@Hestbech: I'm really considering a 385nm build, did you ever try anything between 365nm and 400nm for amber? Or did anyone else?
I can find lots of reasons (or excuses :-) )
Use it to find:
- Amber
- Minerals
- Plastic (a loooot of plastic at the sea at night :-( )
- Insects
- Diving (lot of florescent animals and minerals)
- Pet pee
- Other bodily fluids ...
Yeah -you get a lot of free solder too 
I have only tried 365nm (Led Engin) and the 400nm from you. Much better response from the 400nm. Have no idea how amber reacts to 380-385. I cant imagine you don't have a 380nm uv led lying around somewhere :-)
No, but I just ordered some of those (LG's) for a 9xflood monster :evil:
Did a fast test on amber under 365nm vs 400nm. The 365nm Led Enging puts out a lot of visible light, so its hard to make a fair comparison. But it seems to me that the 365 makes the amber emit a weak fluorescent blue and the 400nm makes a more powerfull yellow fluorescent. (maybe there is a sweet spot inbetween 365nm and 400nm)
first is 365nm mouseover is 400nm:
first 400nm then 365nm then 400nm:
The blue-ish tint from the 365nm corresponds well to this (click image to go to the original with a description):
I saw a 3 emitter UV diving light the other day.
Underwater 100M 3x XPE PURPLE UV LED Light Scuba Diving Flashlight Torch US $19.59
there is no such thing as uv xpe, those are no name 3535 leds, which are not that terrible, i have 3 of these on a triple star. pretty good for making white papaer, money id glow.
also polycarbonate will block uv under 400nm, how much under idk exactly, however i know 365 will not work with polycarb lenses, tried it before, you need either reflector and glass, or pmma tir and window. but 400nm will make things glow almost as much with polycarb in front of it, as with no polycarb.
The new ones?
No 
, I haven't found those for sale yet. They are 385nm and seem one generation older, but I may still have better output than the average chinese UV-led.
djozz, that’s a good price. I can’t believe I missed that in my Aliexpress travels. It’s added to my wishlist now. :bigsmile:
I ordered some different leds
And one of these (it was on sale yesterday at $15.47)
It seems to be closed with a lot of silicone glue, so I'm exited to see how difficult it's going to be to open.
While I'm waiting for the goods i decided to give it a try and make my own "light-pod". Initial sketch/doodle/brainstorm:
The main housing is going to be a pot (for cooking). The reflectors are convoy c8 size - the overall diameter is going to be ~15cm. The back dome is a 2mm sheet of brass, hammered into the shape of a dome. The battery compartment is going to be some sort of retro metal box with a (wooden?) handle. inspiration:
Any advise on a driver for seven of these led's? No need for a lot of modes. Off + 100% would suffice.
DC Forward Voltage: 3.4V - 3.8V
DC Forward Current: 700mA
Or maybe a short explanation on how to calculate what kind of driver, and what kind of battery-pack I need.
Some more "concepting" (still haven't decided what kind of on/of switch to use)
The driver for your thing above is an extremely common one: a NANJG 105C with 6 extra 7135 chips to make 5A, assumed the battery pack is a bunch of 18650 batteries in parallel, and the leds are parallel as well.
Thanks! :-) How do you calculate that it needs 5A?
700mA x 7?
Bump :-)
I've been reading up on this - and there seem to be a consensus here on the forum that led's (and especially batteries) in parallel is the way to go.
I just want to make sure if I understand the requirements of seven led's in parallel:
DC Forward Voltage: 3.4V - 3.8V
DC Forward Current: 700mA
So to calculate what current is needed from the driver, just multiply 700mA by 7? = 4900mA
I'm ordering one Nanjg 105C - AMC7135*8 1-Mode. Already got a bunch of AMC7135's ordered.
To make the driver 4900mA i just make the total of AMC7135's 13? (13x380=4940)
Correctamundo!
thanks! - ordered! :-)
I also visited a local garage sale and found some copper plates (for food) - 3 pcs of pure copper, approx. 30cm diameter (not - copper-plated, I hope) 40 dkr~6 usd. One of them will be hammered (raised / sinked) out to be the back of my flashlight.
Like this:
The copper dome will then be brazed to a stainless steel tube. Don't know how to braze yet, but I've seen a lot of how-to videos, and a friend of mine is a goldsmith, so he'll teach me :-)
Now I just need to find a cool watertight retro/marine on/off switch ...
Sorry about all the questions :-p
So the batteries have to be in parallel. Lets say I have a battery box with 4x Keeppower 3,7V 3500mAh
So what I get is 3,7V and 14000mAh. I'm not sure if I understand it right. Does the driver of the flashlight limit the 14000mAh down to what the led's need? - or is the 14000mAh just the amount of "stored power" - meaning that the flashlight will run for 2,85 hour? (14000mAh/4900mA)
Also I'm trying to find a watertight battery holder / battery box for 4-6 batteries in parallel. Any suggestions?
I've found a lot of holders for batteries in series, but none in parallel, and most of them are sold with a headlamp:
Spark SX5 (same battery holder as Spark SDB100 reviewed here)
Solarstorm battery case:
Pannova B-C04
No problem this is what we do, we all started out not knowing this stuff then we hanged out here at BLF and now we speak flashlight like a third language :bigsmile:
You will soon to, when you start to mod you kind have to pick this up quick to not doing costly mistakes. Not having to pick to all the technical details around flashlights is a luxury only strictly buyers or consumers of lights can enjoy 
Yes that is how parallel cells work the driver limits the maximum ampere output of the cell and 14000mha is only the stored power, also 3.7v is only the nominal volt, it ranges from a fully charged 4.2v to 2.5v for an empty cell.
I finally found the time to start this build. I want to reflow uv leds onto a lightpod, but I need some help to figure out if the leds i got will work on the "driver" of the pod - does the driver have any kind of protection and so on. I have no idea about how to interpret what the components on the pcb does.
Is it possible to test the pcb with a multimeter, to see if the specs are true?
Led:
- 3w
- 3535 size
- DC Forward Voltage: 3.4V - 3.8V
- DC Forward Current: 700mA
- 18W (6 leds of 3W)
- 12V
Ok quality
Plastic :-(
No thermal grease
Paint splutters on the surface of the aluminum - makes it less than ideal for good heat transfer between the aluminum and the pcb.
