Best wave length UV light for viewing scorpions?

Hi All,

If I were to buy a LED UV flashlight, which wave length would be the best for viewing scorpions?

Most flashlights seem to be in the 360nM – 400nM range and it seems like the longer the wavelength the more power efficiency you get out of the LED, but I’m wondering which will make the scorp fluoresce the most. Should I go with closer to 400 or closer to 350nM?

Thanks

I guess this question stumped everyone?

10 hours doesn't mean it stumped everyone, it just means everyone was at work.

I think the light I have is 380 nm and it works pretty well. I'm not aware of any suppliers that give you an option as to the wavelength.

Deeper UV will get you better fluorescence but will also give you more damaging light (germicidal, which might induce skin cancer in humans, is 247 nm IIRC). However, LEDs that deep are hundreds of dollars apiece.

I probably wouldn't go with anything shallower than 400 nm. If you do have the option, apparently blacklight tubes peak at around 365 nm.

Cool. You are correct. Supplieres do not generally give you the option, but there are tons of flashlilghts for sale on the internet that have different wave legnth UV specifications. I've found real reasonable flashlights that output 400nM, 380nM, and 365nM. I'm actually interested in the following and understanding the practical implications for as scorps fluorescence (quoted from wikipedia): "LED efficiency at 365 nm is approx 5-8% whereas efficiency at 395 nm is closer to 20% and power outputs at these longer UV wavelengths are also better"

Does anyone know what that means for an LED flashlight I might buy? Assuming all other factors were constant, does the shorter 365 wavelength UV light at an efficiency of 5-8% actually make the scorpion flouresce brighter than the longer wavelength LED (380-400) at an efficiency of 20%?

Thanks a bunch

My guess is yes, the 365 nm would make the scorp brighter; while less of the battery power is coming out as UV, it's closer to what is probably the ideal wavelength for fluorescence. Keep in mind this is a guess, because for all we know the chemical of interest could have peak absorption at 390 nm.

To know for sure what would make the scorp brightest, you'd probably have to figure out the absorption spectrum for whatever the chemical is that causes them to fluoresce.

Or you could use the scientific method and buy a bunch of lights, give them all fresh, identical batteries, and see which works best.

and then theres still the problem of different species fluorescing differently.
would need a hell of a lot of experiments. why does it matter so much anyway? a glowing scorp int he dark is obvious enough no matter how much its glowing really...

Thanks Mordax. Good point, guess those experiments haven't been done yet (but if anyone did notice a difference from first-hand experience I'd be interested in knowing)

Scorpio, it doesn't matter so much, but I figure if I'm getting an LED flashlight I might as well get the one with UV light that makes the scorpions their brightest.

well, I bought mine from here: http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.4014

I didn't buy it for scorpion hunting, just to watch my scorpions at night. However, it works perfectly fine in the daytime too lol. I haven't tried any other products, but I will say this one works great, the scorps fluoresce very brightly, during nighttime or daytime. Little heads up though, it ships from Hong Kong, so expect to wait about 3 weeks haha. Cheap price though.

I have 2 A49's and they rock when juiced. good luck

Got them here: http://www.azscorpion.com/

There's a link at the top under the headline to the black light store.

As you can see from first page on link, this guy is one of us. This isn't some store just selling stuff. He uses these lights a lot. His site is really good with some rare pics too. Great customer service, and a joy to work with. Check him out!

Bump, edited my post, and wanted to make sure you saw it!