UV bulb in a battery-powered lantern? Is this possible?

thorwood · 2 Feb 2016

Good evening,

Sorry if that's a silly question....but I'm really not sure if this is possible, as I've not seen anything like it online to buy.

What I want to do is have a traditional lantern (preferably in a plastic casing rather than glass), with a UV (black light) bulb in it - preferably of a candle-type if possible.

However, rather than being wired to mains, I'm wondering if this would work batter-powered or remote-controlled.

I know it's a bit specific....but it's for a specific project

Thanks in advance,

Tim

333rocky333 · 2 Feb 2016

You may be best to find a source for a lamp first and go from there.
You can get 4 watt T5 blacklight tubes used for counterfeit money detecters.
years ago you got 4w emergency fittings that run the same size tubes, one of them could be adapted and fitted in a lantern to run off a supply proberly lower than 12 volt

AndyPRK · 2 Feb 2016

I think you can get them in LED form. Think I have one actually.

Used for finding leaks in car air con (when dye installed)

bernardgreen · 2 Feb 2016

http://www.uvgear.co.uk/product/uvtorches.htm

Taylortwocities · 3 Feb 2016

They use them all the time on Silent Witness. Finds traces of blood and all sorts of other nasty things…….

ban-all-sheds · 3 Feb 2016

Taylortwocities said:
They use them all the time on Silent Witness.

No they don't.

thorwood said:
What I want to do is have a traditional lantern

thorwood said:
with a UV (black light) bulb in it - preferably of a candle-type if possible.

And in any event Silent Witness also shows forensic scientists:

Spotting vital evidence at a SoC by casual random wandering about
Processing and drawing conclusions from the evidence in a matter of hours
Chasing around after suspects, often armed, on their own
Sitting in on police interviews with terrorist and organised crime suspects
Interrogating suspects themselves
Never attending court to present the evidence and their expert opinion and dealing with challenges from the other side's counsel/experts.

It's enjoyable enough hokum, but it would be unwise to assume that anything they show is not also hokum, much like Dr Who's sonic screwdriver.

Zelfer · 3 Feb 2016

What exactly do you want it for?

Sorry to point you at another forum, but budgetlightforum.com might be able to answer you in some detail about doing this type of thing with some very fancy UV LEDs.
http://budgetlightforum.com/node/44655 might be a good start, and replace the LEDs they dropped in with UV ones. Ask away on that forum, they are very helpful.

Beware, the led UV LEDs are vicious, and should come with a health warning!

Fyi, This is my current blacklight
http://budgetlightforum.com/node/43229

333rocky333 · 3 Feb 2016

"Small diameter E14 screw-fit candle lamp with purple effect coating. Please note that these are not true UV bulbs just purple effect.

This bulb is a great little ornamental bulb and gives a warm glow to any light."

ban-all-sheds · 4 Feb 2016

That'll teach me to just look at the images when doing an image search, and not to wonder if "uv+candle+bulb" will find me ones where they say "not UV"...

Dunno what type of lamp it is, but regular incandescents have precious little light at that end of the spectrum - methinks "warm glow" might be optimistic.

DeadBeat · 4 Feb 2016

what is it your going to use it for?

Jackrae · 4 Feb 2016

UV lights were used for cockpit instrument illumination in WW2 aircraft. Dials painted with fluorescent paint would glow when illuminated by UV

DeadBeat · 4 Feb 2016

its a nice idea, but really bad for you eyes, although im guessing they didnt know that then

AndyPRK · 4 Feb 2016

ban-all-sheds said:
"warm glow" might be optimistic.

Not so much a light, more of a glow.

I remember purchasing one from Maplins (a full sized lamp) over 10 years ago. Was just a glow, didn't last more than 1 day and was not suitable for what I wanted.

ban-all-sheds · 4 Feb 2016

DeadBeat said:
its a nice idea, but really bad for you eyes, although im guessing they didnt know that then

I think they did.

But in the overall scheme of things it wasn't a significant risk.

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UV bulb in a battery-powered lantern? Is this possible?

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