Write a Review (requires login)
I got one of these just to mess around with. It is easily the brightest black light I have ever seen -- in my opinion, brighter than the full-size T12 fluorescent tubes. You can easily see objects fluoresce even in daylight.
The previous reviewer is correct, it gets hot quickly without some kind of heat sink. The bottom of the aluminum PCB already has a thermally-conductive pad, so no need for messy thermal paste. I mounted it on a 4" x 6" x 1/4" thick aluminum plate using the 5 screw holes in PCBs. This is enough to maintain a reasonable temperature during prolonged use. It also solves the problem of its crazy shape and provides some sanely-spaced mounting holes at the corners of the plate.
This UV light is very bright. DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE LIGHT. I believe looking directly at the light could cause eye injury or damage. Second, the unit gets very hot, consider a way to control the heat such as a heat sink. The unit has an adhesive backing and mounting holes, in my estimation precisely to attach the light to a heat sink. I had one lead un-solder itself within 5 minutes. A very bright UV source!
Would like to know if possible if there would be any changes in performance besides brightness if this were operated at a lower voltage? If it is as bright as a T12 Fluorescent lamp, that would be excessive for some applications. Powering it with lower voltages could take care of this and lower heat dissipation, as long as there are no significant negative side effects.
Thanks
[ALL ELECTRONICS RESPONSE: Sure, if you lower the voltage it won't be as hot or as bright. There shouldn't be any significant negative effects, other than it will be less intense.]