Review: Taiwan 3W 380nm UV Flashlight Drop-in Module for P60 hosts

Taiwan 3W 380nm UV Flashlight Drop-in Module (4.2V Max)

P60 compatible

Reviewer rating: ★★★★



This dropin is found at Manafont here.

Pro's:

  • Well assembled and soldered
  • Works nice for finding body fluids and some stains
  • Bright, but unsure it that's really a good thing

Con's:

  • wavelength cannot be easily determined
  • draws only 450mA. 3W?
  • cannot detect advanced security features on € banknotes which are supposed to be visible at 365nm (Does not pretend to be 365nm)

Drop-in business end pictures:

I will compare it to another dropin of unknown wavelength which i estimate it to be 370-380nm.


This is the 370-380nm dropin i had from before. The basic security features are barely seen.

This is the MF dropin. The security features are seen but less pronounced as with the dropin before.


Summary:

If this dropin is really 380nm my other one should be really close to 370nm. It is not the best choice for € money testing as those like 365nm. It is however decently bright so you don't have to do just close distance work. Fluoresecent material glow like crazy. I have had a few UV dropin's before and all were supposed to be 3W. This comes on top by current draw of 450mA which makes it 1.9W device at best. I would reccomend usung any UV protection glasses when using this dropin if not for a few seconds. Do not shine it in your eyes directly and indirectly unless wearing good UV protective glasses. Max input votage is 4.2V so beware if dual Cr123a was the desired powering method.

The dropin is good and have all you ever want from a UV dropin except 365nm wavelenght. If you need such wavelength stay clear otherwise it is the most powerfull from all i have had so far.

I believe there is not much to be said about it. It's a speciality device. Whoever needs one grab one if find it's features desirable.

I would like to thank manafont for providing me this dropin for review.

Thanks very much for the review sir! Frontpage'd and Sticky'd.

You might want to mention that this is a P60 compatible dropin. (I assume :) )

Whoops! Getting sloppy lately...

Mas bien thanks a lot for all your excellent reviews recently Budgeteer!

Youre welcome. Coming soon another intersting flashlight and a knife. A bit later some 18700 batteries and another 2 flashlights from XTAR themselves (yet to dispatch).

Thanks for another great review Budgeteer!

:) How do you like the latest pictures? In particualrly the whole dropin on top? I use the small sun A33 as light source. Since now i have acces to a warm white emitter i will try that one instead in future or stick with sthe square smallsun whic i do like very much. Finding a 20mm glass lens for replacement has proven difficult. :/

So would this be something you would use yourself to check out a hotel room or would you recommend something else? Inquiring minds wanna know.

So far toilet "scans" to check my wife's cleaning prowess has always got me in trouble. :) Did not matter which waveleght it was pretty sure none were above 390nm. It's best to use the flashlight spill ather than the hotspot for close range "works".

And no im not gonna post my toilet pictures. Even if throughly lab grade cleaned.

lol I didn't plan on asking. I'll just have to take your word on that.

has any one tested this on hotel sheets and animal blood yet ? im not to worried about money as our notes are plastic

I bought this drop-in and at the moment I’m not completely happy with it:

Pros:

- Can easily detect normal security markings on bank notes

- Can slightly detect advanced security markings on bank notes if you know where to look and if you look closely

  • Everything white lights up very good (think of a club with uv lights, everything is slight purple, except the people with neon arm bands and white shits/pants

Cons:

  • For some reason I can not get this drop-in to show any body fluids - urine, sweat, saliva. I found some cat urine/markings on the floor. Switched off the lights, turned on the UV light…… nothing. Then I went out to the garden for a pee with the flashlight :8) …. nothing reflects or stands out. Everything is just light purple.

The reason I’m unhappy, is because I don’t mind about uv markings on bank notes, I bought this light to locate the cat pee in my house and on my stoep. And so far this drop-in hasn’t helped one bit.

I have however never worked with an uv light before, so I don’t know if body fluids will just light up on its own, or whether you need to spray something on it first? Does only certain wavelengths of uv reflect body fluids? (from this thread XT-E Royal Blue Home-Made P60 Drop-In even royal blue can do it)

Thnx, any help is appreciated

yeah need one to locate bateria, saliva and the like!

The normal black glass tubes (ie BLB, black light bulb) 4W can detect urine in the loo, no issue. Problem is that you need quite a high intensity (lux) for it to glow. So the tube needs to be no more than 6 inches away.

7 bucks. Buy 5 of them and duct tape?
http://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=ultraviolet&catId=0&manual=y

10pcs - usd50 shipped! Duct tape!

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-gs/342137260-10pcs-4W-LED-UV-Light-with-white-led-lighting-DL-01-754-wholesalers.html

8W.
http://www.ebay.com.sg/itm/BLAZING-BLACKLIGHT-12-POWERFUL-FLUORESCENT-UV-handheld-8-Watts-Genuine-G-E-/350557261313?pt=Lamps_US&hash=item519ed74e01

http://www.aliexpress.com/product-gs/432445406-GOOD-Black-light-insect-trap-Groups-of-plastic-lamp-UV-Curing-Lamp-agricultural-insecticide-18W-S011-wholesalers.html

Thank you. So what is the use of a UV P60 drop-in? And why can other people see animal fluids and I dont? :frowning:

I have the Tank007 365nm 3W, and i don’t see semen or urine glow. The BLB does glow them though…. The Tank007 has more throw (lux), that’s it. But lumens, the 4W wins hands down, something to the effect of 20X?

I think you can buy 2 or 3 of those 4W and fashion a aluminium foil reflector out of cardboard with the foil stuck on it. A bit of duct tape is good. That’s 12W for usd21.

There is another one called Nichia NCSU033A, that is supposed to output more UV output compared to visible.

405nm lasers do not light up bodily fluids as well.

BTW, this is T5 output. Longer lengths are more efficient. Those 21/28/36/56W T5 are very efficienct and the most efficient ones are approaching 110-120lm per watt…

Visible light.
4W - 6 Inch - 140 Lumens
6W - 9 Inch - 280 Lumens
8W - 12 Inch - 400 Lumens
13W - 21 Inch - 880 Lumens