More fake UVC "sterilizing" lamps from China! (with schematic)

I like quack products, but when it goes into the realm of faking medical equipment during a global pandemic they may just be scraping the bottom of the barrel.
This is a "UVC" germicidal lamp with what appear to be 395nm near-UV LEDs. It's built into a mechanic's rechargeable work light, making me wonder if it had an original intended purpose as a coolant leak finder, or if they have just repurposed the case at short notice to bang out a fake medical product. I doubt this has any germicidal action at all.
Update:- I've now tested this with a sensor capable of detecting real UVC germicidal LED wavelengths and it is definitely not germicidal. Although UVA is claimed to have a slight effect on some bacteria the most important area of the spectrum for germicidal and anti-viral activity is UVC due to its ability to interfere at an organic level. The same thing that makes some sections of the spectrum hazardous to skin and eyes.
I'm still waiting on the large COB germicidal lamp (eBay have removed that listing, so I don't know if it'll arrive or not) and have just ordered a GU10 style spotlight too. I'm fully expecting them to have standard ice-blue LEDs in them to fake the same colour as real mercury vapour germicidal tubes, which is scientific nonsense, since the reason the mercury tubes light that colour is because they have several spectral lines including visible ones and invisible ones. With LEDs a real UVC LED should be invisible unless it has a slight fluorescence or an integrated visible LED for safety.
Another update. The "60W germicidal" COB lamp has arrived and is a 30W ice-blue LED lamp with no UV at all. It also has the LEDs referenced directly to the mains supply and poses a shock hazard if touched.
There are some genuine LED based UVC wands being sold on eBay, but it should be noted that their output and longevity is a fraction of traditional mercury vapor UVC tubes.
The 18650 battery was not very generous in this light at less than 1000mAh. I guess that's reasonable for a light that won't get used too much in its original application of detecting leak tracing dye.
If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:-
www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm
This also keeps the channel independent of KZbin's advertising algorithms allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty.

[@erik_theautotech]

As an auto technician I have that same lamp. We tend to use them for Air conditioning leak diagnoses. Some vehicles come pre charged with dye. Some we have to add it.

[@johnwang9914]

These lamps were probably never designed as sterilizing wands but just blacklights for say auto technicians for the very purpose you mentioned. Somebody just saw the COVID-19 issue as a marketing opportunity and scooped up a bunch of these barely UV-A lights and labeled them as sterilizing lamps. It's more an indication of a lack of regulation. Just look at the products sold as cold medications in America back around 1900 or even the Whitehouse flouting hydroxychloroquine. All countries will have people willing to scam their fellow citizens if allowed to do so and often the scammers just turn a blind eye to the product and the science so they can claim deniability. Unfortunately it takes government regulation to prevent products like this. We only see more products like this from China because they are less regulated, essentially because they are less "socialist" than the US. We need to be asking marketplaces such as Amazon to better regulate themselves or asking our government's to penalize companies like Amazon for marketing these products.

[@ThatsnewsTV]

@@johnwang9914 I picked one up for £3.00 (new & boxed) from a charity shop. The box describes it as an Eyeshield LED work lamp. The magnetic base and does indicate that it is for auto workshops. Though there is a tiny, barely readable badly printed sticker (which is upside down, too) which states "UV light steriliz... ...geable Disinfection Lamp New. Made in China" so clearly there has been a half-arsed attempt to re-brand them as disinfection lights.

[@johnwang9914]

@@ThatsnewsTV A bit ironic for them to label the near UV light as "Eyeshield" given that true UV-C light can blind you and of course should not be visible. Of course any plastic near the LED's such as a transparent plastic cover indicates that it isn't UV-C and most likely just near ultraviolet blue light. An actual single UV-C LED would be packaged in metal with a transparent quartz cover and cost in excess of $20 US. It's amazing what people will try to get away with during an emergency like the pandemic, even more amazing what people will accept.

[@angeldelvax7219]

They just don't seem to get it... When they need blacklight effects, they use UV-C tubes, but when it comes to sterilization they use blacklight effects?

[@gordonlawrence1448]

@Ronald Delvax that's because it's geniarse not genius.

[@realname3538]

Because China really does not like the western world, especially the United States. Want to disinfect something that possibly has a contagious disease on it? Well, We are going to give you a regular UV light that won't do that at all. Want a nice UV effect for a party or concert? We are going to give you a UV-C light that will damage your skin and eyes!

[@XianHaos]

The demand for one makes the other cheaper. Hence the switcheroo shenanigans.

