Personally the buttons in order would be nice (short mid long) and yes to the larger battery if possible with usbc fast charging, when would it be ready for public purchase? And at what estimated price point? And maybe color red for off and green bulb is active Thanks
I noticed in the video that the light is concentrated and not evened out on the subjects. Will this affect showing high spots in the photo images like a flare up?
Just discovered you while looking for UV flashlights with dichroic lenses, when will you put those on sale on your website (I mean ready to ship with dichroic lens already installed, not preorder)?
Offer these to MINE OWNERS at a discount and we will get the word out for you! Button are fine as is, I realize which are used more, but low, med, high are ergonomic and don't require thought, and can be done in the dark WITHOUT looking at your hand. It is hard to photograph under UV - this would really help!
Hey Raymond, cool design, love it. question: - was 3 color piece with the willemite from the red cloud mine? Great for demo button: - prefer S/M/L configuration. easiest to remember, although understand M/S/L config and would likely get used to it over time (depending on frequency of use) - colors, understand and like rationale of G/R, but would definitely be annoyed of effect on night vision with green - prefer alternative of bright red = on, red light shuts off with timer. but could be confusing still. If lamp on and you press button after red indicator has turned off, does lamp stay on or click off? would prefer to use only redlights to maintain night vision considerations on button design: 1) add a timed accelerometer circuit. When switch turned on initially, bright red sustained light for all frequencies that are turned on. after x seconds, button indicator lights fade to dim red (but still easily noticed in the dark). after additional x seconds, all indicator lights turn off (while lamp remains on). at anytime, you can "shake" the light, accelerometer turns indicator lights back on to bright red, then repeats cycle down. push of any button simultaneously toggles that frequency on/off and reinitiates bright red light cycle. Downside, added cost of accelerometer circuit 2) same as above, except: a) no accelerometer switch function. b) for button, if you push a button when lamp in on, lamp remains on after action, but indicator state goes from bright/dim/off -> bright. with a second press, lamp toggles to off. if you push a button when lamp in off, lamp toggles to on and indicator state goes to bright (initiating dimming sequence). admittedly, these suggestions violate a basic design principle of "don't make me think" and could lead to confusion for those unable or unwilling to read instructions (98% or world population now), but for a person using this in the field somewhat regularly, could provide quick and useful information on "status" while maintaining an optimum user experience at night.
This is fascinating behavior that I've never seen in diamond specifically before. It's not thermoluminescence though, as the effect is ENHANCED by cryogenic temperatures. It's a type of photoluminescence probably similar to optically stimulated luminescence dating. I can see why one may be tempted to attribute it to TL due to the invariant nature of the different IR wavelengths used to produce it, but the temperature rise imparted by such dim light is far too small to be responsible. I demonstrate the same effect in a post on reddit with a piece of hackmanite submerged in liquid nitrogen which you can see if you search for the phrase "cryocooled hackmanite and sodalite". I use incoherent 850nm light in my demo. I am, up to now, not aware of almost anyone else into this kind of thing and would like to see more video of this material and get the name of the guy doing this experiment with you here!
hey I have a few IR illuminators on my rifles to play with, so if you send me the diamonds I'll do the tests for free, I'll just keep the diamonds ahahah
That'll depend on the capacity of your battery. Each individual wavelength consumes about 3-5W. So with an 18650 with 3500mAh it'd have a total of 3.7 * 3.5 = 13Wh. 32650 has about 24 Wh if I remember correctly
I love it! I really wanted to see the light on person, but wasn't able to make it out to Tucson. I really like the fact that the lights automatically turn off after a bit of time!
I accidentally discovered this video and delighted with your creativity! The magnificent idea of creating a UV flashlight of a wide spectrum with adjustable intensity. It would be ideal to increase the power of short ,mid -wave LEDs and also equip them with smooth adjustment. Then the scope of use of a flashlight would expand. Resin curing, disinfecting surfaces. Also on the side surface you can place an additional emitter of the visible range so that the flashlight can be used not only to observe fluorescent objects. To activate such a emitter, add another button. The backlighting buttons should be less bright. In the dark, this can interfere with observation. It is necessary to ensure the ability to completely turn off the backlight at all. It is also good to have a lock mode. The size of the battery 26650 is correct.
