2017 top 10 professional UV flashlight

I’m pretty sure that the lens is a ZWB2 filter and the led probably is a Seoul Viosys led. It is a pretty new light for Tank007 and almost certainly the design was inspired by modded lights posted here on BLF. The DIY build costs are about 40 dollar so they make 1000% profit.

Get this light, small, simple and lots of 400nm light to charge your lures, works on a CR123 or a 16340 battery.

https://m.fasttech.com/products/0/10004661/1358900-uniquefire-602c-uv-3w-395-410nm-ultraviolet-uv

highlight scorpions in the desert ? :smiley: u have those where u live or

get the convoy, its very darn bright for a uv light and runs on 1 18650 battery.

Thanks guys for the recommendations. I like the price of the light that djozz mentioned. Is there a big enough performance difference with the convoy s2 to make it worth 3 times the price?

The main difference between the two lights is the wavelength.
The Fasttech light has 395-410nm (it is at the edge of UV light) it is a bit more purple/blue and i would not use a ZWB2 filter on this light.
The Convoy light has 365nm. Real UV light and if you use a ZWB2 Filter you can only see a bit of light untill you hit a object that reacts to UV light.
LEDs with shorter wavelength are much more expensive than the purple ~400nm LEDs. So it is normal that a light with 365nm LED is a bit more pricey (if the hosts have the same price).

It all depends on what you want to do with the light. Many disco UV lights use both. Short wavelength LED´s and 410nm+ LED´s. Because people know the old UV fluorescent tubes with purple blue light ( ~390-490nm). And they want the same feeling. But if you want for example cure Uv glue i would buy a 365nm or a 385nm UV LED. If you want to sterilize water you would use LED´s with 200-315nm.

I’ve ordered one of these recently- Fenix LD02 v2 Cree XQE HI CRI90 Warm+365nm UV AAA Money Detector Flashlight. I don’t know how good they are but Fenix are a reputable manufacturer.
As well as the usual Jaxman and Convoy I have an Amilite, made in Korea and useless, a Countryman EDC89- very bright and a Streamlight Night Com UV which is by far my favourite because it contains both 390 and 365nm LEDs but probably doesn’t appeal to a lot of people because it doesn’t fill entire rooms with eerie blue light. It is, however, great for documents and banknotes.
Additionally I have an assortment of ebay multi emitter UV lights of varying ability- I really must get a life.

Here is a recently compiled list of available 365nm UV lights https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/50830 . You won’t go wrong with the Convoy, Jaxman or even a newly released Sofirn UV light.

And here is a list of things you can do with your UV light https://budgetlightforum.com/t/-/49853/2 .

Obscure and expensive but awesome if you’re after SW 254nm UV- UV Systems Superbright 3.

I wish it came with a pelicase type storage box as standard.

Hi folks!

I have a Convoy S2+ with Nichia UV 365nm + UV filter. But, I wanted to make a “smaller” UV flashlight, let’s say, an AAA flashlight or smaller.
So, I’ve been thinking about some hosts that I can “easily” mod + the drivers they bring with (1 mode would be enough), and I wanted to know if you can say something about these flashlights:

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/The-New-Charging-Mini-Keychain-flashlight-free-shipping/2209027_32673547879.html?spm=2114.12010615.8148356.15.662e46ccpGEhBG
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Mini-LED-Torch-Flashlight-CREE-XPE-R5-100-lumens-LED-Keychain-AAA-battery/2209027_32781251679.html?spm=2114.12010615.8148356.61.6bb446cckBSTiD

Would they - theoretically - suit my purpose by transforming them into UV by picking their drivers?
I thought about transforming the Singfire 348 into UV (as - X3- showed above) but I’m afraid of damaging it, as the pill/driver/ler are not easily accessible (i guess).

Thanks in advance for any help :+1:

EDIT: Well, I can the Throfire TK01 as an option too! Would that driver work well with the Nichia 365?

Convoy S2+ with ZWB2 filter only way to go. I’m a little late to this thread, but for those still with questions about the filter you can get some answers here. For the fluorescent mineral hobby, a filter is a must. Other applications it may not seem so important, but a filtered light is significantly better than non-filtered.
On that note, has anyone seen the fellow selling Convoys with filter claiming that he owns a patent covering the use of glass filters in a UV flashlight. His claims are so broad, they seem to even cover any UV flashlight with any glass lens, even a clear one?

Your guess is wrong :-p
The front of the 348 unscrews, but you can’t really grab it or you’ll damage it.
Press the bezel on a stocky/rubbery surface (like the underside of a mouse pad), and simply turn anti-clockwise
Once you have unscrewed the bezel, the pill will fall :slight_smile:
Now de-solder the LED board and reflow your Nichia 365… Voilà !

OHH, only now I noticed it can be opened :person_facepalming: :person_facepalming: :person_facepalming:
Well, thanks for the tip and for making me notice it can be opened :smiley:
Meanwhile, I’ve done the required transformation on the Lumintop Tool AA :stuck_out_tongue:

I re-shaped the lens and used a 1 mode driver from a SK68 clone! It is now a small twisty and is working quite well!

