What do UV lights reveal?

I have read threads here on the Forums about Ultra Violet lights that brings up things that ordinary flashlights can´t. I was thinking about getting an Inova X5 UV,but i read that it is not strong enough to reveal all details in the darkness. Now my questions is: What UV lights is powerfull enough to bring up all contrasts? What realy is the things that Ultra Violet lights reveals?

It's both a function of the frequency of the light, and the number of LEDs. A fluorescent blacklight tube emits UV light from about 320nm - 400nm, centered at ~360nm. This is long wave UV light. Shorter frequency light makes things glow brighter, and as it gets shorter (UVB is 280-315nm, UVC is 100-280nm) it will make some minerals fluoresce brightly that are almost unaffected by longer frequency UVA.

So the deal is that UVA isn't great for your eyes, but UVB and UVC are fairly dangerous unless you know what you are doing. (You can use these lights to sterilize things and unwind DNA in your skin cells!) But it doesn't matter, because no LED produces light at anywhere near this short of a frequency anyway.

So the Inova X5 is like 395nm or 400nm, IIRC. This will make things like pet stains, scorpions, and the security devices on credit cards glow. It also makes glow-in-the-dark stuff glow like crazy. It will not tend to glow as brightly as a shorter frequency LED though, all other things being equal. Ironically enough, a shorter frequency UV light may actually look dimmer, as it emits less light in the visible part of the spectrum.

Great info!

Thank´s for the info,MrBenchmark!

I already have one Inonva X5 with white light and i am happy of its size and performance and it´s price range,so i thought about getting one with the UV light as well.

here you go. a couple links that i've read about UV lights. the scorpion pic looks cool !!
Link 1

Link 2

(Edited by The_LED_Museum to shorten long links)

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MrBenchmark said:
It's both a function of the frequency of the light, and the number of LEDs. ... Ironically enough, a shorter frequency UV light may actually look dimmer, as it emits less light in the visible part of the spectrum.

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... which makes the 380nm wavelength ideal for sseing stains and stuff without the need for contrast-enhancing glasses -- so if you are showing your find to others, that is an advantage. But cost increases sharply as wavelength decreases!

The Inova lights are very well made, I bet it will work OK. I don't have one of their UV lights. I've got one of the Peak LED solutions 7 LED ultrabright lights. It's kind of neat because it's really small. The lights on xenopus' site look really good too, and he's nice enough to list the frequency of the LED's he uses.

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MrBenchmark said:
You can use these lights to sterilize things and unwind DNA in your skin cells

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Is this the actual damage mechanism, that DNA strands are "unwound?" I've known that shortwave UV can break down the molecular bonds between cells as well as dirct cell damage itself, but I've never thought of it as unwinding the helix. That makes sense though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

I've used shortwave germicidal UV lamps on and off for years, and I've always noticed that shortwave UV produces a prickly sensation on my skin (that can't be good). The sensation is similar to that of a weak TENS unit. When I realized what that sensation meant, I started being a lot more careful around those lamps. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

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PhotonWrangler said:
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MrBenchmark said:
You can use these lights to sterilize things and unwind DNA in your skin cells

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Is this the actual damage mechanism, that DNA strands are "unwound?" I've known that shortwave UV can break down the molecular bonds between cells as well as dirct cell damage itself

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Beats me - I was just trying to emphasize that it's really bad for you! I'm sure what I said wasn't exactly technically accurate - I'm no biologist, that's for sure! Although exposure to shortwave UV can cause skin cancer.

So you could actually feel the light on your skin? Wow!

A few months ago I was in the market for a UV light. I was getting a new cat. (Any excuse to get a new light.) I was thinking about the INOVA UV. For about the same price I bought an INRETECH 400nm drop-in module AND a new 3 D M^G. This gave me 20 NUV LEDs instead of the 5 I would have gotten with the INOVA.

Since size is no problem as I'll only be using it at home this was the best solution for me. I'm really happy with it.

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MrBenchmark said:
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PhotonWrangler said:
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MrBenchmark said:
You can use these lights to sterilize things and unwind DNA in your skin cells

[/ QUOTE ]

Is this the actual damage mechanism, that DNA strands are "unwound?" I've known that shortwave UV can break down the molecular bonds between cells as well as dirct cell damage itself

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Beats me - I was just trying to emphasize that it's really bad for you! I'm sure what I said wasn't exactly technically accurate - I'm no biologist, that's for sure! Although exposure to shortwave UV can cause skin cancer.

So you could actually feel the light on your skin? Wow!

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Yes, after about 15-20 seconds it was quite noticeable. I've noticed that same effect while sunning in one of the higher altitude areas of Tucson once, undoubtedly for the same reason.

what is the shortest wave length luxeon? ARC made a forensic ARC4 and I've got a dental blue ARC LS first run.

Technically that would be the Royal Blue Luxeon @ 455nm vs. the much more expensive dental @ 460nm.

I honestly can't tell the difference when lookin at em side-by-side -big deal 5nmn. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

Ya know what's funny, my dad was looking at a watch today and I pulled out my Countycomm UV keychain LED to charge up the glow stuff on the hands. I then had to show him all of the different watermarks on his credit cards, money, driver's license, and so on. .