I will try to explain why the idea of using the LED of the visible range seems to me rational. This flashlight will be used in the dark. Perhaps in various mines or caves. Or in other dark places. Therefore, the light source is necessary. This means that the user must have another flashlight. And this is additional weight and certain inconvenience. If in the flashlight in addition to the LEDs of the UV range there will also be one or more LEDs of the visible spectrum, then you can use one device. There is a flashlight with UV LED, built in on the side, Fenix ld32uvc. It is designed to disinfect surfaces. But you can place visible LEDs and around the UV filter.
Thanks for putting the LEDs in the description! My curiosity has gotten the best of me ... and its all your fault. Ha ha ha I want to make some of these. Think I found a way to get the Bolb S6060-DR250s in my corner of the planet. What did you use for a driver if you don't mind me asking? Seems I need 7v 350 ma.
Dancelite makes a driver that can be easily modified if you're comfortable soldering/desoldering SMD components. Otherwise, their default current is 150mA if I remember correctly.
@@Raymond-Wu Modifying them would be the way to go because cutting the current in half will result in pretty sad output ... or possibly no output. I have never modified drivers before. Sooo kinda out of my element. I will look into Dancelite though!
@@11OBlitzO11 Unfortunately the 7V makes it hard to find an off the shelf component. Dancelite can be found under "17mm UVC Disinfection LEDs Boost 5-7V LED Driver Board 150mA Low Current 1MODE Circuit Board". Just switch out the component labeled "R330" using the formula .05/X. For example, .05/.330 gives the default 150mA
@@Raymond-Wu Your the best! I will definitely try this. Fluorescent rock hunting and collecting has forced me into developing my knowledge of electronics. I am still very much a noob but I am getting better. Making my own lights has been very satisfying though.
@@Raymond-Wu Found the driver. Found a flashlight host that will work (Convoy C8, which I think is what you are using.) Using your formula a .05/.143 would result in 349mA. So an R143 resistor? How do I track down one of these?
Amazing! Switch placement is good! I would opt for no illumination when out of use for the switches, and probably a red for in use. Big battery is a big yes for me. Lots of nice features here!
@@Raymond-Wu Considering how mid wave and short wave LED lights are like 300+ dollars. I imagine this will be a pretty penny. But considering this is the first of its kind its understandable. Anyway super cool you are doing this!
@@11OBlitzO11 that's way too expensive. That's the range I'd expect for LEDs intended for spectroscopy. Just look for Photon Wave LEDs. There are also Chinese companies that sell LEDs in those ranges but they're just repackaged Photon Wave chips with massively inflated specs
It would be amazing if this were upgraded from a 26650 to a 26800 battery. At the very least, an extension tube that would allow use of a 26800 would be great. I love usb charging, but it would be nice if the usb port was built into the threada of the tube, sealed BEHIND the oring. A bit more inconvenient, but much better at retaining the water resistance over time. If you can't change the port posiy, then please provide a replacement rubber plug for the port. I love the auxiliary lights on the switches! The way they function as a charge percentage indicator is wonderful! As well as the way the indicated which channels are on. I hope the green isn't too bright at night though. Green is the color of eyes are most sensitive to. Other wise, I'll be buying this light one releases no matter what!
Glad to hear you're excited for the light! I don't think 26800s are used enough in the mineral community to justify the additional cost of an extension. I've only seen them used in enthusiast flashlights. Port position is pretty set unfortunately. I prefer a setup like that as well for those same reasons but this is just easier to manufacture. You generally wouldn't be using this light underwater or in the rain anyways. As for the green LED... I forgot that when designing admittedly. Not too hard of a fix thankfully. Next iteration already done. Looks ok to my eyes but I'll have to try it out in a group environment at Tucson next year if I get a chance
Is there a way to know when they’re out in production for sale? Maybe an email or something? Definitely grabbing one when they’re ready. Love it. Thanks for the great video. 🙏🤙
"Fullwave UV LED Flashlight", I think there should be a rethink on this name, perhaps triwave or three band ? Someone may make a 220-370nm LED or something on day ? I certainly would like one.