[@Polite_Cat]

@@realname3538 I dont think that's typical. They may not like westerners but I dont think they would pay the extra money (I imagine large UVC tubes are much more expensive then regular black lights) to make each one. I think it's more simple then that - greed. Just use whatever is least expensive and whatever you can get away with.

[@ids1024]

At least in some cases, I'd assume it's merely incompetence. An "entrepreneur" buys UV tubes in bulk from a manufacturer to sell in westerns markets. They don't understand the different types of UV tubes, so they just describe the product with the standard buzzwords that go along with UV.

[@brucegoatly]

Regarding fluorescein green dye: back in the 60s I lived in Nottingham, and in the past, close to the somewhat polluted River Trent, was a system of emergency fire hydrants (with a red H instead of black) fed directly from the Trent after coarse filtration to remove stuff like dead rats - no further treatment other than the addition of fluorescein to act as a warning. So when a couple of workmen used a standpipe to draw water from one of these hydrants, their tea was a remarkable fluorescent green. Their comment was 'We had worse during the war'.

[@soupflood]

What could be worse than fluorescent, dirty tea water? Why, that same water but with dead rats in it, of course! That's the difference between peace and war.

[@Markus0021]

@@soupflood "I'd like one cup of tea without so much rat in it, please." (Any Monty Python aficionados out there?)

[@seriesioo374]

Bahaha I love this, greetings from Canada

[@SigEpBlue]

Sounds like Lake Erie water, in a few past summers. Mmm, mmm: algae-licious!

[@DogsBAwesome]

Everybody knows getting through a world war makes you immune to poisoning and according to my neighbour highly infectious viruses. FYI my neighbour has got the message now thank goodness.

[@stanleydenning]

Companys who falsely advertise their products should be severely fined or put out of business. Stop the lies!

[@fancysnake1]

That might be the case in other parts of the world but not from China sadly.

[@jasonudall8614]

Baby milk adulterating companies have had their directors imprisoned for LIFE for that crime.....the Chinese can act where they chose chose

[@jfan4reva]

Since it's not harmful UVC, they'll probably claim the Chinese equivalent of "no harm, no foul". From what I've heard from someone who lived there for the last 10 years, everyone is just trying to make money, regardless of the method.

[@thomasneal9291]

they're actually doing the world a favour, since people are too fucking stupid to realize that waving around a uv lamp is not going to save you from getting a virus, but it WILL cause skin and cornea damage.

[@FireAngelOfLondon]

@@jasonudall8614 Those were Chinese babies, what happens to foreigners is of no importance. BMW took a Chinese motor manufacturer to court for copying one of their cars. The cars differed only in their badges, you could even swap things like valve seals and piston rings so the Chinese motor company had reverse engineered the BMW design to less than a 1/10000th of an inch. They even used the same microprocessor and firmware in the electronic ignition system, though the circuit board was marked in Chinese only rather than in German and Chinese like the BMW product. The court ruled that BMW had no claim as the "slight resemblance" was coincidence. If it had been a rival Chinese motor manufacturer such a ridiculous ruling would never have been issued.

[@cmdrlars9161]

I love how the PCB says on it that it is a work lamp made last year, they just changed the LED strip for purple LEDs.

[@daShare]

The LEDs not strobing would be essential to avoid possible mishaps when viewing rotating machinery.

[@lpsowns]

Is this how you're supposed to shine the light to sterilize your insides...?

[@wargamingrefugee9065]

Thank you Professor Farnsworth.

[@bills6093]

@@lpsowns No, they do it via an LED and a needle/catheter to pass your blood through the LED light.

[@johnemajor]

@@lpsowns Yes, you stick it up your bum. But you also have to inject a little disinfectant.

[@scottmarshall6766]

@@lpsowns That's real and it's done with fiber optics, not new tech either. Remember you can't believe what you see on the news these days, they all have an agenda, and it's far from reporting scientific (or any other) facts.

[@nigelhall6714]

Big Clive. We all love your videos. Highly informative, humorous and well narrated. Thanks and stay safe.

[@adamreynolds3863]

I really like watching your videos, I learn something new (if not multiple new things), from every one of your videos. Its just great, plain and simply put. Keep doing what you do! 100% love your channel

[@wwsxa39]

"But it is purple" so it must be sterlilzing. Just ask Mary.

[@Chorkaloopa]

.... and it has electrolytes!

