Some of you may have seen the UV and beam tests I’ve shared in this sub before. I’ve tried quite a few different UV lights at this point, so when I got the UltraFire C15S 365nm, I wanted to test more than whether itcould simply make a scorpion glow.
I spent some time comparing it with the cheaper 395nm lights I already had, checking the beam at different distances and watching for any obvious drop in output during longer runs.
The C15S uses a 16W 365nm emitter with a ZWB2 filter. The most noticeable difference wasn’t simply brightness. It was how much cleaner the scene looked. With the 395nm lights, the visible purple spill illuminated the surrounding area and reduced the contrast. With the C15S, the background stayed much darker while the scorpions stood out immediately. The photos are fairly close to what I could see in person. There is still a little visible spill, as you would expect, but it doesn’t wash out the entire scene.
The beam is more focused than most UV lights I’ve tested. The deep reflector gives it useful reach for checking walls, corners and landscaping without having to get too close. It isn’t the beam shape I would choose for quickly flooding an entire rooom, but for locating scorpions at a safer distance, it makes sense. The head has substantial machined cooling fins, and the driver is listed as constant-current. I didn’t record a proper runtime graph, but I left it running through several tests and didn’t notice the output visibly sagging.
For me, the ZWB2 filter and focused beam matter more here than the 16W figure by itself. Raw output is useful, but clean contrast is what actually made the scorpions easier to find. I used UV eye protection throughout the testing and avoided direct exposure to the beam.
For anyone here who regularly searches for scorpions (I have no idea why would anyone does that), do you prefer a tighter UV beam with more reach or something floodier for covering the yard faster?
by Upbeat_Molasses_5250