UV Mineral ID Lamp Review from UVTools
Apr 27, 2015 22:28:03 GMT -5
gingerkid, delo, and 1 more like this
Post by Mattatya on Apr 27, 2015 22:28:03 GMT -5
It's been a long time since I have posted on RTH but and I'm finally getting a chance to do a little additional review of my uvtools.com UV Mineral light. Would I suggest purchasing a kit from UVTools.com? In short yes but read further for more details on if it’s right for you.
I ordered model M101 6 Watt Triple UV Wave Ultraviolet Field Lamp which comes with an additional 6 Watt Midwave UV Bulb for $69.99 & $5.95 shipping. It also shipped with a CD book of UV mineral ID’ing, 12 UV Minerals and UV blocking protection glasses that you will need for Short and Mid Wavelength UV bulbs. I also ordered an additional 2 pairs of UV blocking glasses.
After receiving the protective glasses I am not sure if they are indeed UV protected glasses as stated on their website. I have not contacted UV Tools about this but read nowhere on the wrapping of the glasses they are UV protected. I will follow up to find out if they are in fact UV protected. In the mean time I would suggest not buying additional ones from UV Tools but encourage you to use UV protected glasses when using under Mid and Short Wave UV Bulbs.
Regarding Short, Mid, Long Wave UV Light: If you are generally wanting to see and collect fluorescent minerals you really only need Short wave for about 90% reactive minerals. However if you are looking to identify UV minerals I would suggest getting the additional Midwave $10 bucks (M101) located at the bottom left of home page. All three wavelengths can produce differing colors depending on the bulb you use. Knowing that one mineral will produce a blue glow in Midwave and red glow in Shortwave will help with identification of your mineral in question. If you just want to see if your minerals glow and are not worried about additional ID’ing I would save the $10 for a good pair of UV protected glasses and purchase the (M100E).
UV Tools was prompt and delivered within two weeks. Everything was packaged very well. The UV bulbs included may come encased in bubble wrap, cardboard tube or PVC tube. All three bulbs came in these 3 different packages with some ID marked of bulb and some were not. I had to research a bit to make sure which UV bulb was which and promptly marked them. Of the 3 protected tube covers my suggestion would be to find small PVC tube’s to keep them protected and mark the tubes with type of UV wave in tube.
The bulbs are germicidal ultraviolet tube that don’t have phosphor coating to filter which allows visible light to escape tube. The cover is made of a quartz glass optical filter allowing only UV wave light to escape from tube. Visible light will mask over UV waves that are essential for allowing your minerals to glow. They did a really good job on keeping much of the visible light from leaking out but does have a small amount. In my opinion they did a great job with getting as much visible light filtered and keeping the cost of the kits at a reasonable price for hobbyist. Good article on UV Light Spectrums and definitions www.minershop.com/technology/uvfluorescence/
The unit itself looks as though it has been adapted to be used as a UV light from a general fluorescent light with a LED that remains at end of lamp. IMO they have done a very good job and is well built for the price. My suggestion would be to find a protective case to help keep the unit and bulbs from dropping and breaking. The unit requires 3 D batteries and can be used with both Alkaline and Lithium rechargeable batteries. The unit only runs and batteries and does not have an input for AC/DC plug in. When adding Alkaline batteries you will want to keep the paper leave inside the battery chamber so that battery has better fitting contact. Lithium batteries have a little more girth to them and will not require the sleeve.
When I turned the unit on for the first couple times I noticed the bulb would not spark well and light up to its full potential. I thought it was the bulb but found that the 2 prongs on one side of the bulb were not set well into the contact. ( I added a picture to show what I mean) I found on my unit that the connection to set the two prongs were just a hair too tight making it very difficult to get the bulb to set in place and receive a good contact. I managed though and received good output without disruption when moving the unit around. I hope it’s just my unit that has difficulties. The great part is if you decide to purchase the kit you will most likely be keeping the Shortwave bulb in their 90% of the time unless you are trying to ID your minerals.
I have only tested the light output at home in the dark with the minerals received in the kit. I was able to get them to glow well at 12 inches and closer between the unit and minerals. I was also using older unused batteries so I can’t give you a proper estimate of being able to use this at a greater distant or outside collecting minerals at night. Regardless of that knowledge I would still suggest getting this UV kit for checking out your minerals, IDing minerals and collecting minerals outdoors. It’s a perfect budget UV kit and has been fun to use so far. It’s also a great starter UV light kit at a price that won’t pain you and your wallet if you decide later on to upgrade to a larger spec’d UV light.
There is a much better in depth review available at www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/reviews/uvtools_m100_lamp/
If you enjoy DIY projects and want to make a 9 Watt Shortwave UV Lamp, here is a DIY project direction including where to purchase materials. The biggest cost is the Quartz Filter needed to filter visible light. www.minershop.com/technology/diy-projects/battery-operated-filed-lamp-diy/ I wish I was a DIY’fer and have tried but have way too many unfinished projects where I’ve got lost in translation.
