I'm currently looking to invest in a 365nm light, and I'm narrowing down my list with the Convoy being in the final running. However, the issue that makes me reluctant to get the Convoy is the fact that it only uses one, and all of the chargers I currently own require two batteries in order to charge. What is your recommendation for charging the Convoy battery?
Hi Randy, The 18650 battery is the best battery around right now, and it is worth every penny investing in them. Your current chargers are for non-lithium cells? Check out the SoShine E4S, it's a charger and USB battery pack, if you get that, and 4 Sanyo 3500mAh batteries, you'll be set. You can also buy a Convoy S2+ flashlight as a good flashlight to have. The Convoy UV light is great, but it's really the LED that makes it great, so if you want to stick to non-lithium cell lights, you can always do that as well. I'm sure other lights out there use the Nichia 365nm LED. So it's up to you which light you get. Hope that helps! Cheers, David.
Thank you! Yes, this UV light should be treated like any other high powered LED flashlight. All light is harmful to the eyes, whether visible or not. Both white light and UV light will harm you eyes if you stare at them, but you won't stare at white light because it's visible, UV isn't visible so you don't know you're burning your retinas. In small amounts, UV is fine, like the indirect light from the sun(which contains a lot of UVA and UVB), but looking right into the source is what will be harmful. With that said, this is a VERY powerful light, and you should be careful when using it, especially close up when looking at money. If I were using it for that, I would probably put a multi-mode driver into it and keep it on low for that. High should really only be used at distances 1.5m and greater, like when you're inspecting a hotel room. You don't need to wear eye protection(it's not that powerful), but you do need to be careful, as it's still pretty powerful(3 watts or so). It's like being at cosmic bowling basically. Hope that helps explain it! Cheers, David.
For everyone ! I have that flashlight to and it curres all uv glues such as uv Resin uv Proxy Resin uv glues - like bondic , Qiao Qiao , DecorRom, uv loca all I have 2500 , no name uv glues like from AliExpress or wish etc . I have that flashlight 5-6 years now and still I am using it . Regards,
Thanks for the update! That's great feedback! I use mine to cure UV glue as well, works well. I took the front glass lens off, just in case it's absorbing some of the UV. Not sure if it helps, but it certainly won't hurt(as long as I don't get dirt and damage the LED lol). I'm still using mine too, it's been years! Great job by Convoy. Cheers! David.
Thanks man! Ya it's a fun light to have, lots of uses for kids and everyone! I brought mine to work and people at work had a blast with it, checking their IDs and credit cards. You see a lot of different things with it. The bathroom is an interesting place to check out! haha.
Hi, it has a non-linear relationship to the output, but it's somewhat close to linear, if you de-rate a bit you'll be safe. The LED manufacturers will give you a graph that shows the output in relation to the current(you can calculate the power relationship if you use their voltage curves too). For example, I'll show you the XM-L2. www.cree.com/led-components/media/documents/XLampXML2.pdf On page 6 you'll see the % luminous flux, so if you know what current, and voltage, you know power, and the lumen output as a percentage of the base value (Luminous flux at 700mA in this case, on page 3 it shows that a T4 bin has 240 lumens @ 700mA). On page 6 you'll see it's 100% at 700mA, triple that at 3000mA gives you 325% the luminous flux, even though your current is 429% greater, so not exactly linear, but somewhat. The UV LED will have a similar relationship, since it's based on the same technology. They are maximizing the amount of output from this UV LED though, any more and I think it'll be bad for the longevity of it. Hope that helps! Cheers, David.
Thanks, i asked because searching the internet i found another UV flashlight (CountryMan S+) which is 6W with a NVSU233A-U365 UV LED. Maybe this be will be brighter than the Convoy.
+spotlight761 Yup, if they are pushing 1400mA to it, it'll be twice that of the Convoy here, so it'll produce more UV light. That's a good LED since it can handle 1400mA forward current. Cheers, David.
Hi, For the S2+, you'll have I remove the 18650 to recharge it in a lithium ion charger. There are other convoy lights out there that are USB chargeable, but I think you'd have to install the LED and 700mA driver yourself. It'll be easier to remove the cell for charging. I'd recommend that over modding. Cheers, David.
