Any recommendations on an UV LED flashlight ?

most common 365nm LED is the Nichia NCSU033

NCSU033A is the old 250mW one, NCSU033B is the new 325mW one.

NC4U133 is the 4-dice in series version, for almost 1W.

First two run about $100 per emitter, assuming you happen to find a group buy for them. A few sellers on another forum have these LEDs, but you'd have to ask them if they'd sell them individually, as they currently use them for their own products.

lightake said:

I'd say UltraFire WF-502B 410nm 1W UV LED Flashlight , Cheap and quite build .

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Bionic-Badger said:

If you're looking for "black light" kinds of UV, you'll need to get something around 365nm. The cheap UV lights you find on the web or ebay are usually a bit longer wavelength than that, like around 395nm. At that wavelength, you might as well just get a PHR-803T laser diode and defocus it. Fluorescent black lights will put out a lot more black light than LEDs will, but make sure you get a real black light tube, not just some blue-painted fluorescent tube.

For eye-toasting, cancer-causing UVC at 245nm, a germicidal lamp will work. I wouldn't be anywhere near it without some sort of filtering barrier between myself and the lamp. I wore my YLW goggles the whole time I was around the one I bought.

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BShanahan14rulz said:

most common 365nm LED is the Nichia NCSU033

NCSU033A is the old 250mW one, NCSU033B is the new 325mW one.

NC4U133 is the 4-dice in series version, for almost 1W.

First two run about $100 per emitter, assuming you happen to find a group buy for them. A few sellers on another forum have these LEDs, but you'd have to ask them if they'd sell them individually, as they currently use them for their own products.

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Thanks for all the suggestions everyone !

For something relatively inexpensive that has both longwave UV as well as shortwave 254nm UV I found and ordered this: UVTools LLC.

From what I researched the 254nm is what a majority of minerials that fluorcese need, but I am still considering later getting a mid-range UV LED flashlight as some minerials fluorcese under midwave UV (and some under longwave UV) even though most need shortwave UV.

.......and Bionic-Badger is very correct about the importance of safety when using shortwave, that is why I also ordered safety glasses specifically designed to also protect from UV-C (254nm) as well as UV-A and UV-B, many glasses only protect from UV-A and UV-B so make sure the ones you get cover UV-C also, here is what I ordered: Elvex XTS Safety Glasses with Gray Frame and Clear Lens

(I found a 5% discount code for those safety glasses searching Google, I believe there are higher discount codes available for larger orders, but I can't vouch if they are valid since I only used the 5% one that was good on smaller orders)

Seems my astronomy hobby led me to Green lasers and a 405nm Violet laser also helped lead me to rock and minerial hunting

(405nm is just outside the longwave UV range but still close enough to cause some things to fluorcese)

thats not a flashlight right? just a lamp so you have to hold it close to the object you want to flourescent.
Not a problem if it are small objects you can put on your desk or something, if so that thing looks pretty neat

Xtrm2Rick said:

thats not a flashlight right? just a lamp so you have to hold it close to the object you want to flourescent.
Not a problem if it are small objects you can put on your desk or something, if so that thing looks pretty neat

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Technically not in the form of a traditional flashlight, but a portable (uses 4 AA batteries) lamp that comes with 2 small interchangable fluorescent tubes, one for longwave UV (366nm) and the other for shortwave UV (254nm).

Since it is relatively low power for a fluorescent tube lamp (4 watt) you do need to hold it closer to an object than you would with a more powerful model, but the more powerful models can be much more expensive ranging from about $150 up into many hundreds of dollars, which is fine for the serious hobbyist who has the budget for the more powerful models, but this is an affordable model (about $35) for the casual hobbyist with a limited hobby budget or for someone who wants to try out the fluorescent rock/mineral hobby with a beginner's entry level model first before investing any larger sums of money into a more powerful, more expensive model )

(since it is battery operated you can take it outdoors in the field hunting for rock and minerals that fluoresce, if you hunt in the daytime you'll need a box or tarp to make an area of darkness for the fluorescense to be visible, or hunt at night when it is dark, or you can take the rocks/minerals you find in the daytime back indoors to a darkened room in your house to test if any of them fluoresce under the UV lamp)

.......and do not forget to use clear safety glasses rated to protect from UV-A, UV-B, and it is VERY important to ESPECIALLY make sure they are also rated to protect from UV-C.

BShanahan14rulz said:

most cheap UV LEDs are 395nm+

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All the ones I've measured are >405nm.

Drew said:

+1 for deal extreme. I have the ultrafire 501b and am very pleased with it. It blows my 18" fluorescent blacklight out of the water

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That's because the light is more directional, and the light is closer to 410nm as opposed to the fluorescent's 370nm peak.

It's not really fair to rate an "invisible" light source on how visible it is.

Cyparagon said:

All the ones I've measured are >405nm.



