What to do with a blacklight lamp?
May 5, 2024 5:03 AM Subscribe
Having read about the horrors of UV lights going wrong (Cancer! Scalding retinas! Mercury poisoning!) I am now too scared to use a blacklight lamp at public events. Can any one offer wisdom on how to do this safely?
I have a side project/hobby of creating interesting projection and light effects for small arts events/live gigs with random bits of kit picked up second hand. To that end I recently acquired a small (50cm) UV bar light at a garage sale. It is similar to this but UK version, 15watt bulb, and I thought it would be fun to use with fluorescent paint in a small area but the aforementioned research has put the fear of god in me.
Granted the risk of causing cancer seems low, but issues around damaging eyes and releasing toxic chemicals should something be dropped or smashed are alarming.
Info online around blacklight for events veers wildly between Harmless Fun and Certain Death so am asking the hive in case anyone knows better! Thank you.
I have a side project/hobby of creating interesting projection and light effects for small arts events/live gigs with random bits of kit picked up second hand. To that end I recently acquired a small (50cm) UV bar light at a garage sale. It is similar to this but UK version, 15watt bulb, and I thought it would be fun to use with fluorescent paint in a small area but the aforementioned research has put the fear of god in me.
Granted the risk of causing cancer seems low, but issues around damaging eyes and releasing toxic chemicals should something be dropped or smashed are alarming.
Info online around blacklight for events veers wildly between Harmless Fun and Certain Death so am asking the hive in case anyone knows better! Thank you.
Light is another form of radiation and follows the Inverse Square Law. The intensity decreases exponentially as you move farther away.
If you want the lighting effect but also want to minimize the exposure to you and your guests from the (very harmless) UV light, I would mount the lights as high up and far away from people as possible while keeping the effect. A 15 watt lamp is already pretty weak, you will be just fine.
If you are being super careful, I'd source the lamp from a known company that can provide a datasheet showing the UV type and wavelength. You should definitely be in the UV-A range, at least 315 nanometers or higher. The higher, the better. Cheap LEDs and lamps from Asia will sometimes have poor quality control, lie about the specs, or both. I know this firsthand.
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:23 AM on May 5
If you want the lighting effect but also want to minimize the exposure to you and your guests from the (very harmless) UV light, I would mount the lights as high up and far away from people as possible while keeping the effect. A 15 watt lamp is already pretty weak, you will be just fine.
If you are being super careful, I'd source the lamp from a known company that can provide a datasheet showing the UV type and wavelength. You should definitely be in the UV-A range, at least 315 nanometers or higher. The higher, the better. Cheap LEDs and lamps from Asia will sometimes have poor quality control, lie about the specs, or both. I know this firsthand.
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:23 AM on May 5
The lamp you have, if it's black/dark purple when switched off, is definitely safe for casual exposure.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:27 AM on May 5 [1 favorite]
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:27 AM on May 5 [1 favorite]
It's also no more potentially toxic than any other fluorescent tube.
posted by flabdablet at 7:40 AM on May 5
posted by flabdablet at 7:40 AM on May 5
Short version: IMO there's a bunch of overwrought panic on the webs about UV lights, BUT since you bought your light from some rando at a garage sale, I would avoid using it until & unless you find out what you've actually got.
issues around damaging eyes
AFAICT, the damaging eyes concern all over the web right now mostly comes from two recent high profile incidents (a party for the Hypebeast fashion line and a party for some Bored Ape NFT investors) where partygoers complained about eye pain & light sensitivity.
The general consensus seems to be that both parties used UV lights that are meant for sterilizing & disinfecting things, not the kind of UV lights used for entertainment purposes. The lights used in the incidents thus put out a lot of UV-C radiation, as opposed to the UV-A or UV-B wavelengths.
Since your UV light has an unknown provenance, I would do further research - the bulb may have manufacturer and model info that you could look up to see what the bulb's intended use is. (And, TBH, "garage sale" suggests that someone bought one early in the pandemic to try to sterilize packages & whatever, and has decided to get rid of it because we don't do that anymore. So my instinct would be to assume this light isn't appropriate for public use until you have evidence otherwise.)
Mercury poisoning
AFAIK, this is more of a "long-term, high-exposure" kind of concern. Here's a layperson's explanation based on the EU's studies by The Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER). Nobody's gonna keel over dead if your light breaks, and there are millions of people alive today who blithely bashed each other with fluorescent tubes (playing Star Wars lightsaber battle) or smashed dead tubes into dumpsters without any ill effect. BUT given the various regulations and concerns about properly disposing of fluorescent tubes, I could see any space or venue you're in being Highly Annoyed with you if your light breaks. IOW, it's not an immediate drastic health hazard, but it's a big pain in the ass for people who's good side you want to stay on.
I know that there are some companies that make plastic tubes to fit over fluorescent light bulbs to alter the color & provide some protection against breakage, but I don't know how easy it would be to find one in the right size.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:54 AM on May 5 [4 favorites]
issues around damaging eyes
AFAICT, the damaging eyes concern all over the web right now mostly comes from two recent high profile incidents (a party for the Hypebeast fashion line and a party for some Bored Ape NFT investors) where partygoers complained about eye pain & light sensitivity.
The general consensus seems to be that both parties used UV lights that are meant for sterilizing & disinfecting things, not the kind of UV lights used for entertainment purposes. The lights used in the incidents thus put out a lot of UV-C radiation, as opposed to the UV-A or UV-B wavelengths.
Since your UV light has an unknown provenance, I would do further research - the bulb may have manufacturer and model info that you could look up to see what the bulb's intended use is. (And, TBH, "garage sale" suggests that someone bought one early in the pandemic to try to sterilize packages & whatever, and has decided to get rid of it because we don't do that anymore. So my instinct would be to assume this light isn't appropriate for public use until you have evidence otherwise.)
Mercury poisoning
AFAIK, this is more of a "long-term, high-exposure" kind of concern. Here's a layperson's explanation based on the EU's studies by The Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risks (SCHER). Nobody's gonna keel over dead if your light breaks, and there are millions of people alive today who blithely bashed each other with fluorescent tubes (playing Star Wars lightsaber battle) or smashed dead tubes into dumpsters without any ill effect. BUT given the various regulations and concerns about properly disposing of fluorescent tubes, I could see any space or venue you're in being Highly Annoyed with you if your light breaks. IOW, it's not an immediate drastic health hazard, but it's a big pain in the ass for people who's good side you want to stay on.
I know that there are some companies that make plastic tubes to fit over fluorescent light bulbs to alter the color & provide some protection against breakage, but I don't know how easy it would be to find one in the right size.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:54 AM on May 5 [4 favorites]
You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments
The picture you sent looked like it’s probably the latter but don’t make safety decision based on that!
posted by doomsey at 6:12 AM on May 5 [2 favorites]