Hi, For the S2 and the S3 I think you need unprotected, but the great thing about the S2+ is that they've made it longer I believe, and you can use longer cells in it easily. I only have the S2+, and I can definitely confirm that it can fit protected and longer 18650s. So your selection of 18650 batteries won't matter with the S2+. I would go with protected if you want to maximize safety. You could always short an unprotected cell, and bad things will happen, fire, explosions maybe, scary stuff. I've been using my 365nm light to cure UV glue, it's amazing, you should get it, and buy some UV glue as well. It's pretty useful, in addition to fun. Cheers! David.
JasonWW2000 Hi Jason, I don't think it does. I just left it on for about 16 hours and it brought the battery to about 3.05V, since the forward voltage is high, the current draw was really low and it was very dim. It's only got 2 x 7135 current limiters on it, and the on switch just activates those, so there's no programming chip that can do the low voltage protection, best to use a protected cell in there so that it'll turn itself off if you accidentally leave it on. You could probably get away with an unprotected cell though, it doesn't really kill the cell if you leave it on for a few days, but a few months may lead to a damaged cell. Hope that helps! Cheers, David.
"used to select things in the pay-per-view menu and that's why it's the dirtiest" lol 🤣 it's jizz crust. The stuff on the water fountain is just hard water scale from dried water spots. The oxides and carbonates are slightly fluorescent.
Lol, ya, it's not a "toy" but more a tool. Definitely need to be careful with the UV light. Don't stare into it directly! Just treat it like a high powered flashlight, that you can blind yourself with, and you'll be fine. Just like the sun, don't look directly at it, and you'll be fine. The only danger is that you can't see the UV light, so it can blind you even though it doesn't seem like it's burning your retina, so you can stare right into the LED and damage your eyes. If you can handle a 1000 lumen S2+, just use this like that and you'll be safe! Cheers! David.
@@michu2177 Thanks for the sub! Yup, UV is interesting, with various wavelengths. Would be fun to talk about its uses: tanning~280-325nm(UVB), growing plants, sanitizing~265nm(some that generate ozone too using 185nm), curing glues~365nm and using as a black light~365nm. I've got some fluorescent and LED ones, used for various purposes. The santizing light that produces ozone can be used to clean the washroom or bedroom, and the ozone can be destroyed by UV light from 250 to 260nm, the 265nm light might work for that, I'll have to test it out. Cheers! David.
David, Great review as usual. Anyway, I have one and love it. I added a short tube so I can run a single 18350, and a UV filter with filters out most of the visible light, but doesn't affect 365nm output. If you're interested, I got the filter from Gearbest www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_266825.html?wid=21 and the short tube from Banggood www.banggood.com/18350-Battery-Compartment-For-Convoy-S2-Blue-And-Red-LED-Flashlight-p-1009722.html Here's a picture of mine next to my other S2+'s i135.photobucket.com/albums/q146/atbglenn/Flashlights/DSC_7025_zpsj0lp3fge.jpg
Hi Glenn, That's a good idea with the short tube and the filter, would definitely make it a better UV light more so than it already is, and it's already kickass! I don't have any 18350, but for the current it uses, my 16340 would be fine too, so that's good, don't need to buy more batteries. I don't have any 18350 batteries right now, do you have any ones you recommend? I want quality ones that can push 3+ amps, hopefully 6A but if that's hard for 18650 to do, might not happen in a 18350 size right? I've been adding the tail magnets to my S2+'s, I think it makes it much more useful when working on the car, I've also added the side clip and put magnets on there with heatshrink, handy for work under the car. The clip is 7mm wide, I ordered 10mm wide magnets so it overhangs a bit, but I wanted more contact area so I'm ok with that. You can find the parts from the Ali Convoy store, and gearbest. I'll put the links to the ones I used below. Tail Magnet: (tidd.ly/c2e39084) Side Clip: (tidd.ly/26c1dac3) Magnets: (tidd.ly/f31407b) Cheers, David.