[@Sharklops]

the wind cries, and so do the rest of us

[@soupflood]

Who's Mary

[@budel1990]

@@soupflood I think he means Mary Mallon. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Mallon

[@kwinzman]

Scammer Mary

[@scottbrown4611]

Bigclive, thanks for shedding some real truth on the LED UVC sellers and what we as consumers looking need to watch out for. A great channel and I always get excited when I see a new video notification come over.

[@kellymuk9079]

So can some one please direct me to buy a legit UVC Steriliser

[@andresilva8444]

Glad you’re doing these videos. Even sceptical me would have been fooled by some of these. Thank you for the service provided.

[@jackvernian7779]

if the light looks purple it's mostly due to our vision, in reality it's just "blue". Ultraviolet is basically "beyond violet" or more accurately "beyond deep blue" which we see as purple.

[@andresilva8444]

Jack Vernian I’m a moderate deutan, for me it’s on or off. No way I can tell purple, blue, cyan, etc.

[@anndeefam]

This is one of the best video's you've put out there. Thanks for helping to keeping we consumers from getting ripped off or worse yet and most important being injured from these rip-offs. I looked around and these fake germicidal irradiation devices are everywhere. UVC is a very interesting subject and I've been studying this more deeply since watching this video.

[@werza]

And so the hunt for a true uv-c led goes on!

[@bigclivedotcom]

They are available on eBay, but you have to specifically look for the little gold squares. I bet a manufacturer starts making fake gold UVC LEDs soon.

[@covishen]

That wand would work pretty well at finding the urine spots that one of my cats left all over the house with her UTI.

[@Muonium1]

@@bigclivedotcom You mention in the video that they're "barely on the edge of the germicidal range" but really the ones i've seen are 265 or 270nm which is EXACTLY in the middle of the germicidal effectiveness peak and should make that light even more effective than the 254nm light from Hg. Buy one!!! I wanna see how much light they make and what you can do with it!!!

[@Muonium1]

@ThePacman300 thats very surprising given the absorption band maxima for oxygen molecules is significantly lower than 265nm. what led is it

[@originalmianos]

I got an LG UVC LED at 270nm. That is right in the sterilisation range. The part is designed for sterilisation applications. I got it for my fish tank to keep the algae down. Drove it with a laser constant current board. It lasted about a year.

[@rickyao2468]

This is actually in the casing of an Astro Pneumatic LED COB light, which I believe you did a review on as well! I've seen variants of this floating around eBay and Amazon.

[@sittinwatchinvideo]

I sent the 'cob' back after realizing the LED were not germicidal. It was being sold on Amazon. Thank you for what you do.

[@norastardust]

In addition to your lovely Scottish burr(I could listen to you all day), you have just saved me a lot of money and a lot of potential pain. Glad I found you.

[@danlolley7549]

We use uv lights like that to test for air conditioning leaks on cars after adding the uv dye.

[@Berkeloid0]

I'd love to see someone try to get a refund on one of these because the UVC has made the resin deteriorate - what's the seller going to say, you're lying because it's not really UVC? Oh well then I'd like a refund because it's not really UVC then, thanks.

[@gregorythomas333]

Brilliant :)

[@Berkeloid0]

@@teebosaurusyou How? If it's not UVC it's UVA which isn't going to cause you much harm...

[@MrK00T]

I just did that dumb mistake of buying this exact same one and was wondering what should I add to my return text and make sure I get a real chance at getting a refund. Thanks for the help!

[@Berkeloid0]

​@@MrK00T I plan to complain that when I shine it on my skin it doesn't smell of burning, which means it's not UVC so I'd like to return it because it was falsely advertised. The real question is whether the seller will give you a refund or require you to ship it back to China, which is very expensive, in the hope that it will make you give up asking for a return/refund.

[@waltp3373]

@@Berkeloid0 If it's false advertising, ebay may step in and force them to give you a refund without sending it back. It's worth a try. If enough people ask for refunds, maybe it'll force these crooks to stop selling them. I did that on a MP3 player from China that was advertised as 8GB and was actually less than 1 GB because they manipulated the software to show 8GB but you couldn't load even 1GB.

[@theonlywoody2shoes]

I’ve seen a very similar circuit in a rechargeable night light. The R7 value was 8k2, not 33k. When on charge the LEDs lit dimly as a night light, but when the downward pointing cylindrical torch style night light was removed from the mains plug charger (or the mains failed) it came on at full brightness.

[@johndrew6568]

Bigclive, I bought three 50W UV LED Germicidal Flood Light Ozone Sterilizer IP65 from Bangood, for two pals who had caught covid, now after watching this, I feel a right PRATT!!!!!!!!! Keep up the great vids big man.

