cratz2
Flashlight Enthusiast
Here's my UV-modded XNova done by our own WildRice. Background story is I had bought two XNovas to give as Christmas presents but both of them had issues that left me less than thrilled. I got a silver one that was very bright and very blue/white but it had a bit of a flickering problem. The pewter one didn't flicker at all, but the beam had a lot more of a greenish tint. I wasn't overwhelmingly happy with either one.
I had done a couple deals with WildRice before and asked him if he wanted to try his hand at modding an XNova and he said sure. At first, I was wanting to use the 26,000 mcd white LEDs that everyone is talking about. I have no doubt that that would have turned out nice and bright but since I already had, oh, a dozen or more nice bright little lights, I decided to have him put in some UV LEDs.
I already had 4 other UV lights plus a small blacklight, but the idea of a UV XNova seemed intriguing and I figured there was a chance no one else had one.
The LEDs he used were spec'd at 395nm and I even had done a MiniMag knockoff using the same LED, direct driven on 3 cells which made things flouresce quite nicely so we used those LEDs in the XNova. What is surprising is how much less visible light the 5 LEDs of the XNova put out compared to the single LED MiniMag nockoff. I don't think the modded XNova makes things flouresce any better than the single direct driven LED, but since there is less subviolet (can I say that?) light, it seems like the XNova is better.
Here's a pic of the light itself:
Here's a 'beamshot' of the single LED MiniMag knockoff:
And here's a beamshot of the same target using the XNova:
I had done a couple deals with WildRice before and asked him if he wanted to try his hand at modding an XNova and he said sure. At first, I was wanting to use the 26,000 mcd white LEDs that everyone is talking about. I have no doubt that that would have turned out nice and bright but since I already had, oh, a dozen or more nice bright little lights, I decided to have him put in some UV LEDs.
I already had 4 other UV lights plus a small blacklight, but the idea of a UV XNova seemed intriguing and I figured there was a chance no one else had one.
The LEDs he used were spec'd at 395nm and I even had done a MiniMag knockoff using the same LED, direct driven on 3 cells which made things flouresce quite nicely so we used those LEDs in the XNova. What is surprising is how much less visible light the 5 LEDs of the XNova put out compared to the single LED MiniMag nockoff. I don't think the modded XNova makes things flouresce any better than the single direct driven LED, but since there is less subviolet (can I say that?) light, it seems like the XNova is better.
Here's a pic of the light itself:
Here's a 'beamshot' of the single LED MiniMag knockoff:
And here's a beamshot of the same target using the XNova:
