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How do you use a blacklight?

Dahlia
May 14th, 2005, 11:52 AM
I bought one to try to find the pee spots in the dining room that I can't see. I took all the bulbs out of my dining room light fixture and put the blacklight in but it didn't show anything. So I'm thinking I need to get a hand held light like a shoplight so I can hold it closer to the floor. Is that how you do it?

Prin
May 14th, 2005, 11:57 AM
I've never done it, but how Grissomy of you... lol I do think you need to be closer if it does work... :)

Dahlia
May 14th, 2005, 12:04 PM
Sorry if I sound dumb, but what's Grissomy?

levimh
May 14th, 2005, 12:35 PM
You could probably see the spots with a blacklight, but the rest of the room has to be completely dark. However, that might not work because -depending on the blacklight - you'd need to be closer than a light bulb is to a floor. A handheld one might work best. Or you could take a lamp and put the blacklight bulb in it and move it around the floor. Just a suggestion.

raingirl
May 14th, 2005, 03:10 PM
DId you get one of those ones that you screw into a regular bulb socket? Because some of those aren't "real" black lights...they are just purple coloured bulbs. Many stores sell them as "black lights" but they aren't the same.

Also, you need to be a few inches away from the area you want to search for it to work.

Just get a lamp with a long cord, take off the lamp shade, put the bulb you have in it, and shine it close to the carpet. It if doesn't work, then either you don't have stains, or it isn't realy black light.

Do other things glow in the light when you go close to it (anything white like shirts or paper or anything neon coloured). If not, that's a good indication it's not a real bulb.

I have a small fluorescent shop light (12 inches long) that I put seedlings under. It was about $10 at Home Depot. A black light bulb for a shop light of that size is a few bucks... I was thinking of getting one as well just in case.

some places sell these ones now (from http://www.bulbman.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=135):

http://www.bulbman.com/ProductImages/images/3ue26blb.jpg

The fluorescent ones are always a little better than the regular incandescent bulb ones.

I'm a little bit of a lighting freak as Halloween is my fav holiday and I used to dress up my parents porch each year will all kinds of spooky lights like black lights and such.

Prin
May 14th, 2005, 03:33 PM
Sorry if I sound dumb, but what's Grissomy?
Sorry, TV addict here... Grissom is the main crime scene investigator guy in CSI... :o

Karin
May 14th, 2005, 03:58 PM
We use a handheld black light at vet hospitals & shelters to detect certain fungi, like ringworm...I had no idea it could show urine stains.

Dahlia
May 15th, 2005, 08:26 AM
LOL, I get it now, Prin. I watch CSI, too. I don't know why I didn't make the connection.

Last night I took the bulb and put it in a reading lamp then moved it around close to the floor. It did show some stains, but not as vivid as the stuff shows up on CSI. Also as I was telling dh, this isn't like CSI, then I though, Grissom! Duh?! I can be a little slow sometimes. :rolleyes:

You know what showed up the best? The baby's spit up spots that I had just wiped up with a towel. Oops. Got those cleaned up too.

raingirl
May 15th, 2005, 08:47 AM
I think the light shows up things that have Phosphor in them, and most natural substances (like urine and such) have phosphor in them. But it degrades over time...so the stain could be older whereas the spit up was newer.