What is the purpose of UV flashlights?

[Monocrom]

Stain removal light??
Tide To-Go Bleach pen + quite a bit of elbow grease. = No stain!!!

 

[Voider of Warranties]

I got a Photon UV coin cell light last week off Amazon.

I keep the Photon Freedom Micro - UV Covert Nose on my "small edc items" pocket clip. Good choice.

 

[fred a stare see]

What is the purpose(s) of UV flashlights? I use my flashlight to look for bedbugs between the hotel matress and boxspring. Does a UV light help in this respect?

I used to volunteer for Emergency Management events, we had trouble getting people lined up, while parking them in fields at night, many people would not pay any attention to folks with smaller white lights or just couldn't pick them out.
my homebuilt 5w UV maglight was a real eye catcher, quite bright and "blue" and you couldn't miss it among a hundred cars with all different lights. it really caught the eye. it was parking magic!
So for something different mine served that purpose. my sleeping bag never had bed bugs, my son and i camped lots of BLM in the west about seven states and went on night hikes with uv lights, only ever saw one scorpion the whole time, saw lots of other bugs that reacted to uv. you can fire up a firefly
something about scorpions and moonlight and getting seen, gooble it

 

[bullfrog]

To gross out the wife and kids, of course, when I show them what the toilet and bathroom walls look like 😬

 

[NeilP]

I use mine for night time illumination when using a nightsight device

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I used to volunteer for Emergency Management events, we had trouble getting people lined up, while parking them in fields at night, many people would not pay any attention to folks with smaller white lights or just couldn't pick them out.
my homebuilt 5w UV maglight was a real eye catcher, quite bright and "blue" and you couldn't miss it among a hundred cars with all different lights. it really caught the eye. it was parking magic!
So for something different mine served that purpose. my sleeping bag never had bed bugs, my son and i camped lots of BLM in the west about seven states and went on night hikes with uv lights, only ever saw one scorpion the whole time, saw lots of other bugs that reacted to uv. you can fire up a firefly
something about scorpions and moonlight and getting seen, gooble it

Pics of your 5w UV maglight please.

 

[Elijah]

Some common uses:

• Detecting urine (pet stains or to show little boys why aim is important).
• Detect counterfeit bills
• Check if a drivers license is authentic
• Finding phosphorescent rocks
• Looking for arthropods (many insects/spiders/crustaceans see in the UV wavelength, so they have developed "coloring" that is only visible in the UV spectrum, but phosphoresce slightly into the human-visible spectrum).
• To shop for things at a store in preparation for a black light party (a surprising number of pigments in plastics and rubbers are phosphorescent).
• For detailed work with UV-cure epoxy.

Many other uses, but those are just some off the top of my head.

 

[A. Justice]

I use it to check currency, its not foolproof, but its much easier to spot counterfeits. Also makes it easy to find small objects dropped in a carpet, and it can show some drywall / home damage id used correctly. Its also great to find spots you missed cleaning the kitchen or bathroom (when you look at your bathroom, no matter how clean you think it is, get ready for a shock). I've just started using it to find cool rocks (if that's your thing), there are fossils and gems all over here, and a lot of insects light up in odd ways. I'm sure there are professional uses for them, but mine is just a fun toy. Definitively get the UV filter as well It dims the light a bit, but colors are much more vivid.

 

[flashlighte]

What is the purpose(s) of UV flashlights? I use my flashlight to look for bedbugs between the hotel matress and boxspring. Does a UV light help in this respect?

Nope. No need for a uv light to look for them. A regular flashlight will do, you just need to know where to look. If the infestation is prominent you will smell them too. Good luck!

 

[Brian Ski]

Well, A comment from the new guy.... And since this has not been brought up... Rust Oleum makes a glow in the dark spray paint.

