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Forget Blue LED's, I'm all about UV!!!

Trevorus

Trevorus

Oct 18, 2002
12,353
115
42
Urbana, IL
#1
These things are flippin' sweet! I've been looking for a good way to illuminate the face of my Trace Elliot properly, and I thought about cold cathode, but they just weren't appealing to me, due to the high-voltage power supply and they can be prone to break in road gear. So I discovered UV LED's from a kit for my car's air conditioner to find leaks (UV reactive dye). It came with a UV LED pen light, and I have been having a blast with this tiny convenient black light. So I am going to have to order some of these for all kinds of uses. I'll get a pic of my Trace rig with the UV LED tomorrow, probably.
 
#7
Some UV nail polish or something on each fret and dot would be pretty cool indeed...
Actually, if you could get clear UV paint, you could paint little dots on your Trace head where the knobs are, the numbers, and perhaps even over the logo or something.
 
#8
That UV light will help to keep your rig clean too - UV at a certain intensity - will kill any bugs in their tracks.
I remember trialling an experimental pool filter system with a UV light. No chlorine - no chlorinator - no salt. Just fresh water and a UV light. Worked a treat.
 
#10
smo said:
That UV light will help to keep your rig clean too - UV at a certain intensity - will kill any bugs in their tracks.
I remember trialling an experimental pool filter system with a UV light. No chlorine - no chlorinator - no salt. Just fresh water and a UV light. Worked a treat.
Click to expand...

Yep, a buddy of mine has a UV sterilizer in his 200 gallon salt water tank.
 
#11
smo said:
That UV light will help to keep your rig clean too - UV at a certain intensity - will kill any bugs in their tracks.
I remember trialling an experimental pool filter system with a UV light. No chlorine - no chlorinator - no salt. Just fresh water and a UV light. Worked a treat.
Click to expand...

You have to be careful with those wavelengths though. Too much exposure and you'll end up with Cancer, as that's essentially what it's doing to the microbes, only as simpler organisms they die altogether.
 
#15
TraceUV.jpg


That's with one LED at a distance. I plan on having at least 3-5 close up.
 
#16
Don't light the faceplate too much or it kind of defeats the reason for it (IMO ofcourse). The only thing you really should see is the green outlines and the lights Trace built in to the head.

I am curious though. Were did you purchase the UV LEDs and what setup did you use for power, resistors, etc.? I might try some of these and ditch my cold cathode UV.
 
#17
This UV LED came in a A/C refill kit for my truck. It's to detect UV dye from leaks. You can get UV LED's from Mouser, or other electronic supply places. The only thing I really have to do is figure out what kind of voltage the LED's need, and calculate my resistance from that. It will probably be from a 3 volt AC adapter...
 

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