# Leak detection using UV light



## killforfood (Mar 9, 2007)

My truck sprang an AC leak and I'm loosing refrigerant.
I'm going to charge the system with some flourescing dye and need a good UV light source to illuminate the leak.
Autozone sells a cheezy little pen light but I'd like something a little brighter.
I might stop by home depot and see if there's something I can do with a flourescent bug zapper bulb but I would prefer a more powerful flashlight.
Any suggestions?


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## cutlerylover (Mar 9, 2007)

Here is what lighthound offers in the UV department...Although there are other lights out there including UV LED upgrades for maglites...

http://www.lighthound.com/index.asp?PageAction=PRODSEARCH&txtSearch=uv&Page=1


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## PhotonWrangler (Mar 10, 2007)

Bug zapper bulbs are unfiltered and throw a lot of visible blue light. They don't work well for fluorescing invisible dyes at all. If you can't wait for mailorder, you're much better off buying a battery powered UV fluorescent light at Wal-Mart or Spencer's Gifts.


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## cutlerylover (Mar 10, 2007)

yeah if your pressed for time you can even buy the pet stain remover kit...Somethgin like $10 at the store...some of them come with a blacklight to find the pet stains...that would be a quick simple solution...plus if you have pets its an even better deal! :thumbsup:


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## killforfood (Mar 10, 2007)

cutlerylover,
I jumped over to lighthound site (thanks for the link) the 12 led is dirt cheap and the review link was sounding really good right up until they started talking about how brightly it showed their dried bodily fluids.

PhotonWrangler,
Good point, I don't need visible light drowning out the UV.


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## Carpenter (Mar 10, 2007)

Cutlerylover,

I got received one of these 12LED lights from LH. It works and as always, I received it on Tuesday after ordering it Monday AM.


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## dw51 (Mar 10, 2007)

I'll offer my 2c worth of experience as a former auto technician. 

When you are using your UV light, wear yellow safety glasses. The flourescent dye will show up even brighter than to the naked eye. The cheap yellow shooting glasses found at most stores will work fine.

Good luck!


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## cutlerylover (Mar 10, 2007)

killforfood said:


> cutlerylover,
> I jumped over to lighthound site (thanks for the link) the 12 led is dirt cheap and the review link was sounding really good right up until they started talking about how brightly it showed their dried bodily fluids.
> 
> 
> .


 
lol, well don't go snooping around in the bedroom, you might get grossed out, lol...Oh god, bring that to the next hotel room you stay in, you will; edn up sleeping in the car...


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## cutlerylover (Mar 10, 2007)

Carpenter said:


> Cutlerylover,
> 
> I got received one of these 12LED lights from LH. It works and as always, I received it on Tuesday after ordering it Monday AM.


 
I love lighthound!



Good tip DW51...they have those yellow safety glasses in the sporting section of walmart real cheap, used for shooting bb guns...


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## Lobo (Mar 10, 2007)

killforfood said:


> cutlerylover,
> I jumped over to lighthound site (thanks for the link) the 12 led is dirt cheap and the review link was sounding really good right up until they started talking about how brightly it showed their dried bodily fluids.


 
Hehe, sorry about that.  
But come on, who doesnt want to play CSI! 
But I'm not sure if this light is that suited for doing that, cause I passed the bathroom test with flying colours, and believe me, I'm a pig (or at least my mom tells me every time she visits). Anyway, still a great light suited for other tasks, especially for the cost.

Oh, and agree with Cutlerylover, Lighthound rules!


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## cutlerylover (Mar 10, 2007)

Lobo said:


> Hehe, sorry about that.
> But come on, who doesnt want to play CSI!
> But I'm not sure if this light is that suited for doing that, cause I passed the bathroom test with flying colours, and believe me, I'm a pig (or at least my mom tells me every time she visits). Anyway, still a great light suited for other tasks, especially for the cost.
> 
> Oh, and agree with Cutlerylover, Lighthound rules!


 
At the risk of sounding gross, I think "protein" stains are easily visible with UV light...more so than urine...This is somethgin I have heard, although no tests have been done and no tests will be done anytime soon, by me anyway, lol


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## Lobo (Mar 10, 2007)

cutlerylover said:


> At the risk of sounding gross, I think "protein" stains are easily visible with UV light...more so than urine...This is somethgin I have heard, although no tests have been done and no tests will be done anytime soon, by me anyway, lol


 
LOL
Hell, we've come so far allready grossing out this thread to, so no point for me to stop now. I never tried it on "protein" stains actually, but everybody assumes so when you mention bodily fluids. Blood(but found out later that it's not supposed to glow), saliva, and urine(my bathroom) doesnt seem to show up, at least with my light. Or I'm cleanlier than I thought. But heard that it can depend on the wavelenght of the UV-light, think mine was too long. But it works fine for everything else, currency, stamps etc.

Sorry for the thread jacking.


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## cutlerylover (Mar 10, 2007)

Yeah when I hear bodily fluids I think sperm 1st, then blood, then urine...I remember reading online a list of the top ten worse hotels to stay in, and they used blacklights to look for stains of all kinds in the room...Im not sure if they were cheapo blacklights or not but they did find ALOT of stains, from all kinds of liquids...

I remember back about 3 years ago I was at a friends house and he had just gotten a blacklight poster and a blacklight and he was chekcing it ut, then he looked at me and had a weird look on his face...He said I had something on my teeth...lol, I had forgotten, then I was 10 I fell off my bike and busted my front teeth, they broke in half, the nerves were dead so I have feelign in my front 2 teeth on top, but they capped them...In blacklight the caps glow purple, but my real theeth all glow green so it looked like I had somethgin all over my teeth, lol...freaked me out too at 1st because I had forgotten about myself...its been a long time since it happened...


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## killforfood (Jun 6, 2007)

I've been meaning to post the outcome to my AC problem for some time so here it is.
I ordered the UV light from Lighthound and was pleasantly suprised at how quickly it arrived. I spent the next 1/2 hour playing with some UV dye.




















Well all good fun must come to an end so I added some dye and partially recharged my trucks AC. It didn't take long to find since the leak was fairly large and showed up at night very brightly. I quickly replaced the offending O-ring, fully recharged and the system has worked just fine since.
Now if I could just keep the kids from running the batteries down.
These things are just plain fun.
Thanks Joel.


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