[@Corgitronics]

Interesting light. On that second FET that bridges the 33K resistor, it looks like when the charger is connected, the light will automatically turn off because of the 20K pull up. That would allow the light to be left in the ON position while charging, and if the power failed, the light would turn on like an emergency light? Just my random thoughts.

[@RFC3514]

Considering the incompetence of humans in general, fake UV lamps will probably end up causing *_less_* harm than real ones.

[@TheToastPeople]

Yep

[@jp040759]

Great few videos on the LED UVC quackery. I was looking at all of what's out there but will definitely look elsewhere for glass tube styles only. You confirmed my suspicions of fakery. THANX

[@alanmumford8806]

I was looking at these on EBay yesterday and you have confirmed my suspicions. I considered buying a 'real' UVC lamp but, in all honesty, I can't think how I would actually use one in my apartment, since I don't want to destroy all of the plastic materials in my home. Such as the TV, fake wooden flooring etc... Not sure how the houseplants would like it either.

[@brian954]

“Work lamp” stamped right on to the board 🤦‍♂️ They just have no shame.

[@mrdicks]

possibly it was manufactured as a "work lamp black light detector" before the pandemic and shameless sellers repackaging their existing stock

[@johncrowerdoe5527]

That stamp is a clear warning from the design engineer: This is a work lamp, not anything else. If someone claims otherwise, shame on them.

[@steviebboy69]

@Steve Mclean He buy's them and then tests them so we don't find out the hard way. good work ol' Clive is doing .

[@askjacob]

better than "Don't Work" i guess

[@Mentorcase]

@Brian Nichols Would you rike some shame, we have a vast stock avarlable for quickly dispatch to you?

[@mysterythecat971]

Aliexpress has thousands of these....

[@curioushvacguy6876]

Great video Big Clive- there was alot of good information to digest, cant wait to start checking out the rest of your content--

[@mpitel6512]

Thanks so much for saving me a few hundred US dollars. I had order a couple of these at around $60/ea. After watching this video, I cancelled the orders immediately. I also looked up COB work lamp on Amazon and turned up a series of virtually identical products using different color LED's described as Mechanics Rechargeable work lights. They start at $14.99

[@corneldesign2482]

Hey how about 59s uv sterilizer wand? Please make a video for that.

[@CoolJosh3k]

I suspect many are resellers who themselves are being scammed from their product provider.

[@cac33707]

Thank you for making this video. I bought this exact wand UV light off Amazon and when I received it, I immediately knew something wasn’t right. Luckily I was able to get a full refund. I greatly appreciate your thorough analysis and explanation!

[@taffythegreat1986]

I’m glad that found this video. Because I am thinking of making something with uvc leds. I had a few companies lined up as well. Cheers for that 👍👍👍👍

[@attilarivera]

Oh 😨 That is why the UV inks I use did not react with this type of LED. I thought my paints were out of date. Lol Thank u

[@ADR69]

The quack product videos are my favorite

[@bigclivedotcom]

Mine too. There's always something pleasing about quackery.

[@johngarritzcx6733]

Were most People want to buy nrat thins Clive goes for thè QUACKEY things 😊😊😂😂

[@johngarritzcx6733]

XD

[@mysock351C]

Those lights are also used for looking for A/C refrigerant leaks on cars as well since they are only semi-hermetic and tend to leak a bit. The manufacturers will typically mix fluorescent dye in with the refrigerant oil so you can spot if a compressor or hose is starting to seep.

[@laniguapolaca]

Thank you very much for your technical expertise and exposing this consumer thieves

[@MrBinabanana]

It may be intended for use in the automotive industry for identifying tracer dye used to locate leaks in vehicle air conditioning systems.

[@DavidBTB]

I was inspired by your videos to buy a Mercury UVC tube from a water filtration company and built a death-ray closet in my pantry. SSR and a switch so it only turns with the door closed.

[@tootalldan5702]

I hope you don't smell the sweet air of ozone as a side effect. You can put a rubber balloon in there and see if the rubber decays to broken pieces by the effect.

[@johncrowerdoe5527]

Beware of the current leakage in SSRs.

[@Zenodilodon]

Another great video Clive! Interesting though, I see what you call Ice Blue lights, they are the same as what I have seen as marked Ice Blue but still not the odd ones I saw. The LEDs I am getting have a Sky Blue, almost Robin egg looking color, it completely obstructs the view of the die underneath. Still waiting on them to arrive ~ Big Clive levels of anticipation are intensifying over here :P

[@springwoodcottage4248]

The 'uv' diodes can be used for exposing photosensitive lacquers & such that are sold for making pcb & etching metals. I have used an array of these 'uv' diodes for making photo etched plaques & screen printing stencils for several years with good success as they are repeatable unlike sun light which can also be used, but needs calibrating for each set of exposure conditions. The correspondence between solar & these led 'uv' diodes tells me that the wavelengths of the 'uv' led are in the range of uva/uvb. Thanks for sharing!

