SOLD OUT! Fluorescent Mineral Hunting Flashlight (High power 365nm UV)

[Lumencraft-Matt (Formerly: vestureofblood)]

2/17/25
BATCH #1 SOLD OUT: Thank you all so much for the overwhelming response!!! If those of you who were able to take advantage of the sale would like to leave a review on amazon or CPF it would mean the world. Thanks again for your support!!

EDIT: 1/14/25 The lights are ready!
EDIT: 2/17/25 Batch #1 Sold Out

I have a small batch of these available for those of you who are interested.
These are available exclusively on HERE: amazon
Please know that I take Flashaholic feedback VERY seriously and invite any of you who try it to let me hear your thoughts.

Something not written on this photo I thought you guys would appreciate, is that this light is RANGE OPTIMIZED. I used flat glass LEDs and Smooth reflectors to extend the range as much as possible, as well as making custom spacers for the reflectors to get exactly perfect focus, which makes a profound differance in how far it can throw.

Blacklight Flashlight with CRAZY High Power!

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This is something I’ve been working on for quite a while. It’s not ready to sell yet, but I thought I would share some of the details on how the project is going. This won’t be a cheap light, I want to be up front about that. There are already a ton of cheap UV lights available, I just wanted to make one that is the very best possible with available tech. IE high power, reliable, sustainable, with good range.

I took a Convoy L21B host and with the help of BLF member Hoop, designed a space maximized heat sink to fit in the head.

The LEDs were made to my specification for the project (more on that later). In total there’s over 20 watts of power.

What got me thinking about this build was primarily fluorescent mineral hunting. So I ranged optimized the light as best I could. Even though it has 4x LEDs, its made to be a thrower. Hence the flat glass emitters and SMO reflectors.

Were also going to include a ZWB2 Band pass filter to minimize any discoloration of the target.

Fluorescent Chalcedony

-The small stone is a piece of Chalcedony that I stuck in with some other rocks to show an example of how brilliantly it fluoresces compared to it surroundings.
-The stone on the ceiling is fluorescing I think because it’s covered in some type of fungi.

[blwilli]

Very interesting! How’s the thermal performance? Is it a buck/boost type driver to avoid voltage sag? If this sink is compatible with the L21B it should work for the L2 as well which could offer a little better heat shedding by way of increased thermal mass in the battery and also allowing for use of a strictly buck configuration… Are those S2+ or S6 reflectors in there or something else?

Also emitters are in parallel?

I know you had the flat glass 365’s made, but this could possibly support the SBT-10x-UV that Simon has. Those things throw like crazy. Maybe a blend of emitters would be a good thing to try as to balance flood and throw.

Very very interesting!

[gravelmonkey]

Very nice! I think for this application more throw/intensity is indeed the correct decision so you can scan areas further away than immediately at your feet.

Don’t forget all the other uses for UV; this isn’t just a mineral lamp, you can check for leaks using a fluorescent dye, repaired areas where the new/old paint reacts differently, pet stains, UV resin curing, etc.

If SW LEDs are available, it would be worth investigating whether a 254nm version would be viable- more minerals react to SW due to the higher energy.

[dmenezes]

@gravelmonkey

Don’t forget all the other uses for UV; this isn’t just a mineral lamp, you can check for leaks using a fluorescent dye, repaired areas where the new/old paint reacts differently, pet stains, UV resin curing, etc.

And scorpion hunting! Plus, with that much power, I bet it can be used not only to locate them, but also to fry them from a distance!

[Lumencraft-Matt (Formerly: vestureofblood)]

@blwilli

which

The heat sink plus the light body and DTP copper mcpcb are enough that I can run the light wide open for 8 minutes 50 seconds before thermal protection kicks in. With the sensor set to 200F. At that point the light is pretty toasty, but I can still hold it. The driver is a boost circuit that holds regulation very well. It’s not a buck/boost though. Thanks for mentioning the fitment of L2, I didn’t know that. Yes the reflectors are S2+.

The emitters are 2S2P. The LEDs I’m using are very similar to the SBT-10X-UV, during the prototyping phase I used a set of those to develop a sort of road map on where I wanted to be with the light.

@gravelmonkey

,

If interest is enough I will consider variants of the light including short wave or 395 etc. I’m pretty new to mineral hunting so I’ve not toyed with SW yet. I’ve made a lot of UV flashlights for other applications that did use multiple wavelengths though. For years I manufactured a light used in the automotive industry for curing primer and clear coat. It was 365/395 light that would cure primer, clear, body filler with the photo initiators in them in about 60 seconds so that it was hard enough to sand.

Thank you everyone for your kind words and enthusiasm.

[blwilli]

Ah, I didn’t see that they were quads…! Nice. What driver is in there? It’s hard to find a driver that can deliver the right dynamic voltage window for those. Also, those 2S2P’s can typically take 12+W each, so you’ve got almost 50W input at your disposal here. I bet that’s a phat beam IRL. Nice concept and execution! I wonder how a SBT based model would do with the more focused hotspot that those deliver.

For SW in this format I’d recommend using 4x3535’s vs 4x5050 quads since the power consumption of the SW 5050’s is enormous and just one would overheat that light, let alone four.

[blwilli]

@Lumencraft-Matt Oh and if you’re open to selling or trading stuff for 2-3 sinks and PCB’s to me I’d like to tinker.

[Lumencraft-Matt (Formerly: vestureofblood)]

I had RMM make the boost driver. I buy batches that are large enough he’s willing to make them. I tested several of the convoy drivers, but even with some modifications to the hardware they didn’t preform to the standard I needed.