WAAAAAAANNNNTTT!!!! I can't believe we are now truly in the era of fully solid-state panchromatic ultraviolet illumination. Wow. How are you filtering though? A ZWB3 for the SW and MW will block a lot of the 365 LW and heat up fast with probably half the radiated power being absorbed in the filter, while a ZWB2 will absorb all the SW and most of the MW only transmitting the LW. Is it a new special dichroic?
It's very similar to the dichroic that I've been using in my other lights. The peak transmission is actually around the MW point at ~320nm. Neither SW or LW is significantly disadvantaged. We're still dealing with a lot of transmission though with SW at nearly 80%. LW should be closer to 90%
No plans for new modes right now but it's an interesting idea. I'm not immediately sure how one would incorporate different phosphorescence times. It can be brief all the way to lasting for hours.
Would love to have something like this! The ramping seems especially useful, as it's always a weird posing act with different flashlights when I want to view samples that react to different wavelengths, with my longwave often overpowering the others in intensity. Are the green lights always on when not in use or is there an overall power toggle? I'm not a fan of green LED's in the dark. While they preserve more nightvision than blue light, they don't work nearly as well as red light. I'd almost prefer the buttons to be phosphorescent and maybe only red when active. As it currently is, I'd likely be covering my buttons with electrical tape and maybe adding single pinhole pricks over each button just to minimize the visibility of the button lights. IDEALLY, I'd prefer no indicator lights (or only temporary indicators) and just different colored phosphorescent buttons (or even potentiometer knobs! :P). Orange, green, and aqua, mirroring UV wavelength to visible wavelength counterparts. Though I do see the appeal for the indicator lights for charging purposes. Button positioning is fine. I prefer the idea of midwave being in the middle just for intuitive use when sharing with people who aren't into the hobby, but that's not a deal-breaker for me. As for battery type, I'd go with the highest capacity. While 18650's are my most commonly owned, I also have 21700's and 26650's, I imagine anyone wanting to use something this specialized though would be willing to invest in whatever battery type it took, so long as it's commonly available for purchase at the popular battery retail sites.
Green LEDs are always on. You present an interesting argument with the glow in the dark buttons. I don't think it works for collecting trips and viewing sessions as those tend to be at night. I imagine you'd have to remember to charge them up with a white light or something along those lines otherwise you would have a harder time finding the light and switches. I'll have to think about it some more. Covering the buttons with tape will likely have to be the go-to if your eyes are more sensitive to the color green. Currently I don't think there's a point in potentiometer knobs as only the LW LEDs are powerful enough to justify that. Thanks for the feedback! I really like the mirroring of UV => visible. Really cool idea. Earlier on in the ideation process I had considered colored LEDs but couldn't come to a consensus on what colors to make
Super cool. Just some ideas you may have already thought about but with LED lights one thing that always bugs me is a brighter hotspot in center so if you can find a way to offer a more diffused beam projection - even better! I think I heard something about orange-peel reflectors being better for that(?) Another idea is the ability to "zoom/focus" the beam out. Perhaps a workaround for hotspots. May also be cool to offer a version which uses three mini knob-switched potentiometers which allow you to independently fade each of the three ranges for fine tuning. People like to twiddle knobs. Taking that to the next level would be a demo mode which automatically faded / flashed between all three. I have also used a white strobe with fluorescent minerals before and it makes the rocks look like they are pulsing. Crazy stuff. Might offer a larger chassis version for more electronics and also a stripped down model with less features for lower cost.
Current plans are for a bright hotspot as these LEDs are still relatively low power. No plans for variations at this time. However, all my ideas, comments, and thought processes are out in the open if someone else wanted to make a light like this. I believe zoomable flashlights work best when there's one LED but they're super expensive to make for SW. You have to 1) use more expensive quartz glass and 2) find someone that can make it a convex lens.
