Arc AAA Old Style UV

Been lurking for a few days since I joined. I just ordered my first LED (Arc AAA standard).

I am now thinking of getting a UV LED. I read on Arc's website the differences in the "New" UV versus the old.

Now has 12+mW of Power (use to be 1mW)
Now has 30 degree angle (use to be 10)

If I was to find a great deal on the old style is it worth it, or should I just go with the new style.

I will only be using it to play around with. You know an experiment now and then or here and there.

Thanks for any replies,

David

Go for the 12 mW cree's in the new style AAA.
It's soo much more powerful...

How much visible light does the new one give off? I have one of the older ones, and I like it because the beam angle is quite narrow, and the amount of visible light is extemely small - it's very 'stealthy' - the only real light you see is that which comes off UV sensitive stuff like white objects.
Much better for poking around when you don't want to wake someone up..

The bright UV ones like Aragorns Photon3 mods are really bright, but give off so much visible light that its almost like a normal light..

Graham

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The bright UV ones like Aragorns Photon3 mods are really bright, but give off so much visible light that its almost like a normal light.. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Assuming that's also a Cree chip in there,-one bond wire- I think output is comparable in both power and color.

I have the old UV (darn-wish I had the new one), but I wonder from the above posts if alot of the energy from the new one is in the visable spectrum, and not the UV. That would make it less useful then the old one. Has someone compared both?

I have both of them. The new version has a lot of visible light, being a near uv light source that light is violet in color.

The old version is a true uv light source There is some visible light, bluish in color but not very bright.

Things that fluoresce under a black light bulb will fluoresce just as vibrantly under the old version uv arc just at a narrower angle.

Things will fluoresce under the new uv arc, just not as vibrantly but at a much wider angle.

I used a windows 98 manual to test the old uv arc, the new uv arc, and the black light bulb. The word "microsoft" fluoresces brilliantly under the bulb and old uv arc, but under the new uv arc "microsoft" appears much much dimmer.

"I used a windows 98 manual to test the old uv arc, the new uv arc, and the black light bulb. The word "microsoft" fluoresces brilliantly under the bulb and old uv arc, but under the new uv arc "microsoft" appears much much dimmer."

Hmmmmmmmmm. That makes me think I want the old. I would have more fun if it causes a better glow!

I have to put my two cents in here. I have old and new UV's. Actually, my "old" is a streamlight stylus with nichia UV, and the new is an Arc with the creed. While the cree is definitely brighter overall, it puts out much more visible violet light as well, and does not demonstrate flourescence with some items as well as the old style. Partially, this is because the visible light output obscures the process, but the other issue is the fact that the creed UV is a longer UV wavelength. In fact is on the very edge of UV, about 390 nm. The nichia is more in the 375 range, and the difference is apparent when one compares the two on flourescent and phosphorescent minerals. I can see pink from Terlingua calcite with the nichia (and my regular Ray-Tech UV lantern), but nothing with the cree. If you want to use either of these lights for hunting minerals, you will be dissapointed, as the cree puts out too much visible light and the nichia is too weak.

However, the water marks on currency show up very well with the cree, from several feet of distance, and scorpions light up nicely.

Off the subject, but what I would LOVE to see is the development of a short UV LED.

John

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR> However, the water marks on currency show up very well with the cree, from several feet of distance, and scorpions light up nicely. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

How about the Nichia? Would one find it very useful aside if you aren't a rock hound?

I just became of a 350nm UV LED being sold by Roithner Lasertechnik.

I can no longer read PDF files, so I'll just provide the link here:
http://www.roithner.de/All_Datasheets/LEDs/RLT350-30.pdf

Can anyone open this file and tell me the specs?

Hi Craig,
made a jpg of the specs for you.
Roithner UV

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by BlackBart:
Hi Craig,
made a jpg of the specs for you.
Roithner UV

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That helps, thanks.

I see the electrical requirements and maxes are pretty much the same as any other GaN lamp... only the wavelength is much shorter and the power output is downright miniscule. 30 microwatts, compared to the 12,000+ microwatts output by a Cree megabright chip under similar conditions.

I wonder how long the atomic bonds in the GaN quantum well of this LED can withstand the bombardment by the higher energy photons before the thing starts circling the drain.

Nicha's 375nm starts pooping out in only a couple of thousand hours for this reason. Cree's 395-405nm parts should last substantially longer because of the longer wavelength has less energetic photons bouncing around inside thre, even though there are more of them.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by The LED Museum:

Nicha's 375nm starts pooping out in only a couple of thousand hours for this reason. Cree's 395-405nm parts should last substantially longer because of the longer wavelength has less energetic photons bouncing around inside thre, even though there are more of them.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Are you saying the old arc UV has "only" a few thousand hour lifespan? Didn't it have a 10 year warrenty?

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by dark star:
Are you saying the old arc UV has "only" a few thousand hour lifespan? Didn't it have a 10 year warrenty?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think the old UV only had a 1 year warranty for this reason. But I'm not 100% certain on htis.

Craig is correct. The UV ARC-AAA has only a 1 year warranty because of the reduced life of the bulb. But even a thousand hours is pretty good given the way I use it...which is as a pen. My daughter has a large sheet of Alien Skin on the ceiling above her bunk bed and she draws on it with the UV ARC when I tuck her in. Acts as a nightlight plenty long enough for her to fall asleep.

had to dig up this dusty old thread since i might be purchasing the older arc aaa uv with the nichia 375nm.

question for anyone who still has this older style.

at what max. distance can it light up objects in the dark and in daylight?

i would assume in daylight, the distance would only be a few inches since it is said to be very dim?

if anyone can be so kind to shed some light on this.

thanks

It will light up white paper and cloth (the sort of thing that has 'optical brighteners' in it, or the dayglow orange/yellow/green paper, or minerals or bugs) across an ordinary room in the dark, say ten feet easily.

Daytime, nothing; it's completely lost in daylight, as is any normal 'black light' source.

I can make a rare comparison -- because the retina of the eye _does_ detect ultraviolet; it's the lens and cornea and everything else that intercept the UV, fortunately because UV does damage the retina.

I've had a cataract removed from one eye, replaced with an old type plastic intraocular lens --that doesn't block UV.

(Not that it's smart to let any ultraviolet hit the retina; I always have to wear UV-blocking glasses to avoid that; newer IOLs block UV.)

Before IOLs came into use, the clouded lens was just taken out but not replaced, and people reported this result routinely; they also had to wear "coke bottle goggle" thick lenses to focus at all, after a cataract operation, in the old days).

So I can see the ultraviolet lines in a spectrum from a fluorescent light, for example.

Using the eye that _can_ see UV, I could use the Arc-AAA-UV as a flashlight, enough for walking around -- but only with the eye that's able to see into the UV range.

By contrast, with the normal lens, at night, there's just a barely visible purplish light, not enough to illuminate non-fluorescent material.

Anyone know where you can buy a new style UV Arc? Are they being sold currently?

Clickie said:

Anyone know where you can buy a new style UV Arc? Are they being sold currently?

Click to expand...

I don't think UV Arcs have been sold for a long time bud...BST is your best bet.

I'd like a nice modern red LED Arc myself...if you are reading this Peter, I demand that you make some (please).


CFU

hank, pretty amazing about your eye's ability to see the uv and thanks for your help on the distance.

from the earlier posts describing the uv as faint, i wouldn't have expected it to light up stuff from across the room... sounds good!

CFU, a small run of multiple colors would be nice!