Nice collection, I like it! The green is new, I haven't gotten one of those yet, lol, we gotta have every color right? Right now I have the blue, as you know, the Inferno I call it, I plan to put an XPL HI in there with a 5 degree optic, trying to make a thrower. My wife has the red, she goes on night shifts so it's awesome for that. She likes the side clip too, helps keep it secure in a pocket. She's running an XML2 with a 10 degree optic, better throw than the standard OP reflector, good for inspecting far away. I wan't wait for the new drivers to come in with the new firmware. Here's a picture of our current flashlights, my can see my clip has magnets on it, and the tail has a magnet so I can put it anywhere metallic and ferrous I want. www.dropbox.com/s/hdqqib7odug2r21/Convoys.jpg
I buy all my batteries fro LiIon Wholesale. He's located in PA and ships out the same, or the next day. His prices are just about the best out there for a US seller. He has these Efest 700mAh 10.5 amp 18350's in both button, or flat tops. I'm using the 900 mAh Efest's in my Convoy UV. They don't list the amperage on those, but they work great. liionwholesale.com/collections/batteries/products/efest-imr-18350-700mah-10-5a-button-top-battery-wholesale-discount?variant=4421467716
Nice man! Thanks for the link. That's a good 18350 battery. 10.5A continuous! Wow. Hmm, that's 80W from an S2+, that's not bad, now just gotta find some LEDs to take the pounding!
I'm currently looking to invest in a 365nm light, and I'm narrowing down my list with the Convoy being in the final running. However, the issue that makes me reluctant to get the Convoy is the fact that it only uses one, and all of the chargers I currently own require two batteries in order to charge. What is your recommendation for charging the Convoy battery?
Hi Randy,
The 18650 battery is the best battery around right now, and it is worth every penny investing in them. Your current chargers are for non-lithium cells? Check out the SoShine E4S, it's a charger and USB battery pack, if you get that, and 4 Sanyo 3500mAh batteries, you'll be set. You can also buy a Convoy S2+ flashlight as a good flashlight to have.
The Convoy UV light is great, but it's really the LED that makes it great, so if you want to stick to non-lithium cell lights, you can always do that as well. I'm sure other lights out there use the Nichia 365nm LED.
So it's up to you which light you get.
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
David.
Good review, it's on my purchase list.
One question though, aren't UV harmful to eyes ?
Do you need to wear eye protection ?
Thank you!
Yes, this UV light should be treated like any other high powered LED flashlight.
All light is harmful to the eyes, whether visible or not. Both white light and UV light will harm you eyes if you stare at them, but you won't stare at white light because it's visible, UV isn't visible so you don't know you're burning your retinas.
In small amounts, UV is fine, like the indirect light from the sun(which contains a lot of UVA and UVB), but looking right into the source is what will be harmful.
With that said, this is a VERY powerful light, and you should be careful when using it, especially close up when looking at money. If I were using it for that, I would probably put a multi-mode driver into it and keep it on low for that.
High should really only be used at distances 1.5m and greater, like when you're inspecting a hotel room.
You don't need to wear eye protection(it's not that powerful), but you do need to be careful, as it's still pretty powerful(3 watts or so).
It's like being at cosmic bowling basically.
Hope that helps explain it!
Cheers,
David.
That's valuable information, thanks a lot
You're welcome. Thanks for the good question. I'm sure everyone else was wondering the same thing. Cheers, David.
For everyone ! I have that flashlight to and it curres all uv glues such as uv Resin uv Proxy Resin uv glues - like bondic , Qiao Qiao , DecorRom, uv loca all I have 2500 , no name uv glues like from AliExpress or wish etc . I have that flashlight 5-6 years now and still I am using it .
Regards,
Thanks for the update! That's great feedback! I use mine to cure UV glue as well, works well. I took the front glass lens off, just in case it's absorbing some of the UV. Not sure if it helps, but it certainly won't hurt(as long as I don't get dirt and damage the LED lol). I'm still using mine too, it's been years! Great job by Convoy.
Cheers!
David.
Hey, what a fantastic review! This LED has many good use . Especially my wife will love to use it to check how my kids clean their bathroom.
Thanks man! Ya it's a fun light to have, lots of uses for kids and everyone!
I brought mine to work and people at work had a blast with it, checking their IDs and credit cards.
You see a lot of different things with it.
The bathroom is an interesting place to check out! haha.
Caligula 😳.........😂
Caligula ahahahahahhahaha
Thank you for interesting fact about luminol! I've been fooled by Hollywood for so long...
Lol, you're welcome.