[@johnrehwinkel7241]

If it were UVC, that plastic window would absorb most of it anyway.

[@BloodAsp]

That depends on the type of plastic. As far as I know, not all materials do absorb UVC.

[@fss1704]

heyou yeah but if you know a kind of plastic that does that for less price than the metal version you could make some good money selling that to manufacturers.

[@mikemondano3624]

Acrylics with no additives allow UV-C to pass.

[@Now_lets_get_this_straight]

Mike Mondano, I thought quartz glass was the only glass that allowed UVC to pass. Regular glass offers protection but I never heard anything about using plastic.

[@FireAngelOfLondon]

@@Now_lets_get_this_straight Many clear plastics pass UVC but they still aren't useful for this kind of thing because if exposed to UVC they quickly become cloudy, brittle and crumbly. A few specialist UVC resistant plastics exist but quartz glass is cheaper so they are only used in cases where impact resistance and UVC transparency are both needed.

[@hotdogs1026]

Bet you're on Beijing's Most Wanted list mate. Lol 14:41 I thought this was a family friendly channel! 🤣🤣🤣

[@johncrowerdoe5527]

He was illustrating a corn cob covered in butter. Very family friendly.

[@jfan4reva]

It was a long lonely winter on the Isle of Mann, and now they've got social distancing on top of that! Lol!

[@murrayr001x]

Thanks for doing these Clive. Good to see these fake products called out!

[@evilutionltd]

I think thousands of us should buy one and then raise a complaint. It won't take long for them to get the idea.

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

The light of the ice blue LEDs is really pretty. It's my favourite colour, and I didn't even know that they existed. I shall get hold of some of these LEDs and make a light from them, just for my own personal pleasure of looking at it.

[@sinista6536]

Seegal Galguntijak The ambient lighting and speedo etc in my car is this colour, it’s beautiful

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

@@sinista6536 What make and model is your car? (I only know blue from the early 2000s VWs, but they have a much darker blue)

[@sinista6536]

Seegal Galguntijak Ford Fiesta Zetec S but I’ve resoldered the ambient lighting to match the speedo and dash ice blue

[@Seegalgalguntijak]

@@sinista6536 I see. I always thought that Ford had green or white speedo illumination, so I guess yours is a custom job. Nice! Although too much work for my car and what it's worth (besides, I don't think my '99 Seat has LEDs already, but still small bulbs, and it's all red :( )

[@sinista6536]

Seegal Galguntijak No, most if not all Fords have blue speedo illumination after about 2013, except for ST models that have red. The only things I modified were the cupholders light rings, strip above the glovebox and the door cars lights. And yeah at that age it probably is small bulbs although you may be surprised. It’s cheap enough to do, I think I paid £7 for a cheapo soldering iron and then about £3 for a load of ice blue SMD LEDs

[@jotatsu]

Amazon is crowded with this stuff too, from 10 pages of products, maybe 1 contains real UVC leds.

[@KeoniPhoenix]

eBay and Amazon are the places Chinese manufactures have been going to peddle their wares on the unsuspecting.

[@dalebertdurando1496]

Plus they don't have any agency approvals. They bypass the safety agencies (UL, TUV, CSA, etc) by selling this way.

[@philtaylor3098]

Both will do nothing to stampout these products.

[@tomhood8897]

Excellent demonstration of big cob shucking!!!

[@simonizer2012]

Clive. I bought one of those PAR lights you have ordered and can confirm that it is indeed filled with ice blue LEDs. I was curious like you and your channel. It took quite a while to get here but at £2.99 it wasn't much of a loss.

[@raymondpenn1066]

It should be possible to get a rough idea of the wavelength of the light produced using a diffraction grating. A very rusty bell from A-level physics in the 80s is ringing in my head. Should in theory at least prove that the light being emitted is at least too far in to the visible spectrum to be UVc. Then the lack of a metal case around the LED although the less consciencious sellers woul dprobably just get their suppliers to paint them.

[@jackvernian7779]

if it's monochromatic you can exactly tell the wavelength, not just "rough idea". That is if you know the periodicity of the diffraction grating.

