I know the cheaper drop-in I used for my scorpion hunting build did poorly for illuminating amber; I tried on a couple of small pieces I have and only got a very dim fluorescence. I used a $5 pair of Wal-Mart yellow-lensed safety glasses advertised as being UV blocking and they worked well. When I would shine my UV light through the lens, objects would not fluoresce, so I assume they did a good job of UV blocking. They helped immensely, and I didn't notice any eye strain or discomfort like you would note when using a UV light unprotected...
Now, tell me more about looking for amber at the beach?
Cool with the shark teeth -never found any of them here.
What wavelength was your lamp? Amber is most fluorescent from 320-365nm.
To find the amber, the weather, and the time has to be right. And there has to be the right type of woody debris. And of course there are small differences from location to location.
At the western coast of Jutland in Denmark (where I live) the best conditions would be:
Stormy weather for a couple of days, freeing debris from the seabed, with the wind blowing towards the shore (wind comming from west) .
Then the wind has to settle down and turn counter clockwise, and end blowing away from the shore. As the wind blows the surface water away from the shore, it will create an under current, sending debris and hopefully amber toward the shore.
An hour after high tide, is the best time to start, as it is the time when the debris start to be deposited on the shore. And then its just to walk up and down the beach scouting for debris, and amber.
A hint of where the debris will come ashore will be the seaguls, as they roam above the debris, searching for food, before it reaches the shore. Of course no seaguls at night
The price for amber is crazy right now. For some reason the Chinese is buying a lot of amber right now.
Last thing I know, led emitters lower than 365nm are difficult to source and have terrible output.
How much are you in a hurry? I just today got in a Nichia 365nm uv-led that I am going to do some tests on, and then build it into a flashlight. I hope to have done that in two weeks. I can then borrow you three 365nm flashlights to try them out for your amber-searching, in return I like some pictures of how they perform to be posted here on BLF :-) . I'm in theNetherlands so sending them does not take too much time. The two other flashlights have the Ledengin LZ1, and a cheaper chinese 365nm led. The LZ1 flashlight has a good beam that illuminates things a decent distance away.
I suspect that these flashlights have a UV-output comparable to 150+ dollar professional lights, but cost less than 50 to make.
djozz, it would be nice to have a kick-ass amber searchlight OF DOOM in my hands right now -but I have managed without uv so far, as it’s quite recent that I learned the uv/amber trick.
Sounds soooo great, if you could help me.
Maybe it would be easier/cheaper, if I just send you the amber? The small pieces is of no large value, so you could just keep it after receiving it.
I think I abandoned the idea of DIY. I’m afraid Ill just screw up, and ruin some expensive stuff. I would rater have one of you pro’s build one, and pay you for the work.
I really like the idea of a triple setup. I have been searching around the forums and drooled over a some of the lights:-)
I assume that having the lights in your hand will enable you see how it actually performs during your amber-searching. But of course I will be glad checking out a piece of amber you send to me as well. In that case I will report here and make pictures :-)
The LED is installed into the brass part with thermal adhesive, the driver is installed into the other side of the brass part by soldering it in place (see link in my last post). Connect to two wires from driver to LED and you are basically done.
To Lithium batteries: yes, they will perform better in cold weather conditions, and have overall best energy densities.
However, they differ from the batteries in power tools insofar, that they lack the sophisticated safety circuits. This means, you can damage them more easily by deep discharging them as well as overcharging them.
Overcharging can be avoided by getting a good charger - doesn’t have to be a expensive one. This one for example works well and is safe:
Avoiding deep discharging is on you: when you see the light getting dimmer, change batteries. Don’t run them till they are dead.
A word of advice: If you decide on buying a multi cell Lithium battery flashlight, ALWAYS make sure you use batteries of the SAME charging state. Test this with a Digital Multimeter. Best practice would be to buy the needed amount of batteries of the same type, and always use those with your light.
If batteries of different charging state/age/capacity are mixed, or heavily discharged/overcharged, serious accidents can happen (read: explosions and fire).
However, Lithium batteries can be handled safely. Just be aware of their limitations, and you will be fine!
Can somebody provide a link to an introduction page into Lithium batteries? I think the OP may find this helpful.
djozz -that would be great!! -Ill send you a pm, to get your address.
Confusius - I’ll give it a try with a cheap non-uv led, dropin and driver as you suggested, for my surefire 6p.
But I’m afraid that I’ll screw up, so I’ll postpone the diy with the “expensive goods”
Regarding the Lithium batteries. I had no idea they could be that difficult to manage. Could a setup with a NiMH rechargeable, give a runtime of 2-3 hours?
Jubeldum, those look awesome! It’s something like that I’m aiming for.
Well not necessary that small. I would rather have a larger flashlight, with longer run-time. Weight and size is not really a concern.
By the way. Would a setup with a tripple LEN ENGIN LZ1 365mn UV run hot if it was used continuously for 2-3 hours?
Imo, 1st thing is result of djozz’s findout about illumination of amber. He already tested and have some of 365nm led to compare with and currently that Nichia 365nm is consider one of the best 365nm UV led. So you’re in absolutely right hand.
Later on, if result is good, you can ask to build UV flashlight that more suitable for your need.
Some 365nm UV led “usually” set to draw current roughly 1A - 1.2A max. so single 18650 is enough for single UV led for 2 - 3 hours. If you need longer time can use host with parallel batteries.