Thanks for the tips on the transformation on this, too :wink: :+1:

sst-10 365 emitter in any DD 14500 light, the LED cant draw too much current from 4.2v cell

LOL, a discussion of the possible use of a Woods glass (link) and later the actual testing in a 365nm flashlight (link) here on BLF in 2015 was possibly the first ZWB2-filter/UVled-flashlight combination that was ever made (edit: nope, see pirateo’s post below), and was ultimately the reason that (much later) Convoy started building ZWB2 filters into their UV-lights. Further, in the mineral collection hobby, Wood’s glass and similar filters have been used in combination with mercury lamps for ages.

We (the fluorescent mineral hobby) have been using LW LED flashlights filtered by Wood’ glass and Hoya since the mid 2000’s. I built my first high power light many years ago using Hoya U325c and LED Engin parts. Lights based on mercury fluorescent bulbs have been around since the 40’s. (even earlier if you consider carbon arc). What I find interesting is that this fellow claims his patent covers any filter/glass used in a UV flashlight (and his claim is so broad, it even encompasses the simple clear glass lens). He has so far convinced Simon that he (Simon) is infringing on his patent with the Convoy and Simon no longer ships filtered flashlights to the USA.
The claim, to put it simply, is that the colored glass filter “transforms” the UV LED’s output to IR (the patent covers wave transformation) - basically saying because the lens gets hot it is “transforming” the output of the LED to IR, same thing that happens on all glass lenses in all flashlights. Silly…. (Link to his discussion on the patent: http://www.fluorescents.com/articles-patent-info.html)

Look at that, thanks for the contribution pirateo40 :slight_smile:

I had a look at that document, and the story of how the guy constructed the patent. If selling a UV flashlight with a UV-pass filter is really infringing that patent there’s two thoughts that are crossing my mind:

1) how dollar-minded must one be to use a long existing method with long existing materials, a method so obvious even that it can be and has been figured out by anyone who wants to use UV light to makes stuff fluorescence, and twist and bend your wording to get a patent on that and by doing it obstructing many many people, including those who are already using the method for years/decades. This is not what patents are meant for, to even figure this patent out is pretty sick IMO.

2) the patent office must have been sleeping, there must be a thing about patenting the obvious.

LOL - couldn’t have said it better myself (but have said the same thing many times)

Djozz - Did not mean to correct you on the timing of the “invention” of filters with UV LEDs. The fluorescent mineral hobby is a VERY small niche which doesn’t get a lot of attention/notice. We tend to stay in our own world and folks outside usually don’t have a clue what it is we collect. Developments in the hobby tend to stay there. I have done my best to spread the word on the Convoy and why we consider a UV bandpass filter critical - seems to have helped as we’ve seen a tremendous influx of new hobbyists in the past couple of years.
You guys here have been invaluable in our exploration of this (relatively) new facet for our hobby….

Other practical uses of UV is for germidical purposes. I have 2 x 55W, useful for disinfecting the house when folks are sick (in addition to HEPA filters, hands washing etc). Technically it’s been proven to help, but practically it depends. 2 x 55W x 15 min is more than enough for a 300 sq ft room, just need to move it around so that all the usual places that your hands would touch and your saliva/snort would fly when you cough/sneeze would land. There are also tubes that are treated so that they don’t absorb 185nm peak, so that after hitting wall surfaces and the tubes would emit ionise small amounts of ozone from oxygen, i’d avoid those stuff as i’m afraid those might leach some surfaces.

After a 15 min session, you’d get that fresh sunshine on your clothes kinda of smell. But still, better don’t breathe too much of those in, it’s not supposed to be ozone.
So far, the 253.7nm UV-C has not damaged my home furnishings but try not to put it too near your designer plastic pieces or those with dyes etc.
The basic ones have timer controls, there are also RF remote controlled versions.

Only usd 40 for 2 x 55W PLC base lights. Very affordable. Most of the china ones already have a special quartz based glass so that it does not cut out a lot of the UV-C. If in doubt, choose those Philips tubes for a little more money which confirm is high quality quartz that transmits 90+% of UV-C. Soft glass is only 30%.

https://s.taobao.com/search?sourceId=tb.item&search_type=item&ssid=s5-e&s_from=newHeader&q=紫外线消毒灯&suggest=0_1&\_input_charset=utf-8&wq=ziwaixian&suggest_query=ziwaixian&source=suggest

Portable versions, which i think is more relevant for us flashaholics and maybe even Doomsday SHTF preppers. Run off 4 x AA or USB powerbank, or car cigarette plug. 5W nominally. From only usd 7 and up.

https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.182.7f1229cbmqM3FR&id=563264931438&ns=1&abbucket=12&skuId=3588968989912

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.32.72aa71c30zWRme&id=7526831722&ns=1&abbucket=12#detail

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.39.72aa71c30zWRme&id=548496185006&ns=1&abbucket=12#detail

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.271.72aa71c30zWRme&id=553467051662&ns=1&abbucket=12#detail