Same here. I had to test it out with my own UV light, my blood absorbed all the UV light! So disappointed.
The amount of Watts corresponds to the light output? If it had 6w this means it would be twice as bright?
Hi, it has a non-linear relationship to the output, but it's somewhat close to linear, if you de-rate a bit you'll be safe. The LED manufacturers will give you a graph that shows the output in relation to the current(you can calculate the power relationship if you use their voltage curves too). For example, I'll show you the XM-L2.
www.cree.com/led-components/media/documents/XLampXML2.pdf
On page 6 you'll see the % luminous flux, so if you know what current, and voltage, you know power, and the lumen output as a percentage of the base value (Luminous flux at 700mA in this case, on page 3 it shows that a T4 bin has 240 lumens @ 700mA).
On page 6 you'll see it's 100% at 700mA, triple that at 3000mA gives you 325% the luminous flux, even though your current is 429% greater, so not exactly linear, but somewhat.
The UV LED will have a similar relationship, since it's based on the same technology.
They are maximizing the amount of output from this UV LED though, any more and I think it'll be bad for the longevity of it.
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
David.
Thanks, i asked because searching the internet i found another UV flashlight (CountryMan S+) which is 6W with a NVSU233A-U365 UV LED. Maybe this be will be brighter than the Convoy.
+spotlight761 Yup, if they are pushing 1400mA to it, it'll be twice that of the Convoy here, so it'll produce more UV light.
That's a good LED since it can handle 1400mA forward current.
Cheers,
David.
Is this flashlight USB rechargable or you have to remove the battery and charge it?
Hi,
For the S2+, you'll have I remove the 18650 to recharge it in a lithium ion charger. There are other convoy lights out there that are USB chargeable, but I think you'd have to install the LED and 700mA driver yourself. It'll be easier to remove the cell for charging. I'd recommend that over modding.
Cheers,
David.
Ok thanks, i have read that this flashlight has some issues with protected 18650 batteries and choosing unprotected is better. Is this true?
Hi,
For the S2 and the S3 I think you need unprotected, but the great thing about the S2+ is that they've made it longer I believe, and you can use longer cells in it easily.
I only have the S2+, and I can definitely confirm that it can fit protected and longer 18650s.
So your selection of 18650 batteries won't matter with the S2+. I would go with protected if you want to maximize safety. You could always short an unprotected cell, and bad things will happen, fire, explosions maybe, scary stuff.
I've been using my 365nm light to cure UV glue, it's amazing, you should get it, and buy some UV glue as well. It's pretty useful, in addition to fun.
Cheers!
David.
David, do you remember if it has LVP and will shut itself off if accidentally left on?
JasonWW2000 Hi Jason,
I don't think it does. I just left it on for about 16 hours and it brought the battery to about 3.05V, since the forward voltage is high, the current draw was really low and it was very dim. It's only got 2 x 7135 current limiters on it, and the on switch just activates those, so there's no programming chip that can do the low voltage protection, best to use a protected cell in there so that it'll turn itself off if you accidentally leave it on. You could probably get away with an unprotected cell though, it doesn't really kill the cell if you leave it on for a few days, but a few months may lead to a damaged cell.
Hope that helps!
Cheers,
David.
"used to select things in the pay-per-view menu and that's why it's the dirtiest" lol 🤣 it's jizz crust. The stuff on the water fountain is just hard water scale from dried water spots. The oxides and carbonates are slightly fluorescent.
LOL nasty stuff!
05:33 Which country uses this money note?
Hi,
That one is TWD, Taiwan dollar. I got it when I visited years back.
It's pretty cool with that telescope.
Cheers!
David.
Was about to buy it
But you scared the hell out of me because of the comment where it says it burns retinas
Lol, ya, it's not a "toy" but more a tool.
Definitely need to be careful with the UV light. Don't stare into it directly!
Just treat it like a high powered flashlight, that you can blind yourself with, and you'll be fine.
Just like the sun, don't look directly at it, and you'll be fine.
The only danger is that you can't see the UV light, so it can blind you even though it doesn't seem like it's burning your retina, so you can stare right into the LED and damage your eyes.
If you can handle a 1000 lumen S2+, just use this like that and you'll be safe!
Cheers!
