January 16, 2014

Inexpensive High Power UV Light

I recently purchased some Clear Cure Goo Hydro and have been whipping up massive amounts of midge larva/pupa goodness. The guys over at Flyfish Food have some great videos on some innovative patterns. I've had light envy because they are rocking the CCG premium light. I've been using a combo of two UV lights, one from Fish Tech in SLC and another I bought from Hook & Hackle. This has been working for me until I got greedy last week and tried to convert the Hook & Hackle light from battery to AC. This little experiment left me with half the LED lights burnt out.

So my dilemma was to lay in the grave I dug by trying to improve my UV curing experience or drop $50 on the CCG premium light. I chose option "C", buy a knock-off version of the premium light off Amazon and hope it works. This light runs off the same battery(s) as the CCG premium (CR123A x2 or 18650 x1 ). I also bought a charger with two 18650 batteries.
Inexpensive UV torch

This light has a 3w UV bulb just like CCG's light and puts off light in the 390nm spectrum. CCG is keeping the specific light spectrum they designed their resin around a secret. But some guy in a random forum somewhere online said most UV resins cure in the range of 385nm - 450nm... so I'll go with that.

The light, batteries & charger cost just over $22 shipped. I received them Tuesday and tried it out and it works great! This light is STRONG. I usually cured UV goo (CCG hydro, Knot sense) at least 20 seconds with my two-light combo. I can cure better in 5-10 seconds than my old system. I can't attest to long-term quality or if I'm burning out the retinas of my eyes. But I'm happy with this light and at about 25% the cost of the CCG premium, that's hard to beat!

No comments:

Post a Comment