# Blacklight revisited : UV LED VS. FL VS. MV - output quality



## jeffheart08 (May 11, 2011)

A few years back I posted a thread trying to compare the types of available UV Light. I am interested in seeing if anyone has updated input into LED technology now that 4 years have gone by since that thread and the LED's are more powerful.

More to the point : Aside from the pro level fixtures like the Wildfires, has anyone had experience with fixtures such as the lower level UV LED fixtures such as the AMDJ ECO UV BAR and the AMDJ UVLED BAR16. These are 1 watt UV LED's (18 and 16 respectively). Relating strictly to the output, has anyone seen these fixtures side by side with the AMDJ 400watt Mercury Vapor UV Cannon and the Elation UV Wash, or even the 4 foot long FL Tubes? It's hard to compare given the fact that they have different beam angles and each may be better for a specific purpose, but trying to make a generally reasonable assumption is my goal. I have not seen any of these LED blacklights in person yet. Do the 1 watt versions compare in UV output potential vs the other types? 

As an example scenerio, say we have a 50 x 30 room for a black light party and everyone is wearing white. Does the LED blacklight emit good looking UV light that will make the white clothing really pop? Or do they older technologies still have the edge? As an old skooler, I'm all about the clean look of Mercury Vapor. I currently would like to side by side the UV Cannon, the 4 Ft. Black Light tube, and the UVLED BAR16.

Jeff


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## bishopthomas (May 11, 2011)

I don't have hands on experience with LED UV's but have gone through this back and forth myself. I looked at a lot of YouTube videos and read a lot on here. With LED's you're still going to see the light itself, whereas with a true blacklight all you'll see is the whites. I was considering buying the ADJ UV Canon because I didn't like the look of LED's and couldn't afford the Wildfires. In the end I decided not to settle for anything less than the best and rented the Wildfires. They didn't let me down.


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## JD (May 11, 2011)

In decending order of both price and quality of output, black-light is produced in 4 basic ways:


1) Mercury arc tube with filter glass in fixture (Wildfires) Great pure output, slow start, high price


2) Mercury Vapor lamp with woods glass outer bulb. (UV canon) Lots of good output, very slow start, much lower price.


3) Florescent bulb with coating. (Elation UV wash) good output, fast start, low price.

4) LED UV fair output, instant start, higher price. *


* OK, what I have noticed with LED units, and this may be changing, but for some reason, the LED units produce a light that is less "reactive" with UV paints. It may just be that the wavelength they put out misses the reactive wavelength of the paints. I just don't know. 

For now, if start up time is not a problem, but budget is, go with the UV canon. If you need a fast start, go with the Elation, if you need to strobe it, go LED.


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## Wood4321 (May 12, 2011)

JD said:


> 4) LED UV fair output, instant start, higher price. *
> 
> * OK, what I have noticed with LED units, and this may be changing, but for some reason, the LED units produce a light that is less "reactive" with UV paints. It may just be that the wavelength they put out misses the reactive wavelength of the paints. I just don't know.
> 
> For now, if start up time is not a problem, but budget is, go with the UV canon. If you need a fast start, go with the Elation, if you need to strobe it, go LED.



John,
I believe the reason the LED units are less reactive, is that they are not blacklight at all, merely a deep purple LED.
At the present time, I have not run across a manufacturer that makes a "real" LED blacklight.

Joshua Wood


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## soundlight (May 12, 2011)

The only manufacturer to have a real LED Blacklight (true UV LEDs) is Altman. They demo'd their unit in my shop a couple months back and I was blown away. It even hurt my eyes like a blacklight does. It is very, very expensive though - mainly due to the cost of the true UV LEDs (apparently the chemistry required is not cheap from what I've been told). So if you have the money to blow, the Altman Spectra UV 30 is your unit. However, any of the other LED blacklights are as stated merely a deep purple and thusly not anything useful in actually making white shirts glow. There will be almost no glow at all from LED blacklights other than the high-dollar Altman unit.


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## LuxMax (May 14, 2011)

Also, something not a lot of people realize until too late: "UV" LEDs, and this goes mostly for the DJ market type units with 5 or 10mm discrete LEDs, will severely drop intensity after a few hundred hours due to the UV light actually breaking down the plastic body of the LED itself. They actually self-destruct!
Altman uses a different type as stated before that has a clear, gel-like dome over the emitter which is less sensitive to the effects of UV light. 
The Altman LED fixtures are excellent, and if you can afford them, are the way to go


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## gafftaper (May 14, 2011)

I've got 6 Elation UV Wash units. They put out a reasonable amount of UV instantly and reach max output in about a minute. The overall output is impressive and they are dirt cheap compared to the other options. Yeah they aren't as bright as a Wildfire, but consider how many Elation Washes ($150) you could buy for the price of one Wildfire (400W long throw, $2000)? That's 13 Elation washes vs. one Wildfire! True there are some applications where the long throw capabilities of the Wildfire mean the Elation won't do the job. But for most applications, just flood the stage with a bunch of cheap Elations and call the job done.


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## Wood4321 (May 14, 2011)

I really like the wildfire 2' effects master fixtures.
Incredibly bright, and very reasonably priced.
But I haven't seen the Elation unit in person.
It does have a higher wattage draw. But I would be very curious if anyone had seen them side by side.


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## smigit2002 (May 16, 2011)

The university I work at recently purchased two ADJ ECO UV Bars and two ADJ UVLED Bar16s.
First show we used them on was a small black light party. They were used along side traditional Chauvet 400W UV Canons and 4' UV tubes.
Honestly, it's really a matter of opinion as to whether they are good or not. Yes, they will make white pop. As Mr. Wood stated, they are not producing true UV. It is truly a deep purple.
That's not to say it doesn't work well.

The Eco Bars are very bright, but have a very wide beam angle (probably greater than 120˚). They are useful if you can distribute them overhead, and with their extremely low price, this probably would not be a problem. Biggest thing is lack of control, but if you're accustomed to MV, this wouldn't be a problem.

The UVLED Bar 16 is a cute little brick, fully DMX controllable. Biggest thing to know about this one is that is has diffusers in front of each LED which spread the beam very wide. Two of these fixtures were able to easily wash our ballroom floor that is around 80x80'.

I would like to say these UV fixtures are much brighter than the conventional equivalents, but, as they are producing non-UV light, this is somewhat arbitrary. I think the biggest issue will be the amount of visible light produced, but it'll be something to look at.


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## 2mojo2 (May 16, 2011)

gafftaper said:


> I've got 6 Elation UV Wash units. They put out a reasonable amount of UV instantly and reach max output in about a minute. The overall output is impressive and they are dirt cheap compared to the other options. Yeah they aren't as bright as a Wildfire, but consider how many Elation Washes ($150) you could buy for the price of one Wildfire (400W long throw, $2000)? That's 13 Elation washes vs. one Wildfire! True there are some applications where the long throw capabilities of the Wildfire mean the Elation won't do the job. But for most applications, just flood the stage with a bunch of cheap Elations and call the job done.




I agree> The Elations are not top quality, but they deliver lots of blacklight for the buck.
They also offer low power consumption, relatively cool operation, and quick start-up.


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