Good to have you here, welcome to the forum.
Some feedback, not that I know much - I work as a mineral exploration geologist but don’t deal with fluorescent minerals- most sites I’ve worked at don’t have UV lamps due to their cost and, unless the commodity being explored for is related to something that fluoresces, the identification of fluorescent minerals is seen as a “so what?” by management.
I do happen to own a SW UV Systems Superbright 3 lamp, but haven’t had time to dabble in fluroescent minerals as a hobby as much as I would like.
- General Design/size and powersource:
Looks pretty good- it’s a “carry for a specific need” kind of light; so the size isn’t too much of a concern compared to a keychain for “everyday carry”. Assume you’ll do a nice belt holster and lanyard?
As mentioned above, 32650 is a bit of a weird cell size. Good quality springs on the head and tail will help take up differences in length of different cells. If you’re determined to stick with this body size, adaptors are a good idea- there are 26650/21700/18650 adaptors on the market already should you not wish to re-invent the wheel, but I assume you’ll want something that nests, so the end user doesn’t end up with a bunch of random bits of plastic.
I think the opportunity exists to use multiple cells, should you wish to consider making the light more “soda can” shape - Something like the Sofirn SP36 which takes 3x 18650 cells. The flashlight world has moved away from internal, plastic cell carriers which were common with AA lights which took 3,4,6,8 etc cells in a plastic insert. Generally, users will prefer the cells be held in place in the aluminium body as this is deemed to be more durable. 21700 is a popular cell size and has superior capacity to the 18650, however, 3x21700 lights are larger diameter than 3x18650.
- Switch Brightness/colour:
I can see both arguments for the order of the buttons - assuming conventional left to right, I’d ether go with L-H-M or L-M-H wavelengths.
Green = On, Red = off makes most sense to me. Else, just have the switch lit when the wavelength is on and do away with separate on/off colours.
A way to change the switch light brightness might appeal to many people- the Sofirn LT1 Lantern originally had a surface mount variable potentiometer which I believe was intended to function in this manor but was never executed. An alternative is via software, with user configurable off/low/med/high switch brightness.
No idea if it’s possible, but I’ve often thought a light sensitive resistor under the translucent switch cover would be great - bright in daylight, dim in the dark.
- Temperature regulation:
Assume it has active temperature regulation- stepping down the output when the light gets too hot?
- Default brightness:
I’m not sure if this would actually be useful to the intended usergroup, but as someone who makes visual observations at work, a way to ‘reset’ the outputs would be useful, for example, “is this mineral much more reactive than the one I looked at an hour ago, or do I just have the light on a higher output?”
