Hey!
playing with UV flashlights is fun - but they are not without danger!
Have you ever experienced pain or other problems after using UV flashlights?
PLEASE comment!
www.youtube.com/embed/Xzm0GmivdjQ
Very good advice, Martin. Some people still think it's absolutely safe to use UV LEDs without safety glasses. By the way, the best UV experience can be made when using a powerful UV light while cleaning the bathroom. I often ask myself if I should take a UV light with me when staying in some hotel room. But then again I think "ignorance is bliss". :-D
What about strong UV emitted by “white” leds we are using?
MIke
White leds do not emit UV, they usually have a strong blue peak but that is 450nm which is not in the UV region.
Most of the problems come seem to not directly from the flashlight beam but from UV light reflected off of surfaces. Always wear protection…
Shining a UV light around for a while, I’d always get a bit headachey. Thought it be my imagination ’til someone else here mentioned it as well.
Yeah, it’s from reflected UV, which kinda by definition you can’t see. Worse, your pupils are wide-open being in the “dark” (aside from all that UV goodness swimming around), so it’s kinda opening the floodgates for retina-burn.
I have mixed feelings about taking a UV light with me when staying in a hotel etc. Remember that joke from elementary school: “Hey, Johnny, have you seen that footprint on the ceiling. Haha, fooled you”. To keep it short, you’ll see that footprint and much more. After I had CSI-ed the first apparently very proper room last summer, I lost all appetite to inspect the other rooms. :confounded:
But IF you do, be warned. Inspecting a bathroom with UV light can be very hazardous. It’s like firing a gun in an underground parking garage. You can get hit by ricocheting bullets. With UV light the same goes for reflections by bathroom tiles, mirrors and glass windows. So, as dr. Ruth used to say: always wear protection.
The most visible stains under UV are often from detergent and other chemicals used to clean bathrooms…
I feel my eyes burning a little after using a UV flashlight so I stopped using them all together, I have no use for them honestly, they are just really good to charge the lume of a watch, but even for that I stopped using them.
getting ready to make uv death rays with modules from a huge ink curing array i wound up with.
i will find out if high power uv at close range will kill pests.
as in the scorpion glows then smokes!
i noticed this too.
esp the bluing in most laundry detergents.
Nice video M4D M4X! We use my Convoy Nichia UV with a ZWB2 filter to find dog urine around the house. When I first got it, I used it to investigate around the house for fun. At times I would not put on safety glasses assuming they were not needed, but then being careless a reflection from something would surprise me. Even without an unexpected reflection, it seemed my eyes felt strained after a while. So now I always put on safety glasses. It is a great tool, but must be used with caution.
I recommend taking lutein and vitamin A if you’re working with computer screens or bright lights in general. UV can cause macular degeneration by inducing oxidative processes in the eye, lutein acts a local antioxidant.