Which UV light for general fun stuff?

Which UV LED would you folks recommend as a general usage light - hunting for cat whizz, body fluids at the Holiday Inn, etc.? Price matters. Anything better than an X5 UV that costs under $50?

thx

Might try these:

Lighthound

Xenopus Sale

-LT

How about $7? Check this at Lighthound

12LED 3xAAA. Great bargain to check out UV light for fun.

I just got the 12 LED from LightHound and it's great for the price. Sounds like that's what you need.

You guys convinced me to go with the cheapy from Lighthound. :wave:

best regards

powernoodle said:

You guys convinced me to go with the cheapy from Lighthound. :wave:

best regards

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This one's a cheapy in price, but actually an OK light. Virtually free :wow:

Well, I just plugged in my TLE-4UV to a MiniMag. Hmmm. Apparently all my currency is counterfeit, I have no cats, I don't splash in the bathroom, and I don't have any scorpions. This thing illuminates nothing except for the lime green plastic container of "Finish 2000" car polish in my "stuff" cabinet. What gives? The package says the UV light is at 395nm wave length with 40mw output. :thumbsdow

Bozzlite said:

Well, I just plugged in my TLE-4UV to a MiniMag. Hmmm. Apparently all my currency is counterfeit, I have no cats, I don't splash in the bathroom, and I don't have any scorpions. This thing illuminates nothing except for the lime green plastic container of "Finish 2000" car polish in my "stuff" cabinet. What gives? The package says the UV light is at 395nm wave length with 40mw output. :thumbsdow

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I think you need a 380nm or shorter wave length to flouresce things like that, 395nm is good for highlighters, glow powders, detergents, minerals, baseline glass, etc.

Powernoodle,

Let me know how that light pans out. I am in the market for one too.
Thanks.

Fringe -

If you go to lighthound (link above), it will show you a link to a nice CPF review of the light.

For $11, it satisfies the addiction for a few days, and thats worth something right there. Also, I've never had a UV (tho I guess thats what those black lights were when I was listening to Deep Purple in the early '70s), so its something new to play with for a while.

"Smoooooke on the waaaater; a fire in the sky . . . "

peace

Your best bet for a portable UV light that will fluoresce everything that you're interested in is still a handheld fluorescent blacklight, usually about $9.00 at Wal-Mart, a bit more at Radio Shack. Not as much throw as a 395nm LED flashlight but then it's 365nm. It's VERY good for fluorescing urine stains, grease splatter in the kitchen, soap scum in the bathtub, etc.

Powernoodle,

Sweet, did not see that and it answered my question. Looks like a god buy. Now go put some Deep Purple on for old times sake and have a cold one, or. . . something else.
Have a good night and thanks.

PhotonWrangler said:

a handheld fluorescent blacklight, usually about $9.00 at Wal-Mart

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That sounds like another good one to look into. Thx.

that deal at LIGHTHOUND has caused me to purchase several on multiple occasions. that metal uv led light is really nice. good place to get some led lights

While it is cheap, I would go get a light with a shorter wavelength. I think the light hound one is too long to be of any real good. It is the only UV light that I own, but it doenst seem to light up too much stuff. I went into the bathroom (the community dorm one that 35 people share) and couldn't find any thing that lit up well. Maybe it is becuase it is white floor?

But it does light up US currency pretty well.

PhotonWrangler said:

Your best bet for a portable UV light that will fluoresce everything that you're interested in is still a handheld fluorescent blacklight, usually about $9.00 at Wal-Mart, a bit more at Radio Shack. Not as much throw as a 395nm LED flashlight but then it's 365nm. It's VERY good for fluorescing urine stains, grease splatter in the kitchen, soap scum in the bathtub, etc.

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Does it say 365nm on the package? Sounds like a winner, but I want to know I'm buying the right thing. I bought some 380nm LEDs from Xenopus, and they flouresce quite a bit (money, for instance), but I don't think it works on bodily fluids (at least, not without some sort of catalyst; I think I read something about that in another thread, last year) and probably not on cat wizz either. I think our cat does all his wizzing outside, though.

I find the streamlight stylus handy.

Trashman said:

Does it say 365nm on the package? Sounds like a winner, but I want to know I'm buying the right thing. I bought some 380nm LEDs from Xenopus, and they flouresce quite a bit (money, for instance), but I don't think it works on bodily fluids (at least, not without some sort of catalyst; I think I read something about that in another thread, last year) and probably not on cat wizz either. I think our cat does all his wizzing outside, though.

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Yeah, 380nm will fluoresce human and animal urine, human and animal vonit (after cleaning), etc. 365nm is good for currency if you need to accurately determine flourescence color (red in the $100, for example).

Cheers,
Piers

All longwave "blacklight" fluorescent tubes are 365nm.