[@dogwalker666]

Could this be a urine detector or for reading ink from those security pens?

[@bigclivedotcom]

It might work for both those, but probably wouldn't be as good as the deeper UVA tubes.

[@dogwalker666]

@@bigclivedotcom I see

[@Omiefury]

Wow... excellent video! Very informative. Thanks for sharing... Is it easy to measure the frequency spectrum to detect if it's actually in the UV-C range?

[@thecheeze9001]

I hope you get one of those UV phone sanitizer boxes to test too. I'm looking at a few myself, but after seeing a few of your videos, I'm withholding my purchases

[@soupflood]

it's a _homeopathic_ uv-c light, the seller probably couldn't find the word... It emits the barest _whiff_ of uv-c, for _the strongest effect_ against the transparent plastic

[@jasonudall8614]

Woo

[@andyowens5494]

Jason Udall ...han.

[@soupflood]

I see what you two did there

[@LexTNeville]

Juuuust incase you're not up to date with your science, water _is_ capable of retaining memory through dilution and homeopathic medicine consistently outperforms placebo in all serious laboratory tests. For further reading, see the works of Nobel Laureate Luc Montagnier

[@andyowens5494]

LexTNeville ha ha ha ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. Oh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ahh. Thats funny. EDIT: Yes to Nobel award winner, but then sadly lost his marbles. The only publication on high dilutions (nothing to do with homeopathy by the way - "cannot extrapolate it to the products used in homeopathy" a quote from Montagnier himself) has never been successfully peer reviewed, and has only been published in the Journal of Interdisciplinary Sciences: Computational Life Sciences, where he is (was?) also chairman of the editorial board (so hardly independently verified). Keep up with real science - it works by weeding out the nonsense, which is why we have medicines and treatments that actually work, and an understanding of the universe that’s consistent with how the universe actually works (not how people think or want it to work).

[@frunkchungus]

Shame of how many outfits are taking advantage of the current climate. Great content as always Clive & a good watch, thank you from Minnesota, USA. Stay safe my friend!

[@kimsleep4111]

Its true , they are taking advantage of people, but these things often sell for less than $10.00, which should THEORHETICALLY tell you something, almost immediately

[@MegaVoltMeister]

Clive, Love your videos. What printer do you use to print out the zoomed in photo of the board used for illustrations?

[@PurpleTT99]

Clive as you say in the description they are "faking medical equipment during a global pandemic". Been watching you for years and I'm always impressed how restrained and fair you are when dealing with crappy imported stuff. But this time I was hoping you'd switch into full rant mode however again, you were reigning it in. One day I hope you'll let all that exasperation out with a verbal tirade of monumental proportions. It won't change anything but at least you'll enjoy it and I certainly will!

[@ColinHuth]

Explain Big Clive to girlfriend, open KZbin to illustrate, this video was posted seven seconds ago. Fate smiles upon us this glorious Big Clive day.

[@Ragnarok540]

What did said girlfriend said? Also, what's is a girlfriend?

[@SigEpBlue]

@@Ragnarok540 LoL Beat me to it.

[@brendandoherty2159]

@@Ragnarok540 It's a rubberized inflatable doll manufactured for guys who HAVE been married before and see no need to put up with endless amounts of drama!!!

[@Arachnoid_of_the_underverse]

Does she have sparks flying out her rear end :D

[@WineScrounger]

We need to know what she thinks. Is she a convert to the cause?

[@turbomar6667]

It has become apparent that many Chinese mainland sellers have no morals and are soly driven by greed. Very troubling

[@tesmith47]

Yep, they learned from the best, USA!!

[@turbomar6667]

@@tesmith47 care to explain because that doesn't make any sense

[@tesmith47]

@@turbomar6667 which successful capitalist country had a Era of robber barons, a history of cheating,stealing,and unfair dealing all over the world?

[@turbomar6667]

@@tesmith47 OIC, You have a point

[@TheWtfnonamez]

I was watching this thinking "omg I just blew thirty quid on a fake" ... then you produced the exact lamp I just bought on Amazon. Close cal. Thank you for this video, it really matters and makes a difference given the current circumstances in the world.

[@marianwyse8752]

Thank you so much for posting this! Just returned two of these fakes to a seller on Amazon. I'm familiar with UV-A lights; have several for photography, but had no way to accurately assess the germicidal capability of these shitty little wands I stupidly bought.

[@fluffycritter]

I’m starting to think these videos need a drinking game associated with them.

[@linswad]

“UVC” - Drink!

[@mattmanyam]

Take a shot every time he says the word "shall".

