WORKSTAR® 224 UV INSPECTION LIGHT



WorkStar® 224 UV Inspection Light, retail $39.95 (http://maxxeon.com...)
Manufactured by Maxxeon (http://maxxeon.com)
Last updated 11-29-13





The WorkStar® 224 UV Inspection Light is a very handy little source of UVA radiation (aka., "longwave UV") that you can carry in your pocket like a pen.

It is rated to produce 120mW (or 240mW according to the Maxxeon website) of ultraviolet radiation at 400nm (spectrographically measured at 399.280nm) which is far, FAR more than comparable UV "penlights" produce. This is because the LED is a higher output type; to the best of my knowledge, only Maxxeon uses it in their WorkStar® 224 UV Inspection Light!

It comes in a purple anodized body (purple, so you can easily tell it apart from other lights you might have in proximity), and feeds its LED with a trio of AAAA cells.

The uses for this light are numerous; let's just name some of them:
  • A/C refrigerant dye leak detection
  • Fluorescent hand stamp verification
  • Pet & rat pee stain detection
  • Hunters following animal trails (blood and piss)
  • Restroom cleanliness inspection
  • Hotel room cleanliness inspection-- checking sheets & matresses for piss & sperm (urine & spooge)
  • Document and lab analysis
  • Crime scene investigation
  • Hairline crack detection
  • Paint authentication (primarily on antique artwork)
  • Currency verification
  • Bacteria detection
  • Gem inspection
  • UV curing
  • Scorpion hunting



 Size of product w/hand to show scale SIZE



To use your shiny new (or corroded old) WorkStar® 224 UV Inspection Light, feed it first (see directly below), and then you can go paint the town red...or in this case, go and examine or inspect something.

Press the button on the tailcap fairly firmly until it clicks and then release it to turn it on. This is continuous mode.

Repeat the same process to neutralise it (turn it off).

For momentary mode, press the tailcap button less firmly (before it clicks) and hold it in that way for as long as you need the UVA radiation. Release pressure on the button to neutralise it.



Changing the batteries in this light is very simple; finding new ones for it might be more of a challenge. I was unable to find "AAAA" cells anywhere in the downtown Seattle area.
The internet battery retailer, http://www.cheapbatteries.com sells them for $1.25 apiece in small quantities; cheaper (75 cents) if you can afford to buy in bulk; however you will need a credit card to buy them here.
Someone like me will be out of luck.

Once you have three new AAAA cells (yes, I said, "AAAA" and not "AAA"), it's a simple procedure to change them.
Unscrew the tailcap until it comes off, and set it aside.

Dump the old batteries into your hand, and dispose of or recycle them as you see fit.

Pour three new AAAA cells into the barrel, nipple-end (+) positive first.

Screw the tailcap back on, and you're in business!

Current usage measures 152.10mA on my DMM's 400mA scale.



This is a UV inspection light, not a flashlight meant to be thrashed, trashed, and abused. So I won't try to drown it in the toliet tank, bash it against a steel rod or against the concrete floor of a carport in effort to try and expose the bare Metalmarineangemon - er - the bare Metaltrailmon - um that's not it either...the bare Metalsusanoomon...er...uh...wait a sec here...THE BARE METAL (guess I've been watching too much Digimon again! - now I'm just making {vulgar term for feces} up!!!), let my mother's big dog's ghost, her kitties, my kitty or my sister's kitty cat piddle (uranate) on it, hose it down with my mother's gun, run over it with a 450lb Quickie Pulse 6 motorised wheelchair, stomp on it, use a medium ball peen hammer in order to bash it open to check it for candiosity, fire it from the cannoñata, drop it down the top of Mt. Erupto (now I guess I've been watching the TV program "Viva Piñata" too much again - candiosity is usually checked with a laser-type device on a platform with a large readout (located at Piñata Central {aka. "Party Central"}), with a handheld wand that Langston Lickatoad uses, or with a pack-of-cards-sized device that Fergy Fudgehog uses; the cannoñata (also located at Piñata Central) is only used to shoot piñatas to piñata parties away from picturesque Piñata Island, and Mt. Erupto is an active volcano on Piñata Island), send it to the Daystrom Institute for additional analyses, or perform other indecencies on it that a flashlight might have to have performed on it. Therefore, this section of the WorkStar® 224 UV Inspection Light's web page will seem a bit more bare than this section of the web page on a page about a flashlight.

[[BEGIN SERMON MODE]]
I must emphasize, protect your eyeballs when using this light. You only get one set of eyes - and if you wreck them, you can't just go down to the local 7-Eleven and buy a can of them.
Here is one simple way you can do this:

Most sunglasses and some prescription eyeglasses have some degree of UV protection already; to determine if yours do or not, aim the light at something that clearly fluoresces (such as those neon green & orange stickers that occasionally show up on your mail, day-glow orange price tags, or painted portions of a blacklight poster), positioning the light so the object in front of it glows (fluoresces) brightly from the ultraviolet radiation. Then put the glasses between the face of the light and the target. If the glow stops or dims dramatically, the glasses are stopping the UV and you can use them as eye protection at least for short-term use.
However, if the glow remains or dims only slightly, look for another pair.

