 1 year warranty and the others have a 10 year ?

 

[Chas]

Orby,

I asked Gransee the same question - Answer was all the LED except UV are guaranteed by manufacturer for 100,000 hours and are "production models". The UV is much shorter 10,000 hours and rated as "experimental" rather than "production" and costs several times more I.E. higher cost for light and 1 year guarantee.

Hope this helps. I still rate the arc UV better "brighter and aa battery".

Best Regards,

 

[OrBy]

thank you for your input everyone - hope it takes less then the 8 days quoted for it to get here !
nearly $100 canadian after you convert the rates though ... (OWCH)

hey Gransee - any chance you could get the package marked as a gift or somthing else - customs is gonna hit me good for duty/taxes lol...

 

[The_LED_Museum]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by OrBy:
didnt want to start a new thread on this but still wanted to know:

why does the UV arc aaa have a 1 year warranty and the others have a 10 year ?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The Nichia NSPE550E and NSPE590E have a half-life of only ~2,000 hours (as of mid 2000) at the 10mA rated input current. The highly energetic ultraviolet radiation appears to break down the atomic bonds of the GaN lattice, causing the LED to slowly eat itself, until only a few microwatts of broadband visible radiation is left.

The E suffix indicates the component is still "experimental".

 

[Chas]

I STAND CORRECTED - This is exact quote as to what Peter told me

"The Arc-UV has a shorter warranty because the only UV LED in the world is made by Nichia. Nichia classifies the part as a prototype and not a production unit and only warrants it for 3000 hours of use (compared to the 100,000 hours for their other products)."

Knew I saved it somewhere.

Best Regards,