Beautiful work, Raymond. Congratulations on this. Some shutoff for the always-on power buttons would be useful, as mentioned, but if backing off of the tail cap is sufficient, perhaps that's all that's needed. As far as order, my brain will always be looking for LW-MW-SW, left to right. But if it was any other order, it might take a whole 10 minutes to permanently acclimate. Since the 32650 is the same length as an 18650 or 21650, an available adapter tube for each would be easy and useful since we're all awash with those cells already. I suspect everyone would be more comfortable at a show or in the field with a spare, charged battery. We did not see the business end of this flashlight, filtered or not?
Oops looks like I did forget to show a good view of the front end of the light. I had already shown it in a previous FB post so it wasn't on my radar. Yup a slight backing of the tail cap is what I had planned. Your order for the switches isn't even something I had considered. I was going to label the buttons but it's too expensive to do. Plastic mold costs and all. The battery question is actually to see what adapters to make. I know people will have 18650s but I need to see what's in second place for the intermediary adapter. So it'd be something like 32650 -> 21700 and 21700 -> 18650 included with the light.
@@Raymond-Wu could you laser on the markings to the flashlight body next to each buttons location? Laser engraving is pretty fast and easy compared to molding.
@@alexdrockhound9497 I had considered laser engraving but it doesn't make sense for the application of the light since it'll mostly be used in the dark.
the only concern i can immediately think of: I really do enjoy USB recharging (especially USB-C) but often times that means that if your battery dies, you have to sit and wait for it to recharge. Most lights that recharge this way dont have standard battery connections that allow one to just swap in a fresh new 18650/26650 battery. Can this run while charging? That could be a neat feature. Is there a lockout option where one can turn the light off completely so the LEDs arent on when a person is traveling? Those LEDs being on all the time would drain the battery after a week or so of storage. some flashlights i have also have illuminated buttons and i have to turn the battery end cap to disconnect it so they wont be dead next time I want to use them.
a feature i might suggest is long holding two buttons down for 3 seconds will "lock out" the light turning off the button LEDs, and then a 3 second long hold on any one button will unlock it for normal full use.
i really like 26650 and 18650. Id be happy with either one. I honestly would like 36650 also, but i think im an abnormality in that respect. I LOVE long runtimes, and bigger batteries often can keep up with high draw for better as well. Id bet that most people would just want 18650 though. A person might be able to make an adapter that could run with either 3x18650 in a triangle shaped insert or a 36650 if the geometry works correctly. Id also be ok with an option to have an extension to let it run on two 36650s but again, im weird.
Thanks for your feedback! It looks like this is something that I forgot to mention! The light has replaceable batteries so you're more than welcome to swap it out. I didn't plan on making the light usable while it's charging as that tends to wear out the port much faster than it sitting and charging. A battery swap is much faster to do. Lockout is done physically. A slight twist of the tail or head is all you'll need. I believe that's what you described with your other lights. Feel free to ask any other questions!
@@Raymond-Wu I see - I’m just wondering why most UV-light recommended for amber-hunting is at 395nm? Do you think that 255nm will make the hunt easier? I mean if it’ll make it easier to spot?
@@ownax4 Any of them should work but what will actually matter is uv output (usually called radiant output by manufacturers). The more uv the brighter the response. It just so happens that wavelengths at the 365nm+ have been commercially developed for decades longer so you'll easily find 1000mW LEDs there but never with 255nm LEDs. Besides that it just depends on how focused the beam is. You can look towards regular white lights to find what you prefer.
its so nice seeing UV-LED technology advancing so quickly. Just a few years ago they were in their infancy. I cant wait to see where they are at in 10 more years.
It's going to depend on whether or not 255nm finds an industrial use. As is, there's only one company making high output 255nm dies. If they go bankrupt or discontinue their 255nm line it'll be exponentially harder to get ahold of them. Think $100k+ custom orders
Pretty cool they have all these different wavelength LEDS now. I don't feel like any wavelength in between short and mid is worth getting though, (at least not from what was presented here). But hell having more tools in the tool kit is just fun.
We won't know if they're worth getting until more people try it out. There could be activators that only work in narrow bands that we couldn't hit with mercury bulbs. As is, they still fluoresce minerals in interesting ways!
@@Raymond-Wu You have a point. If you find one that behaves very differently under one of these odd wavelengths make another video, I would love to see!
