great quick n’ dirty hack, especially sourcing the inverter!

if someone has more forewarning, 1W UV LEDs are now available for reasonable prices. they’re not super efficient with their wavelength output – a lot in visible deep violet/purple – but they’d probably be way more power efficient, durable, and portable.

Posted at 10:09 am on Oct 2nd, 2009 by emilio

Nice Job, Much better then running power around a yard with extension cords like I used to do. The long tube is great for outside, little black lights just don’t do the job.

Posted at 10:21 am on Oct 2nd, 2009 by SSP

I bought a whole string of near-UV LED’s. These things are AWESOME and VERY bright. Much brighter than the traditional blacklight brought to this event by some other poor sap. I bought mine from:

http://superbrightleds.com/specs/WFLB96.htm

They’re not cheap at $27 for a 38″ long strip. On the plus side they’re supposed to be waterproof. I powered mine w/ a small, portable 12v battery pack. They drew very little current and lasted for many hours.

Posted at 1:39 pm on Oct 2nd, 2009 by Dennis

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/8646/46841070978666126654016.jpg

I did the same thing and build the UV tubes in to a shirt for a party. Worked delightfully. You can’t really see how bright it was in this photo, but there’s a tube on either side and a tiny backpack under the shirt with batteries and inverter.

Posted at 4:26 pm on Oct 2nd, 2009 by anon

But why isn’t the power the switch relayed through at least 17 arduinos? How can it possibly function?

Posted at 6:01 pm on Oct 2nd, 2009 by Jesbus

have fun getting retinal burns

Posted at 5:58 pm on Oct 3rd, 2009 by octel