UV penlight

prof student

Enlightened
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Messages
373
Greetings. I am looking for a UV pen light.
Wil be used to check for fake IDs & counterfeit cash both a low light & fully lit room conditions.
Prefer a 2AAA, but would be open to 1AAA.
Ideally around $25-$30


These are some of the lights I have come across, but no reviews specifically saying if they are good for what I personally need them for.

1) Fenix LD05 V2.0 $40 https://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-ld05-v2-0-edc-led-flashlight-with-uv-lighting/
I've read some reviews saying the UV lights is not strong/bright enough for outside of pure darkness environment.

2) INFRAY Pen Flashlight Black Light $18 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079DLVSFD/?tag=cpf0b6-20
-Don't think I've ever heard of Infray before, so I have no idea of the quality
-Its Amazon....could this $18 light really be that good?

3) 5.11 EDC PLUV 1AAA $25 https://www.511tactical.com/edc-pluv-1aaa.html
I've read that previous 5.11 penlights were a total crapshoot. Some great. Some bad. Couldn't find many substantial reviews on this exact light.

4) Olight I3UV EOS OD Green $15 https://olightworld.com/olight-i3uv-od-green
No review

5) Fraud Fighter Money Detector Pen UV $50 https://www.fraudfighter.com/fraud-prevention-products/counterfeit-detection/money-detector-pen
Banks use these. Saw the teller use it. Got to check it out. Seems very well built & is bright enough to use in a lit room.
Like this the most, but for $50, eh...……….


Open to other brands.
TIA
 

Sambob

Newly Enlightened
Joined
Dec 17, 2015
Messages
140
not exactly a pen light but, I bought One and love It.
(sorry about the link)
 
Last edited:

archimedes

Flashaholic
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Messages
15,780
Location
CONUS, top left
A reminder to OP and others above, that no external sales links please in this particular subforum.

Details of this policy are found at the top of this page, highlighted in yellow (in the browser version)

Removing those links already posted would be appreciated, thanks.
 

BB

Flashlight Enthusiast
Joined
Jun 17, 2003
Messages
2,129
Location
SF Bay Area
UV LEDs are not very efficient... So, they need a fair amount of current (power) to generate sufficient UV to see any florescences in normal room light.

The light that Sambob recommended--I purchased a few of them because they are so bright and just neat to have if you want to check money/how clean a room/bathroom is/etc.

The Nichia UV LED 365nm light source has a lot of UV energy (for the size/amount of drive power). However, there is a fair amount of bluish/white light too.

AA or AAA batteries--You are looking at pulling ~1 amp @ ~3.x volts. 3 Watts in, ~0.9 to 1.0 Watts of actual UV energy (the LED does release a goodly amount of heat (Body of the light does not overheat during normal usage). The 18650 rechargeable Li Ion battery should run something like 3 hours (3,000 mAH rated battery) between charges.

From another vendor, they also had a 20mm 365nm glass filter (ZWB2 filter)--Just unscrew the head off, and unscrew the internal retaining nut, and change out the clear lens with the UV filter... With the filter, there is no visible light coming out of the flashlight.

Search for:

[FONT=&quot]Convoy S2+ black UV 365nm led flashlight nichia [/FONT]aliexpress

And the UV filter is on the Top Right of the page (~$4 each, uv flashlight ~$26 each, mailed from China)...

One of my kids took the UV Convoy to her job... The store could not find a reliable UV light source for checking bills (even the ones that worked, failed in a few months). Also, you need the 365nm UV light to make the $100 bill UV strip glow.

-Bill
 

PhotonWrangler

Flashaholic
Joined
Oct 19, 2003
Messages
14,432
Location
In a handbasket
Greetings. I am looking for a UV pen light.
Wil be used to check for fake IDs & counterfeit cash both a low light & fully lit room conditions.
Prefer a 2AAA, but would be open to 1AAA.
Ideally around $25-$30


These are some of the lights I have come across, but no reviews specifically saying if they are good for what I personally need them for.

1) Fenix LD05 V2.0 $40 https://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-ld05-v2-0-edc-led-flashlight-with-uv-lighting/
I've read some reviews saying the UV lights is not strong/bright enough for outside of pure darkness environment.

2) INFRAY Pen Flashlight Black Light $18 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079DLVSFD/?tag=cpf0b6-20
-Don't think I've ever heard of Infray before, so I have no idea of the quality
-Its Amazon....could this $18 light really be that good?

3) 5.11 EDC PLUV 1AAA $25 https://www.511tactical.com/edc-pluv-1aaa.html
I've read that previous 5.11 penlights were a total crapshoot. Some great. Some bad. Couldn't find many substantial reviews on this exact light.

4) Olight I3UV EOS OD Green $15 https://olightworld.com/olight-i3uv-od-green
No review

5) Fraud Fighter Money Detector Pen UV $50 https://www.fraudfighter.com/fraud-prevention-products/counterfeit-detection/money-detector-pen
Banks use these. Saw the teller use it. Got to check it out. Seems very well built & is bright enough to use in a lit room.
Like this the most, but for $50, eh...……….


Open to other brands.
TIA

Items #2 thru #4 are 395nm lights. These will fluoresce some things but not particularly well, and they completely miss some denomimations of anti-counterfeiting strips in paper currency.

I have a light that's very similar to the Convoy S2 and while not a penlight, it's still fairly small and works extremely well. It has a 365nm LED in it and a Woods Glass filter in front to block any visible light. This type of light does a great job with paper currency, invisible inks on ID cards, urine stains, coolant leaks, etc. It's a good all around UV light.
 

Taz80

Enlightened
Joined
Jun 11, 2014
Messages
552
Location
CT
I have the Olight I3UV it works on a 5, 10, and 20 but hardly at all on the 100, I also have the Jetbeam JET-UV which worked well on all the bills under a bright light. They both worked on my license. The Jetbeam goes for about $20.
 
Top