[@keeperofthecheese]

"I want to return this carvery meal, it appears to be a sausage roll on a cardboard plate." "WHAT IS WRONG WITH IT? IT HAS MEAT IN IT, HASN'T IT? YES IT HAS."

[@markfergerson2145]

Do I hear that in CMOT Dibbler's voice? Yes, I do!

[@arnaudmenard5114]

Those are bleak words coming from you... CMOT Dibbler’s sausage in a bun... I don’t reckon what’s in them can still be called meat!

[@Teribus13]

I mean, it is a vegan sausage roll, but it still counts as meat doesn't it?

[@tonywalton1464]

But I paid for named meat

[@markfergerson2145]

@@tonywalton1464 It's got a name, "Sausage onna bun". No refunds.

[@adoa433]

Clive, awesome video great info on the circuit board , but to decipher if the light emitted from the LED is actually in the Ultra Violet Wave length you should be using a UVC Wave length meter not your hand lol , they can be expensive but you will have better data you can support your claim with

[@tofu86oc55]

they have uvc light meters. it'd be interesting to see how much/little light they emit, and compare that to the amount necessary to disinfect

[@chloebearuk9200]

I got one of these from ebay and I've been waving this thing around the room like crazy because I thought it's the real uv light that kills viruses until I watched this video lol.

[@bill-nolastnamesupplied-958]

On the other hand it may have saved you your eyesight by being a fake UVC light. The real UVC lights tend to have safety interlocks to stop you damaging your skin and eyes (and others' skin and eyes too).

[@HealthySleepGroup]

waving it around achieves absolutely nothing .. even if it was the real thing

[@shardlake]

China, just keep on making us proud....

[@TekHobbies]

Please make a video on how to draw schematic from a circuit board, I mean the point where to start and what to keep in mind while analyzing the tracks. Is there any method or its just a practice that make you draw it.

[@jbeeblebrox4062]

Great video, thank you very much! I 've also fallen for some fake UV-C COB-LED-Lamps, they are the type depicted in your background image at the start of your video. Have been suspicious from the beginning about the spectrum those emit. Your videos concerning UV-C were extremely helpful. I was able to successfuly open a dispute about these products on aliexpress and will get the money back. I have little doubt however this fake lamps will be marketed and sold furtheron.. Na, im going for two traditional Glaslamps now and am sure those come with a guaranteed spectral characteristic.

[@Ted_P]

Ok. This one looks more suitable for internal use.

[@LiLi-or2gm]

Oh, these need to be branded with Trump's name and advertised as a rectally inserted "light cleanser."

[@gorak9000]

It's even the right shape to use it "inside the body" :)

[@Simon-ui6db]

I think it is just been rebranded, its a perfect shape for leak detection as to get into narrow spaces near cam covers for water pumps in the car etc.

[@AwsomeVids83]

Can you get one of those proper UVC leds? I would be really interested in seeing that!

[@1kreature]

You can test if it's in the UVC range with your glow powders! If it charges the alumilite really well it is uvc as alumilite has peak response there.

[@wisher21uk]

I have a COB led work/inspection lamp from Lidl and it’s very similar to that wand you have there but mine has a clicky hinge to angle the lamp down and it has 5 blue indicating leds to show charging and battery level it’s pretty good thanks for a good video Clive 😉

[@nutsnproud6932]

That mechanics light is often used to detect leaks in Air conditioning. Mechanics put a UV dye in the air con system. If there is a leak the dye shines when a UV light shines on it. I hope that helps.

[@lxOFWGKTAxl]

Just bought one of you Pro rgb kits with some flower pcbs! Can't wait until they get here! Thanks Clive!

[@bigclivedotcom]

Hi Andrew. You ordered the knob version of the kit as opposed to the pro with buttons. Is that definitely the one you want?

[@lxOFWGKTAxl]

My apologies, I thought the knob was an upgraded version. I would like the pro version. And thanks alot for asking! But I do have a question about the flower pcbs, do you use 5mm or 8mm for the middle LED?

[@mad_circuits]

But hey: That glowing stick looks so beautiful! 😍

[@evensgrey]

UVA will cure the UV-curing resins used in most SLA 3D printers. At least, it will cure the types that are similar to dental resins. (Dentist have been using UV curing resins as fillings since the 1970's. I asked my dentist asked a while back, and the UV used to cure dental resins is just inside the UVA band, so it's pretty safe, even on tissue with little to no UV resistance, like the lining of the mouth.)

[@bigclivedotcom]

Many of the dental resins use blue light to cure.