In any case, never look directly at the LED without eye protection - not even for a minute.

Symptoms of UV exposure may not appear immediately; they can be delayed by 30 minutes to several hours. They can include a burning or "sand in the eyes" sensation, and a hazy look around light bulbs and other bright objects. Mild cases are self-correcting within 24 to 36 hours; however if despite my warnings you still stared at this light from close range for more than a few minutes, it might not be a bad idea to see an eye doctor and tell him you've been exposed to UVA radiation.

DISCLAIMER: I shall not be held responsible for any damage or loss of eyesight arising from your use or misuse of the information on this page. Thank you for listening.
[[END SERMON MODE]]


The WorkStar® 224 UV Inspection Light is equipped with O-rings, so that should offer sufficient protection to keep things like dirt, mud, dust, grit, bird s**t, water, antifreeze, compressor oil, and other nasties outside of the unit where they belong.

It also passed, "The Suction Test" at both ends with flying colors, so using it in foul weather should not pose much of an issue at all. I don't believe that it is rated as submersible, but shallow water landings should not kill it.

The unit has bands of knurling (crosshatch-shaped texturising) on the barrel near its tailcap and near its bezel; this not only looks smart, it helps to aid in retention (the ability to hold onto the unit when your hands are cold, oily, or wet).



Beam terminus photograph on the test target at 12".



Photograph of the vertical shades in my room at ~8 feet using this light as the sole source of illumination; this demonstrates the fact that they fluoresce (glow) in this light's UVA radiation.



Photograph of the living room at ~15feet using this light as the sole source of illumination; this demonstrates how some objects fluoresce when irradiated with this product.



Photograph of one of the floor bolts of a toliet when irradiated with this product, showing what appears to be micturition (piss) glowing a greenish-yellow color.



Control photograph of the same bolt, using the camera's photoflash instead of the WorkStar® 224 UV Inspection Light as the sole source of illumination.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of the LED in this light.


Spectrographic analysis
Spectrographic analysis of the LED in this light; spectrometer's response narrowed to a band between 395nm and 405nm to pinpoint peak wavelength, which is 399.280nm.

The raw spectrometer data (tab-delimited that can be loaded into Excel) is at http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/44/maxx-224.txt

USB2000 Spectrometer graciously donated by P.L.

Power outputr analysis
Radiated ("out the front") power was measured at 356mW on a LaserBee 2.5W USB Laser Power Meter w/Thermopile.
I chose this instrument because it uses a thermal sensor and has a sufficiently large sensor area that the light's beam is not vignetted (cut off).


A beam cross-sectional analysis would normally appear here, but the computer that hosted the ProMetric 8 Beam Cross-Sectional Analyser was destroyed by a lightning strike in July 2013 (the monitor had this big-ass hole blown right through its viewscreen); although a replacement computer is already en route (it just came several days ago actually), there's a fairly significant chance that the beam cross-sectional analyser itself was also taken out because both the computer & test instrument shared the AC power at the same outlet on the same power strip.





TEST NOTES:
Test unit of this (plus two other products) was sent by my contact at Maxxeon on 11-15-13, and was received on 11-18-13


UPDATE: 00-00-00



PROS:
Very intense source of UVA radiation
Dirt-, grit-, water- and foreign liquid-resistant
Smart looking purple body
Smaller in diameter than most other "pen-style" lights


NEUTRAL:



CONS:
Uses batteries that may be difficult to locate -- the resulting smaller body diameter makes up for this however


    MANUFACTURER: Maxxeon
    PRODUCT TYPE: UVA inspection light
    LAMP TYPE: High-powered UVA LED
    No. OF LAMPS: 1
    BEAM TYPE: Medium flood w/soft corona
    REFLECTOR TYPE: Stippled ("orange peel" texturised)
    SWITCH TYPE: Pushbutton on/momentary/off on tailcap
    CASE MATERIAL: Metal
    BEZEL: Metal; LED & reflector protected by glass window
    BATTERY: 3x AAAA cells
    CURRENT CONSUMPTION: 152.10mA
    WATER- AND URANATION-RESISTANT: Yes
    SUBMERSIBLE: Yes, to shallow depths at minimum
    ACCESSORIES: 3x batteries
    SIZE: 163mm L x 14mm Dia. (at widest point)
    WEIGHT: 45.30g (1.60 oz.) incl. batteries
    COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE: China
    WARRANTY: 1 year

    PRODUCT RATING:

    Star Rating





WorkStar® 224 UV Inspection Light * http://maxxeon.com...







Do you manufacture or sell an LED flashlight, task light, utility light, or module of some kind? Want to see it tested by a real person, under real working conditions? Do you then want to see how your light did? If you have a sample available for this type of real-world, real-time testing, please contact me at ledmuseum@gmail.com.

Please visit this web page for contact information.

Unsolicited flashlights, LEDs, and other products appearing in the mail are welcome, and it will automatically be assumed that you sent it in order to have it tested and evaluated for this site.
Be sure to include contact info or your company website's URL so visitors here will know where to purchase your product.







This page is a frame from a website.
If you arrived on this page through an outside link,you can get the "full meal deal" by clicking here.