[bigm]

Different minerals will fluoresce at different wavelengths, but not others, while some minerals will fluoresce in different colors depending on wavelength. Where one mineral will fluoresce blue under uv-a, it may be red under uv-b or uv-c, and so on. One major point of concern with uv-b and uv-c would be to ensure buyers are using proper eye protection, as I’m sure we all know. Just never can be too careful when educating new users.

This is one heck of a light! Can’t wait to see more about it.

[dmenezes]

@bigm

Different minerals will fluoresce at different wavelengths, but not others, while some minerals will fluoresce in different colors depending on wavelength. Where one mineral will fluoresce blue under uv-a, it may be red under uv-b or uv-c,

I wonder whether it would be a good idea for a 4-emitter light, like the one the OP is building, to use different emitters simultaneously to cover the whole (or as much as possible) UV spectrum.Then one with such a light could be sure that whatever he’s hunting for, would fluoresce in some way.

[bigm]

That would be a good option. Even better if each channel could be ran independently to select one, two, or all three wavelengths at once. That would add a huge capability to help identify items based on color or lack of fluorescence at various wavelengths. Having all uv wavelengths on at once would make initial discovery of the object much more likely.

[blwilli]

Blockquote

A builder just launched a 3 wavelength light where it looks like the user can do on/off for SW and MW while adjusting output of the LW.

Ideally you’d have a light that offered full 3 channel control and was big enough to manage a bunch of heat…

[dmenezes]

@bigm

Even better if each channel could be ran independently to select one, two, or all three wavelengths at once.

I think Hank’s triple channel lights work exactly that way. The D4K specially looks like a great option for such a beast: https://intl-outdoor.com/triple-channel-flashlights/triple-channel-emisar-d4k-1-21700-high-power-quad-edc-led-flashlight.html

Unfortunately, I see zero UV LED options being offered… to say nothing of different UV wavelengths.

[gravelmonkey]

@bigm

Different minerals will fluoresce at different wavelengths, but not others, while some minerals will fluoresce in different colors depending on wavelength. Where one mineral will fluoresce blue under uv-a, it may be red under uv-b or uv-c, and so on.

Yup, I’m a geologist and owner of multiple wavelength UV lamps, this is correct. This website is great for reference, it’s showing as down at the moment but “back soon”.

@bigm

uv-b and uv-c would be to ensure buyers are using proper eye protection

Yup, pretty sure Matt has this covered as he’s got specs on in the video and also posted in a thread not long ago about UV warning logo, but good reminder for newcomers.

@dmenezes

different emitters simultaneously to cover the whole (or as much as possible) UV spectrum.Then one with such a light could be sure that whatever he’s hunting for, would fluoresce in some way.

Hmm… perhaps… but often, when looking for specific minerals, you’re using the wavelength you know will cause fluorescence. I once found a great webpage from a crime scene investigating equipment supplier which illustrated various wavelength and filters, coupled with coloured glasses for detecting different substances. This is a basic overview, I’ll see if I can find the better page. These lights do use non-uv wavelengths but the concept of using specific wavelengths to find specific substances remains the same.

@bigm

channel could be ran independently to select one, two, or all three wavelengths at once. That would add a huge capability to help identify items based on color or lack of fluorescence at various wavelengths.

I think this is a good idea for investigating items once you’ve found them. Raymond Wu currently produces a light like this. For “searching” I think max intensity at a given wavelength would be preferable.

[dmenezes]

Wow, thanks for the encyclopedic post @gravelmonkey , and specially for the links! No time right now (getting ready for a long and busy day here), but I will be sure to give it al my full attention ASAP. I own just one UV light (a simple Lumintop ToolAA 2.0 UV) but have had a ton of scorpion-hunting fun with it, but not with minerals despite much trying… looking to remedy that situation

[blwilli]

The problems with Hank’s triple drivers is dealing with the differences in Vf for the different wavelengths. LW is nominally 3.7V while MW and SW are nominally 6V. The M44 driver has a chance of being useful since it’s designed around running a pair of 4S2P white LED circuits (~12V) so one could plausibly think that it might manage a 2S MW or SW setup or if the dynamic control range of that driver was low enough perhaps having a 2S LW and 2S SW in a single light would be possible. He won’t sell the driver separately though. I should ask again…!

[gravelmonkey]

Minerals that are fluorescent under LW UV are less common than YouTube videos make you think!

Also, most minerals I’ve come across have a weak/subtle fluorescence. That said, if you’ve got a good occurrence nearby then you might be in luck.

Localities with good fluorescent minerals are often found via a web search. Once the fluomin.org site is back, I suspect they’ll have retained the search function for “show minerals” - ones that fluoresce strongly.

Calcite can be pretty good and if you’ve uranium n the mineral chemical formula, it’s usually a good activator for LW.

[dmenezes]

@gravelmonkey

Minerals that are fluorescent under LW UV are less common than YouTube videos make you think!

And only now they tell me

Also, most minerals I’ve come across have a weak/subtle fluorescence.

Seriously now, this matches my experience: the other day I volunteered at a local, small mineralogical museum and was able to visit their collection after they turned off the lights; shined my Lumintop Tool AA 2.0 UV on a few dozen samples of minerals from all over the world they had on display, and the only one that shined something back (and faintly) was the outer layer of a Brazilian geode.

That said, if you’ve got a good occurrence nearby then you might be in luck.

On my outdoor attempts, scorpions and a few other bugs fluoresce, but hardly anything else: sometimes lichen on rocks, but most of what I find is discarded paper wrappers and cups and similar junk that inconsiderate people throw away on Nature.

[Haukkeli]

I think it has to boost to 8S since 4S2P leds would be under 12V on lower powers, while full 3S batteries are 12,6V.

[pinkpanda3310 (Pinky)]

Thanks for the schooling @gravelmonkey

I learneded something… hope it sticks