That's because the light is more directional, and the light is closer to 410nm as opposed to the fluorescent's 370nm peak.

It's not really fair to rate an "invisible" light source on how visible it is.

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Very interesting point about rating "invisible" UV light sources, usually with UV light it is more preferrable to have less "visible" light rather than more because the visible light can wash out some of the effects of the fluorescense that is intended to be achieved by shining (invisible) UV light at objects that fluorcese.

Sorry, I meant the flashlight seems to make things glow noticably more than my tube does. It does emit much more visable light too

AstroLaser said:

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone !

For something relatively inexpensive that has both longwave UV as well as shortwave 254nm UV I found and ordered this: UVTools LLC.

From what I researched the 254nm is what a majority of minerials that fluorcese need, but I am still considering later getting a mid-range UV LED flashlight as some minerials fluorcese under midwave UV (and some under longwave UV) even though most need shortwave UV.

.......and Bionic-Badger is very correct about the importance of safety when using shortwave, that is why I also ordered safety glasses specifically designed to also protect from UV-C (254nm) as well as UV-A and UV-B, many glasses only protect from UV-A and UV-B so make sure the ones you get cover UV-C also, here is what I ordered: Elvex XTS Safety Glasses with Gray Frame and Clear Lens

(I found a 5% discount code for those safety glasses searching Google, I believe there are higher discount codes available for larger orders, but I can't vouch if they are valid since I only used the 5% one that was good on smaller orders)

Seems my astronomy hobby led me to Green lasers and a 405nm Violet laser also helped lead me to rock and minerial hunting

(405nm is just outside the longwave UV range but still close enough to cause some things to fluorcese)

Click to expand...

I received my UVTools 4W SW/LW lamp in the mail Monday Nov 22nd.

I've only had a chance to try it out a little bit so far, so this is a basic review.

First let me say this is a beginner's entry level lamp and not a model professional geologists might use, from my research it seems that shortwave UV lamps are very pricey because of the high cost of the special 254nm bandpass filter material that is used, and more powerful models can easily run from as much as $150 on up into the hundreds of dollars, so keep that in mind realizing this 4w model is about $35 which seems to be relatively cheap for shortwave UV, but 4w means the object needs to be fairly close to the lamp to be really effective, a trade-off for the low price.

They did include as a free bonus 3 small samples of material that fluoresces, a uranium marble, something that glows purple and retains the glow for a few seconds after the UV is turned off, and a small rock that glows a few different colors.

NOTE: make sure you are using relatively fresh batteries (4 AA size), I did not have any new AA on hand and the first set of used batteries I tried did not light the tubes even though it lighted the flashlight part, at first I thought I had a defective unit, but thought to try another set of used batteries I had sitting around and they had enough strength to light the tubes.

The batteries are a tight fit, I had to put the bottom 2 in first then the top 2 to make it easier to insert them.

The unit comes with 2 interchangable tubes, one for shortwave UV and one for longwave UV, PLEASE remember to be extra careful with the shortwave UV and always wear clear safety glasses specifically designed to also protect from UV-C (not all UV glasses protect from UV-C so make sure it specifically includes UV-C protection).

This is ok for a (relatively) low cost beginner's entry level model if you're not sure how serious you plan on getting into a hobby that uses it (like fluorescent rock and mineral hunting), just don't expect professional power for a beginner's price.

So far I am still glad I got it since I really did not have the spare funds in my "hobby budget" for a more powerful model right now, and even if I later get a more powerful model, this one could still come in handy as a very small portable unit to keep handy for when I might be traveling somewhere and might want to check any rocks or minerals.

The company told me in an email they do plan on getting some more powerful ones added to their web site at some point in time.

UVTools LLC.

I just bought a 365nm one from ebay
I needed the wavelength to pick up fungi - dermatophytes

Someday shortwave UV LEDs will become more easily obtainable. It will happen, though, since there is always a demand for it. Glad you found something suitable to your needs.

What does that have to do with UV flashlights?

I'd like to recommend XECCON FLASHLIGHT L12 to you. It's a high-end intelligent controlled flashlight using one AA-size battery; the light is of great performance, driven by convenient, inexpensive and widely available power source.

OP: You don't say where you are from (shipping/time concerns...)

I've dealt with these people... they are reliable, customer service was good (as of.. about 3 to 4 years ago?)

BlackLight.com - Fun Lighting, Black Lights, Contemporary Furniture, T-Shirts, Collectibles, Chess Sets, Body Jewelry, Blacklight Posters, DJ Lighting, & More!

(EDIT) What I bought from them: A lot of black light paint, black light tape, couple of gadgets, and a couple of posters.

I was experimenting with B.E.A.M. robotics at the time, which led me to start building "pummers", which led me to start experimenting with LEDs, which led to "exotic" LEDs such as Cyan... and eventually UV LEDs.

http://www.solarbotics.net/bestiary/1120_pummer.html