TST My daughter a few years ago ask me what I wanted for Christmas. (She was in her 20s) I told her a concrete alien. I told her not to buy one. They are about $1000. She made one. It was a lot of work. It stands about 5 foot high. I love it. It weighs 100s of pounds. We set it out in the yard. They said they used glow in the dark paint in the concrete. Eh doesn't work well. Glow in dark paint need to be in a sunny room and then brought out into the dark and lasts for a few minutes. Well... I sprayed the almond eyes flat black and covered them with masking tape. I got several cans of glow in the dark paint. The stuff is pretty clear so it really doesn't show up in the day time. I bought a 120 volt UV post light for the yard. This guy glows BRIGHT Alien green!!!! I bet you can see it over an 1/8 mile away down the highway. The black eyes that do not glow make it look just like an alien. When I mention it to people when I am out I get the "YOU are the guy with the Alien!!"

BTW black light does not work for the glow in the dark paint. But the right UV does. It has to be the right nm? spectrum.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Well, A comment from the new guy.... And since this has not been brought up... Rust Oleum makes a glow in the dark spray paint.

TST My daughter a few years ago ask me what I wanted for Christmas. (She was in her 20s) I told her a concrete alien. I told her not to buy one. They are about $1000. She made one. It was a lot of work. It stands about 5 foot high. I love it. It weighs 100s of pounds. We set it out in the yard. They said they used glow in the dark paint in the concrete. Eh doesn't work well. Glow in dark paint need to be in a sunny room and then brought out into the dark and lasts for a few minutes. Well... I sprayed the almond eyes flat black and covered them with masking tape. I got several cans of glow in the dark paint. The stuff is pretty clear so it really doesn't show up in the day time. I bought a 120 volt UV post light for the yard. This guy glows BRIGHT Alien green!!!! I bet you can see it over an 1/8 mile away down the highway. The black eyes that do not glow make it look just like an alien. When I mention it to people when I am out I get the "YOU are the guy with the Alien!!"

BTW black light does not work for the glow in the dark paint. But the right UV does. It has to be the right nm? spectrum.

The 365nm wavelength is best for most glow-in-the-dark materials and charges up GITD pigments quite well.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I use it to check currency, its not foolproof, but its much easier to spot counterfeits. Also makes it easy to find small objects dropped in a carpet, and it can show some drywall / home damage id used correctly. Its also great to find spots you missed cleaning the kitchen or bathroom (when you look at your bathroom, no matter how clean you think it is, get ready for a shock). I've just started using it to find cool rocks (if that's your thing), there are fossils and gems all over here, and a lot of insects light up in odd ways. I'm sure there are professional uses for them, but mine is just a fun toy. Definitively get the UV filter as well It dims the light a bit, but colors are much more vivid.

If you're getting int fluorescent mineral hunting, make sure you have a shortwave UVC light as well as a longwave unit. Most fluorescent minerals glow (and some phosphoresce after turning the light off) under shortwave UV.

 

[Buff]

The things you learn on this forum never ceases to amaze me.

 

[Lone Star]

Bought one to find cat pee spots in the carpeting a few years ago when Our cat had a litter.

 

[fred a stare see]

Pics of your 5w UV maglight please.

talking 20 years ago, sorry long gone

 

[ericjohn]

If anyone else did not mention this:

I've used UV flashlights for detecting a refrigerant leak in an HVAC system, of which I confirmed one on my Dad's old truck (a 2006 Ford F150 that he has since parted ways with) and checking for mold in my parents' house after Hurricane Ida, which, thank God, there was none.

I haven't traveled to the point where I needed to stay overnight in a hotel or motel, but another practical use for UV flashlights would be to check and see exactly how clean the bedclothes are.

 

[mattw]

I built my initially to glue in trits, but just can't get them anymore. I have used it to glue other glass items and my daughter has dried UV fingernail polish with it. Great for looking around fish tank and as an illuminator for a full spectrum camera.

 

[bobonit]

They are great for finding hotel room throw pillows that were used nefariously.

 

[Monocrom]

...I haven't traveled to the point where I needed to stay overnight in a hotel or motel, but another practical use for UV flashlights would be to check and see exactly how clean the bedclothes are.

Some things....... You don't want to know.

 

[Buff]

True but i change my sheets every Friday. I will use the UV to see what the level is when i put them on and what they look like a week later with maybe a check every day just for the fun of it.
I did order the OLight Arkfeld Pro and should be here tomorrow. Got the black/blue clip with Cool White.