Mineral Lights, Batteries, UV LEDs, Filters, for Fluorescent Minerals

Glow Notes - Equipment Posts

The posts below are all posts in chronological order. Blog posts may be narrowed by the five categories listed, or the entire list viewed by returning to the main GNB page above. Page through posts using "Next Ten" links at the bottom of the page.

Equipment

UV Flashlights - Outlandish Claims of Power

I’m really getting tired of all the BS out there. Chinese vendors make outlandish claims about their flashlights and non-technical...

What is the Best UV Flashlight for Minerals? (No bias, no clickbait - just the facts)

Longwave, shortwave, midwave flashlights are all the rage lately. 365nm, 255nm, 310nm - some amazing fluorescent minerals are being...

The Next Evolution in Fluorescent Mineral Flashlights - Shortwave and Midwave

(work in progress....) Just a few years ago my feeling was that we would not see SW flashlights "in my lifetime". I was so wrong. They...

Michael Isaacson

DIY: Converting a Work Light into a Portable Short Wave Lamp

I'm not sure how many people have built the 18 watt SW conversion from Mark Cole's plans on MinerShop, but if you did or intend to do so,...

Dennis Michael

DIY: Converting a Transilluminator into a Short Wave Lamp

My small hand-held short wave lamp is useful, but has its limitations. I was interested in a much more powerful light for display and...

Bruce W (by M Cole

Black Display Boxes for Flats

(This is copied from a Facebook post by Bruce W. Black boxes are had to find for our hobby; white boxes destroy fluorescence.): Ever...

M Cole

BATTERIES - Selecting the Proper Battery for your 365nm UV Flashlight, Convoy S2, Convoy C8, FyrFly

In general, the Ah capacity of batteries sold from China are not worth the plastic they are printed on. The vendors/manufacturers lie so the

M Cole

FyrFly Convoy C8 365nm UV Flashlight - The Next Generation Convoy - an Original Design by Group Cons

The most powerful 365nm flashlight in its class (or any class). Open source design

M Cole

What Kind of Flashlight Do I Need? (365nm versus 390/395/400nm Unfiltered UV Flashlights)

Friends don't let friends use crappy unfiltered 390nm flashlights. This is an educational post, directed towards folks new to the hobby....

M Cole

Power Claims of Convoy Type Flashlights

A pet peeve of mine is honesty in advertising. Over the past 3+ months I’ve seen companies advertising ever higher power Convoy type...

M Cole

Convoy S2+ 365nm False Power Claims - It Ain't 5 Watts (4, 3.5, or even 3)

It's the wild west out there! About three years ago I wrote a blog post about the Convoy S2+ here on Nature's Rainbows. The FLM...

Doug Bank

Buyers Guide to the new 365 nm LED UV flashlights

I have happily been using and recommending the Convoy S2+ 365 nm UV flashlight since early 2017 when Mark Cole first posted about it. It...

M Cole

Lighting Controls - Automatically Cycle Longwave, Shortwave, Midwave, and White light in your Displa

Over the years I've had requests for lighting controllers that would allow us to remotely control our different wavelength lights, as...

M Cole

LED Longwave (LW - 365nm) Lighting for Home Displays

By now the fluorescent mineral community has heard of the new Convoy S2 365nm flashlight that has taken our hobby by storm. It is the...

M Cole

Collecting Fluorescent Minerals - The Basics, Where to Find Them, and How to Collect Them

Fluorescent minerals are found almost anywhere there is a good selection of white light minerals. Mine dumps/tailing piles are obviously gr

M Cole

Convoy Type S2+ 365nm Flashlight Torch Review, The Most Significant Innovation in UV Mineral Lights

This post was made over four years ago. Since that time it has become outdated. There is a new light - the Convoy FyrFly which is...

M Cole

Fluorescent Mineral Light Review - Shortwave Battery Powered Field Lights

Rock collecting is a cheap hobby. Fluorescent rock collecting is an expensive hobby. View the Entire Review Here: Mineral Lights We've...

M Cole

Can I Carry my Battery Pack on a Plane?

This question always comes up when we're traveling to some far off, glorious glow rock haven. Luckily, the FAA has published rules that...

D Newsome (posted by M Cole)

RIP Wood's Glass Longwave UV Bandpass Filters

Several weeks ago there was a lot of discussion within our Facebook Group about the availability, and where to find, Kokomo 400 LW filter...

M Cole

Comparison of 365nm Flashlight to 390nm Flashlight

A friend of mine bought a 385nm to 395nm 100 LED flashlight (presently being sold on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/uvBeast-Intensity-Fla...

Facebook Discussion (post by M Cole)

Is there a fluorescent mineral that will allow one to distinguish between different UVA wavelengths

A recent discussion on Facebook evolved about using a mineral to determine if an LED is 365nm or 405nm. The result of the discussion was...

From FB (by M Cole)

Ozone - what's that smell??? Is it bad? How do I get rid of it?

(NOTE: This blog post was archived from the Facebook Fluorescent Mineral Group) Graham F: I bought two of these (bulbs) to make a display...