If anyone decides to try out this DIY project I would love to know how it went and if you would be interested in having a group buy and having a get together workshop putting them together
Cheers, Matt
I ordered model M101 6 Watt Triple UV Wave Ultraviolet Field Lamp which comes with an additional 6 Watt Midwave UV Bulb for $69.99 & $5.95 shipping. It also shipped with a CD book of UV mineral ID’ing, 12 UV Minerals and UV blocking protection glasses that you will need for Short and Mid Wavelength UV bulbs. I also ordered an additional 2 pairs of UV blocking glasses.
After receiving the protective glasses I am not sure if they are indeed UV protected glasses as stated on their website. I have not contacted UV Tools about this but read nowhere on the wrapping of the glasses they are UV protected. I will follow up to find out if they are in fact UV protected. In the mean time I would suggest not buying additional ones from UV Tools but encourage you to use UV protected glasses when using under Mid and Short Wave UV Bulbs.
Regarding Short, Mid, Long Wave UV Light: If you are generally wanting to see and collect fluorescent minerals you really only need Short wave for about 90% reactive minerals. However if you are looking to identify UV minerals I would suggest getting the additional Midwave $10 bucks (M101) located at the bottom left of home page. All three wavelengths can produce differing colors depending on the bulb you use. Knowing that one mineral will produce a blue glow in Midwave and red glow in Shortwave will help with identification of your mineral in question. If you just want to see if your minerals glow and are not worried about additional ID’ing I would save the $10 for a good pair of UV protected glasses and purchase the (M100E).
UV Tools was prompt and delivered within two weeks. Everything was packaged very well. The UV bulbs included may come encased in bubble wrap, cardboard tube or PVC tube. All three bulbs came in these 3 different packages with some ID marked of bulb and some were not. I had to research a bit to make sure which UV bulb was which and promptly marked them. Of the 3 protected tube covers my suggestion would be to find small PVC tube’s to keep them protected and mark the tubes with type of UV wave in tube.
The bulbs are germicidal ultraviolet tube that don’t have phosphor coating to filter which allows visible light to escape tube. The cover is made of a quartz glass optical filter allowing only UV wave light to escape from tube. Visible light will mask over UV waves that are essential for allowing your minerals to glow. They did a really good job on keeping much of the visible light from leaking out but does have a small amount. In my opinion they did a great job with getting as much visible light filtered and keeping the cost of the kits at a reasonable price for hobbyist. Good article on UV Light Spectrums and definitions www.minershop.com/technology/uvfluorescence/
The unit itself looks as though it has been adapted to be used as a UV light from a general fluorescent light with a LED that remains at end of lamp. IMO they have done a very good job and is well built for the price. My suggestion would be to find a protective case to help keep the unit and bulbs from dropping and breaking. The unit requires 3 D batteries and can be used with both Alkaline and Lithium rechargeable batteries. The unit only runs and batteries and does not have an input for AC/DC plug in. When adding Alkaline batteries you will want to keep the paper leave inside the battery chamber so that battery has better fitting contact. Lithium batteries have a little more girth to them and will not require the sleeve.
When I turned the unit on for the first couple times I noticed the bulb would not spark well and light up to its full potential. I thought it was the bulb but found that the 2 prongs on one side of the bulb were not set well into the contact. ( I added a picture to show what I mean) I found on my unit that the connection to set the two prongs were just a hair too tight making it very difficult to get the bulb to set in place and receive a good contact. I managed though and received good output without disruption when moving the unit around. I hope it’s just my unit that has difficulties. The great part is if you decide to purchase the kit you will most likely be keeping the Shortwave bulb in their 90% of the time unless you are trying to ID your minerals.
I have only tested the light output at home in the dark with the minerals received in the kit. I was able to get them to glow well at 12 inches and closer between the unit and minerals. I was also using older unused batteries so I can’t give you a proper estimate of being able to use this at a greater distant or outside collecting minerals at night. Regardless of that knowledge I would still suggest getting this UV kit for checking out your minerals, IDing minerals and collecting minerals outdoors. It’s a perfect budget UV kit and has been fun to use so far. It’s also a great starter UV light kit at a price that won’t pain you and your wallet if you decide later on to upgrade to a larger spec’d UV light.
There is a much better in depth review available at www.rockhounds.com/rockshop/reviews/uvtools_m100_lamp/
If you enjoy DIY projects and want to make a 9 Watt Shortwave UV Lamp, here is a DIY project direction including where to purchase materials. The biggest cost is the Quartz Filter needed to filter visible light. www.minershop.com/technology/diy-projects/battery-operated-filed-lamp-diy/ I wish I was a DIY’fer and have tried but have way too many unfinished projects where I’ve got lost in translation.
If anyone decides to try out this DIY project I would love to know how it went and if you would be interested in having a group buy and having a get together workshop putting them together
Cheers, Matt