David.
buy yourself uv absorbing googles and have fun, theyre not expensive
How long the 3500mah 18650 can last?
Hi,
Since it uses 700mA, that 3500mAh should last 5 hours (3500/700), if it runs down to 2.5V.
Cheers!
David.
@@DavidSunshine Thank you for quick response :)
@@michu2177 Anytime! I'm planning to make a santizing UV light out of an S2+ too.
Should be fun!
Cheers,
David.
@@DavidSunshine looks like there's many variations when it comes to UV light. You have my subscription, waiting for it.
@@michu2177 Thanks for the sub! Yup, UV is interesting, with various wavelengths. Would be fun to talk about its uses: tanning~280-325nm(UVB), growing plants, sanitizing~265nm(some that generate ozone too using 185nm), curing glues~365nm and using as a black light~365nm. I've got some fluorescent and LED ones, used for various purposes.
The santizing light that produces ozone can be used to clean the washroom or bedroom, and the ozone can be destroyed by UV light from 250 to 260nm, the 265nm light might work for that, I'll have to test it out.
Cheers!
David.
David, Great review as usual. Anyway, I have one and love it. I added a short tube so I can run a single 18350, and a UV filter with filters out most of the visible light, but doesn't affect 365nm output. If you're interested, I got the filter from Gearbest
www.gearbest.com/led-flashlights/pp_266825.html?wid=21
and the short tube from Banggood
www.banggood.com/18350-Battery-Compartment-For-Convoy-S2-Blue-And-Red-LED-Flashlight-p-1009722.html
Here's a picture of mine next to my other S2+'s
i135.photobucket.com/albums/q146/atbglenn/Flashlights/DSC_7025_zpsj0lp3fge.jpg
Hi Glenn,
That's a good idea with the short tube and the filter, would definitely make it a better UV light more so than it already is, and it's already kickass!
I don't have any 18350, but for the current it uses, my 16340 would be fine too, so that's good, don't need to buy more batteries. I don't have any 18350 batteries right now, do you have any ones you recommend? I want quality ones that can push 3+ amps, hopefully 6A but if that's hard for 18650 to do, might not happen in a 18350 size right?
I've been adding the tail magnets to my S2+'s, I think it makes it much more useful when working on the car, I've also added the side clip and put magnets on there with heatshrink, handy for work under the car. The clip is 7mm wide, I ordered 10mm wide magnets so it overhangs a bit, but I wanted more contact area so I'm ok with that. You can find the parts from the Ali Convoy store, and gearbest. I'll put the links to the ones I used below.
Tail Magnet: (tidd.ly/c2e39084)
Side Clip: (tidd.ly/26c1dac3)
Magnets: (tidd.ly/f31407b)
Cheers,
David.
Nice collection, I like it! The green is new, I haven't gotten one of those yet, lol, we gotta have every color right?
Right now I have the blue, as you know, the Inferno I call it, I plan to put an XPL HI in there with a 5 degree optic, trying to make a thrower.
My wife has the red, she goes on night shifts so it's awesome for that. She likes the side clip too, helps keep it secure in a pocket. She's running an XML2 with a 10 degree optic, better throw than the standard OP reflector, good for inspecting far away.
I wan't wait for the new drivers to come in with the new firmware.
Here's a picture of our current flashlights, my can see my clip has magnets on it, and the tail has a magnet so I can put it anywhere metallic and ferrous I want. www.dropbox.com/s/hdqqib7odug2r21/Convoys.jpg
I buy all my batteries fro LiIon Wholesale. He's located in PA and ships out the same, or the next day. His prices are just about the best out there for a US seller. He has these Efest 700mAh 10.5 amp 18350's in both button, or flat tops. I'm using the 900 mAh Efest's in my Convoy UV. They don't list the amperage on those, but they work great.
liionwholesale.com/collections/batteries/products/efest-imr-18350-700mah-10-5a-button-top-battery-wholesale-discount?variant=4421467716
Nice man! Thanks for the link. That's a good 18350 battery. 10.5A continuous! Wow.
Hmm, that's 80W from an S2+, that's not bad, now just gotta find some LEDs to take the pounding!
David, I'm going to order a few of those magnets. What glue did you use?
居然出現新臺幣
Yes, I got it when I visited Taipei! LOL, good eye!