I have been doing the same recently but mostly at the other end of the spectrum with 440, 400, 385, 365, and 255nm sources. I am filtering the blue and violet of the sources out with a pair of yellow goggles. The differences in excitation energy inducing different fluorescence energy is fascinating. What you have here is probably the closest we can get to a tunable continuum source. What is the price for all the wavelengths together and can you give radiated power output values for each wavelength? Also, are these all filtered?
LEDs range in price from $12-30. Radiant output for these lights in their respective configurations ranges from around 100mW to 300mW. All filtered with custom dichroics. I've used those types of glasses as well except the pair I used only filtered up to around 450nm iirc. Pretty interesting but I don't recall finding too much. I was primarily investigating using 395nm+ LEDs for hunting rocks since they're much more efficient than 365nm.
@@Raymond-Wu Very interesting, thank you. Can you say a little more about how your dichroics are holding up against solarization? Will you be offering these new wavelengths on your site?
@@Muonium1 About the same as you'd expect from ZWB glass. Currently working on an upgrade that's much more solarization resistant. I won't be offering these wavelengths on my site. Nowhere near enough demand.
Can you say more about this? I have personally looked into potential sources for super deep vacuum or near vacuum UV such as excimer and the 185 line from mercury, but never found a way to clean up the output of these sources with filtering. Are you filtering the light at all? Can you do a video on your setup or give details on the make and source of the device? thanks
I have used the 222nm Excimer tube lights with their supplied filter, mostly the 60watt tube. The supplied filters are to cut any 240nm & longer as this is the very dangerous UVC range. I have tried the 222nm Excimer tube lights because they say it is safe for humans, but I still cover up with a full face mask & long clothes. The excitation is quite different to say 254nm. I keep looking for better filters.
@@colinbm2010 This is extremely interesting to me and I implore you to do a video on it!! To my knowledge no one else is doing this anywhere. What is the filter material?? What is the manufacturer name? When I looked into these as a possibility it seemed to me that they all were emitting too much blue and violet visible light that would interfere with fluorescence observation, my long search for an effective filter was fruitless and I found nothing. PLEASE show us exactly how you are doing this....I'm truly fascinated
I have been using these tubes with filters from suntechleds I also add a good Zeiss T* UV blocking filter on the lens, make sure you buy from a reputable supplier & there are Chinese fakes ! @@Muonium1
I just wanted to inform you that what you are holding in the video is a HEART. I'm not going to go into great detail, BUT the triangular shape (much like the shape of NEVADA) is EXACTLY the form a heart takes when it is completely empty. It will have a flat back to it, which is where the heart sat/sits on a "pedestal" and fuses, so it does not move around inside. The pointy end down. I have one made of a light purple amethyst. It is 100% a HEART. Here is a clip I made showing the shape of the heart: ru-vid.comUgkx7u65ZUKsY6DZ1vJKRqNqc0Bms3ZvLSFH
7 years latter: Legend say he is still grinding it. UPDATE: After 3 month of constant grinding et get extremely muscular The 2 ladys got attracted to him Both get pregnant All because of a nerdy hobby, who would have taught!
Hi Eric, great hearing from you again. Feel free to leave a post here. Using it to reference preorders facebook.com/groups/FLMmart/permalink/4578776692183290/?sale_post_id=4578776692183290&app=fbl
The visible light question is outside my area of knowledge. Likely not impurity fluorescence though as there aren't any signs of imperfections from what I could see. Granted, I wasn't looking at it with an SEM at the um scale or anything. If I had to guess, I'd say it's the fluorescence of the phosphor being used. Lastly, yes, filters can cut the amount of visible light to nearly zero
@@Raymond-Wu OK well I kind of -need- want one even though they're still crazy expensive, but even though you don't want to say who the supplier is can you provide some more info on your site like center wavelength, FWHM bandwidth, battery lifetime, etc. and can you recommend a filter type like ZWB2 or something?
@@Muonium1 Totally understandable. The reason I went down this path of LEDs was because I could build them myself. That was true even when I had bulbed lights. Always built them myself. All of that information will eventually be open sourced. I plan on making a comprehensive video explaining the UVC LED space, my design decisions, and radiometric data. Can't talk about filters though.
