Selling a fake sterilising light would be bad enough at any other time, but doing it during a global pandemic when people might try using it to sterilise things like face masks is just unscrupulous.
This appears to be a cheap near-UV disco light commonly sold on eBay in various colour options.
Of the three bands of UV, UVC is considered the germicidal one and there is little evidence to suggest that UVA or near UV (violet!) is effective against bacteria or viruses.
Real UVC LEDs are available, but due to the extreme nature of UVC they have a special construction based on metal and presumably quartz glass to protect the LED chip while allowing the UVC to shine through. The wavelength tends to be on the transition from UVB to UVC and because LEDs without phosphor tend to be a very specific single wavelength there are often visible LEDs used in the circuit so you are aware that the UVC LED is active, as otherwise it will be emitting light outwith the visible spectrum.
The real thing is very expensive, so it's unlikely you're going to get 12 of them in a disco light housing for £16. If the same UVC LED chips were used in traditional plastic and resin housings they would be damaged quickly by the ability of UVC light to break chemical bonds.
The quoted wavelength is a UVC peak associated with real mercury vapour tubes and not one that is easily achievable with LED technology. The efficiency and lifespan of LED based UVC sources is also much lower than an equivalent mercury vapour type tube. (The clear fluorescent style tubes.)
I've contacted the seller who indignantly announced that it was UV because it's purple. I'm inclined to think that this light is not germicidal at all.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
This appears to be a cheap near-UV disco light commonly sold on eBay in various colour options.
Of the three bands of UV, UVC is considered the germicidal one and there is little evidence to suggest that UVA or near UV (violet!) is effective against bacteria or viruses.
Real UVC LEDs are available, but due to the extreme nature of UVC they have a special construction based on metal and presumably quartz glass to protect the LED chip while allowing the UVC to shine through. The wavelength tends to be on the transition from UVB to UVC and because LEDs without phosphor tend to be a very specific single wavelength there are often visible LEDs used in the circuit so you are aware that the UVC LED is active, as otherwise it will be emitting light outwith the visible spectrum.
The real thing is very expensive, so it's unlikely you're going to get 12 of them in a disco light housing for £16. If the same UVC LED chips were used in traditional plastic and resin housings they would be damaged quickly by the ability of UVC light to break chemical bonds.
The quoted wavelength is a UVC peak associated with real mercury vapour tubes and not one that is easily achievable with LED technology. The efficiency and lifespan of LED based UVC sources is also much lower than an equivalent mercury vapour type tube. (The clear fluorescent style tubes.)
I've contacted the seller who indignantly announced that it was UV because it's purple. I'm inclined to think that this light is not germicidal at all.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
http://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.
UVC DMX Disco light?
NFT cryptobros: I'll take 10
‘ Gleetings again, Clive, from my Chinese Counterpart😃
Dozens of fake "germicidal" uv lamps are sold every minute, mainly from China. Have personally tested more than 10 such lamps and all but one were UVA-UVB lamps. The one that emitted uvc had four leds of which only one was actually uvc, and that one led was not strong enough for effective disinfection…
Not surprised but yea this is the kind of information that needs to be given out. Thanks for sharing this
I feel like whenever you discover a fake product, you should put the seller's name clearly in the video title.
Are 395nm leds dangerous to your eyes ?
His Name is Clive and He's a Great Big Bear, E I E I O 🙂
And it's made in China
ha ha 😁😁😁
I actually use this as a disco light, but it wasn’t advertised to disinfect. Typical fake marketing on this one. Thanks for taking your time to review this.
Here’s some interesting info about genuine UVC LEDs. This is a copy/paste of a conversation I had with some fellow electronics/photonics nerds regarding this technology. A lot of us hobbyists and professionals online, in places like the laser pointer forum LPF and budget light forum BLF, and others.
Clive, I think a cheap Spectrometer would be a cool DIY build. Like the one shown on “les’s lab YouTube channel” Not really necessary, but it would be a fun build, and I’ve seen several instances where you’ve wanted to measure the wavelength of light. Once you have a spectrometer…,you can’t imagine all of the incredible uses!
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Here is the copied info…Maybe it’ll help some folks….. and it’s just interesting stuff regardless!
All genuine UVC LEDs have a quartz/sapphire glass window and/or ceramic Gold plated body. This is necessary because UVC easily damages Plastics and other materials used in UVB and all other LEDs. Therefore if the window wasn’t quartz, it would quickly degrade and discolor.
I’ve Bought and tested close to 100 different UV LEDs over the past few years… Including deep UV (UVC) i’ve tested everything from the dirt cheap Chinese knock off‘s, to the highest end chips costing $100 or more from Nichia and other quality manufacturers. (usually as a sample or with a big discount because I can’t afford $100 for a single LED 😂)
I’m not a professional optics engineer, but I have an industrial electronics servicing business and lab… so already had the equipment. I was interested in this stuff for my own hobby and professional uses. And it was fun as hell!! UV photonics technology is super interesting, even to regular folks Who aren’t nerds.
I’ve always dabbled in optics and lasers. I spent several years putting together a professional optical “breadboard” and test bench. All dirt cheap from government and Academic auctions. It really is the golden age of science and electronics! Over $20,000 worth of optical equipment, and decommissioned military/medical/industrial lasers. Photonics and laser stuff is about the most expensive hobby there is. Besides burning money 😁 A simple mirror, lens, or optical mount can be hundreds of dollars new. no way I could’ve afforded it. But I paid pennies on the dollar! Or less. Government auctions are awesome.
There are genuine deep UV LEDs being made in China that are pretty darn cheap. $1-$2 each! Pretty low power but decent quality.
But UVC LED technology is still so new, that the output powers are exceptionally low when compared to UVB. So you need an array of about 25 LEDs to approach timely “sanitizing“ power. Which is not going to be cheap, especially if you get Nichia or other high end chips. For a 25 LED array of decent power UVC nichia LEDs… You’d be looking at over $1000 easy. And if you went with their most powerful chip, a array of 25 would be about $2500 😂
But power density will increase slowly just like it did with 365nm UV LEDs. Cost per milliwatt of “radiant flux” will go down with time.
Currently, decent cheap quality UVC LEDs average 5-15mw (Milliwatt) of optical output power. So when they sell UVC LEDs labeled as “1 watt“…. that means 1 watt of input power. You have to look closer to find the optical output power rating.
If you got 1 watt of REAL UVC optical output… That shit could fry your skin and eyeballs really fast. Even worse is that real UVC leds can be almost invisible. Which is Dangerous shit!!😂
thankfully many chips include a visible LED inside the same package. Usually 365 nm or higher UVB. As an indication light, so people don’t accidentally leave it on without knowing it… Easily burning their eyes. Or the board it’s eventually mounted on….in a finished product…. has a tiny colored LED next to the UVC led. To indicate when it’s on.
Although 100 mV is pretty much the limit for current UVC led technology…… its possible to get 1000MW (1 watt) of optical power out of 365nm UVB leds… or even more. It will be incredible if UVC LEDs reach this level of radiant flux in the next few years.
Sorry to ramble on. Hope this helps someone or you find it interesting.
smells hand -there's no skin damage.
Always wondered why so many ebay sellers dont ship to the isle of man (there is a man there who proves their stuff is a load of crap)
The glow from a mercury lamp is so lovely to look at yet at the same time so dangerous
shit like this is all over. still. Id guess 90% of UV products sold are fake bullshit sourced from China, ironically.