[@BloodAsp]

I love the construction of this one, the modularity increases repairability, and it seems generally thought out at least. As for the housing, ehh, I don't have any basis of opinion on that.

[@agvulpine]

Weird that this lamp dims when you plug it in to charge. I have a work light that does the opposite, it ramps up the brightness when charger current becomes available.

[@mvl718]

Thanks for this video, I already had some doubt about these lights

[@CadillacM]

They selling on Amazon also

[@firstfill5072]

Haven’t a clue....but in a strange way I’m hooked. ....fascinating

[@TheBuffaloEstate]

Have you done any reviews on those UV phone sanitizing boxes? I have seen some where they test their effectiveness with a petri dish and bacterial growth but it would be cool to see them opened up to see if they are real.

[@davidpries9346]

Have you discussed "photocatalytic oxidation" in any of your posts? I think its a process that occurs when titanium dioxide is exposed to UVC. I have seen it featured in a number of Hg Vapor UVC lights used in HVAC ducts.

[@bigclivedotcom]

I've been looking at that recently, but have not really got any way to test it.

[@davidpries9346]

@@bigclivedotcom We had one (actually 4 in two years) on our furnace. When they worked, fantastic. A faint pleasant sweet-ish smell. Something similar to chlorine or ozone. Sadly the manufacture couldn't build a product that would last for more than a few months. A new unit (different manufacturer) will arrive a a few weeks. I wish you lived up the street, I would gladly drop of the old one. I've been wondering if $10 of powdered titanium dioxide would catalyze under UVC. Thank you for all the excellent videos.

[@extrastuff9463]

I like how the PCB even says COB work lamp on it, revision 1.0 as well so they presumably didn't even change it.

[@Dcoool77]

Why not use A Euro (€) bill to detect UV-C light, as a security feature some print detail only shows up in UV-C illumination.

[@carminetambascia6355]

Great video!Which one are the legitimate UV-C led one?I mean the wand led one?Thank you

[@28YorkshireRose12]

I know garage mechanics use a uV light to locate leaks in vehicle air conditioning units, and those lights look very suspiciously like this one, so I reckon you're on the right tack there, Clive. One other noteworthy point is that when the guys were checking my own A/C in my Volvo, they were wearing 'special' goggles, and gloves, while they were using the light.

[@garryrussell7618]

G'Day Clive, Would love to see a video on your reverse engineering practice's, doodling's, process. Would make for entertaining viewing. Keep up the great work :-)

[@marc-andreservant201]

There are legitimate UVC LED chips for water sterilization in applications where the disposal of mercury lamps would pose a problem. They are definitely NOT blue and emit almost no visible light.

[@HealthySleepGroup]

1. Germicidal UVC provides percentage disinfection (it does NOT sterilise) 2. If you place a plastic or glass cover over the face of the UVC bulb it will not emit any UVC 3. UVC does not kill mites. It's only effective against microorganisms. (# there are tests showing that they have a killing effect against dust mites but the dosage is enormous) 4. energy x time = dose (if this sentence makes no sense to you, you shouldn't be making any comments pertaining to germicidal UVC and its effects) Well done Big Clive for exposing these toys ... which can also be dangerous

[@jameshunt2141]

just reminded me i need a new uv lamp for finding leaks in a/c systems. thanks

[@Romin.777]

Glad i found a real one wich also produces the unmistakeable smell of ozon. It's like a fluorecent tubelight in the same 8 watt armature with a clear glass tube. It also takes a while to start up. Found it on ebay uk but they are not available anymore.

[@savagemadman2054]

The power supply you used for that strip of LEDs emits an annoying high pitched squeal. I recall hearing it in another recent video as well.

[@Acoustic_Theory]

What sensor do you use to detect UVC? I could wait to ask you on this week's live stream but I'm curious.

[@bigclivedotcom]

A module from Adafruit that is sensitive to the required areas.

[@carlo0810]

Hi, you think you can do a review of 59s UVC LED products? Thanks

[@CountDoucheula]

I ordered this exact model from a different seller, but I honestly thought it was germicidal, due to the fact that the UV light bleached a strip of natural latex. I've ordered some agar loaded Petri dishes, so hopefully I can grow some bacterial cultures and see if it is actually works.

[@TonyAbbey]

When are you going to get a proper spectrometer, Clive, so you can show us the spectrum of light sources?

[@budmartin3344]

May I ask what camera do you use to take that great clear picture of the PCB and what kind of lights you also use?

[@bigclivedotcom]

A Moto G6 Play.