Good to be in good hands
Tanks for the info Calmaja. I’ll be sending the amber for djozz tomorrow.
Two 18650’s in parallel sounds grest. Three would be even better I have also been thinking of a setup with a bicykle lamp with 2-3 leds, with external batteries. And then make a cool looking pistol grip. :heart_eyes:
In case you don’t want to use lithium ion batteries, I just saw mention of a 3 x AA capable light Ultrafire F13 at $11.39 - with Coupon Code - Gearbest comment 27. I think he has a separately bought holder, but it looks like one comes with the light. If Ni metal hydride cells don’t work well enough in the cold, you could use Energizer 1.5 V non-rechargeable lithium cells (expensive).
They run cool at 1 amp and members here have run them at 1.4 amps on copper. 3 LZ1’s would be like a nice UV spotlight since I know what just one can do. As for a host, if I was to make a 3 LZ1 light for searching the beach for hours, I would use something like this. http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=80&product_id=250
As for mounting a LZ1 on DTP copper, djozz is a master at modding a MCPCB. Doing something like this is like childs play to him.
With a standard 12V tool battery you can power 3 LEDs in series, with 24 V (maximum voltage for this circuit) 6 are possible. With a standard tool battery (12 V, 2,0 Ah) you should achieve 2-3 hours runtime.
Those bicycle lamps you postet are nice, but I’m not sure how good they are for modding.
Maybe you can find something like this in a hardware store for cheap:
Once you have decided on a power source, choose a driver circuit that accepts the respective voltage, slap your LEDs in place and you are done.
The pictures you posted are cool, but most old reflectors for incandescent lamps are nor well suited for LEDs. It’s best you stick with a lamp that is already built for LED technology, as the reflectors should work well enough even it’s not the right kind of LED. Also you won’t have to worry about a custom heat sink.
If you chose a rechargeable light, chances are good that you will be able to use the installed power source and charging circuit.
uh. It takes me some time to answer, cause i have to look up all the (to me) unknown flashlight lingo
Calmaja that steam-punk flashlight/gun thing looks awesome! :heart_eyes:
Jubeldum, that Supfire looks nice. I like that the fact that each reflector is “whole”. I cant help but think that flashlights with triple reflector which have shared middle (don’t know what to call it) is going to have some spill.
whole reflector vs. reflector with “shared middle”:
vs
About the spill - I don’t know if that’s even true. Maybe someone could enlighten me.
But anyway - I like the three “unbroken” reflectors look :-)
Yes, as I wrote earlier. I’ll give it a try modding my own surefire 6p with the chinese uv led. If i screw up, it’s no big deal. But for the more expensive setup with three Ledengin Z1 or three of the Nichia uv led’s I’ll need some help from one of the pro’s inhere. And of course I’ll pay for the work
At work I actually have a Makita flashlight. Only with one reflector though (the below is not mine -but that’s the model).
But I think at my current DIY skill level that’s not an option
I’ve done a lot of DIY on woodwork, but never really tried tinkering with electronics. But I like to learn, and I loooooove flashlights, so maybe I’ll give the more serious electronics DIY projects a try later on. For now my surefire 6p project is more than enough
Some of my latest woodworks (click for larger versions):
I too have no idea if they are usable.
In fact I’m not sure if I should go with a flashlight or a bicycle light.
I don’t have enough knowledge about the different flashlights and battery types to make a qualified “pros and cons” list about what to choose to suit my purpose.
Maybe someone could help me make a qualified discussion whether to go with flashlight or bicycle light .
My requirements would be:
Powerful UV light at 365nm or less
The beam should be somewhere between spot and flood.
Must be able to illuminate a minimum of 5 meters
2-3 hours battery-time, and then change the battery. 5-6 hours without battery change would be nice
Doesn’t have to be lightweight. 1½-2 kg would be no problem.
External battery would be no problem as I always carry a backpack
Actually external battery would be nice, as it would give less weight in my hand.
If i have to change batteries it has to be quick and easy, as I will be walking in sand and sometimes shallow water (I would hate to have a setup with “difficult to change” batteries and drop the batteries into sand or water). If battery change is required I thought of having two external batteries in the backpack, with the wire for the spare one attached either to my wrist, the shoulder strap, or the sternum strap for easy access.
With my current knowledge a pros and cons list would be something like.
Any thoughts on my pro/con list for larger handheld vs bike-light? I’m still in doubt whether a bike-light with external power-pack would give any advantage over a handheld.
I ordered a p60 setup from customlites ( thread here ) - It’s for a gift -but I’ll use it myself until I get a setup of my own.
So the setup for myself will be either one NVSU233A
or a setup with three LED Engin LZ1
As for hosts for the two setups I’ve narrowed it down to either
Single led: Uniquefire UF-1405 or Courui Big head or any other good host with lots of run-time. Haven’t been able to find single led hosts with 4x18650 or 4x26650
I would loooove :heart_eyes: a host like the BTU Shocker but haven’t been able to find a bare host. I think buying a new one and then trash the led’s would be overkill.
Edit: Found a host kit!
I’ll wait and see the results of djozz’s tests before I make the final decision on a setup of one or three led’s.
I have also been thinking of a setup with a bicykle lamp with 2-3 leds, with external batteries. And then make a cool looking pistol grip. :heart_eyes:
