Forums > Technical Discussion > blacklight emitting poi/staff/contact balls?

Posted: 11th Oct 2010
I think black light bulbs are expensive and fragile - I don't know if you can get black light LED's

Glow toys are sensetive at the best of times without a glass bulb inside.

Scrap that you CAN get blacklight LED's
https://www.horrorseek.com/home/halloween/wolfstone/Lighting/bltled_BlackLightLED.html

A couple of balls short of a full cascade... or maybe a few cards short of a deck... we'll see how this all fans out.

Posted: 11th Oct 2010
Sure, that's a fine idea, so long as you don't look at them directly. I think there is a blinding issue, like staring at the sun.

Posted: 11th Oct 2010
oh thanks for the link i'm kind of tempted to buy some parts now and see if i can make some poi

Merow

Posted: 11th Oct 2010
well i was thinking if i put the lights in a ball casing like the LED Glow Ball poi sold in HoP it wouldn't be so bad but hopefully still bright enough to highlight the body paint

Merow

Posted: 11th Oct 2010
Before trying to solder black light LEDs into an existing device, check their voltage requirements. Higher frequency LEDs like blue or "uv" can be finicky, and in many devices require their own circuit.

p|.q|r:|::s|.s|s:|:.s|q.|:p|s.|.p|s

Posted: 11th Oct 2010
i have seen black light hoops, they looked pretty cool with fluro costumeing

I {Heart} hand me downs and spinning in the snow.<br /><br />

Posted: 11th Oct 2010
Aerotech used to offer UV LEDs on their props, and I had a prototype UV LED contact ball a while back.

It's an odd one as it's not a particularly "bright" colour, it's more the effect it creates than the colour itself.

To what end would you want UV-emitting props? In my mind you might as well get a purple LED, or use a UV flood/spot light to create the same effect...

Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude

Posted: 11th Oct 2010
Though having said that, I saw an awesome show with a guy who had a UV-acrylic and a head-torch with UV LEDs, so whenever he looked at the ball it "lit up".

*The ball itself was clear/UV, it didn't have LEDs in it

Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude

Posted: 11th Oct 2010
I did a design and technology project in school using about 50 violet LEDs. They were advertised as UV like, because they still make white things fluoresce. They came with no safety warning and theres plenty of visible light coming off them so they seem safe. I'd recommend seeing how LEDs like these work with your fluorescent body paint, because the bright violet colour looks amazing anyway. I wish I had more electronic know how now, got two sets of poi that are unreliable, would be good to mess about with different LEDs.

Posted: 11th Oct 2010
i have a few experiment ideas for the future
Experiment 1: get a uv 9 LED torch and gut the insides to insert into a poi ball case
Experiment 2: get a uv keyring torch and gut the insides to attach a switch and insert into a clear ball case (this would be one the least bright i think)
Experiment 3: purchase UV LED lights and replace LEDs in glow poi circuit

I will start testing when i have more time but for now i'll do more research

Merow

Posted: 12th Oct 2010
Would possibly look cool if they produced a black light beam and you spun in an enclosed space lighting a design surrounding you on 2-3 sides

A couple of balls short of a full cascade... or maybe a few cards short of a deck... we'll see how this all fans out.

Posted: 30th Jul 2013
Has anybody had any luck on this one yet? I want to light my aurora foxy socks from the inside rather than needing black lights and a dark room to plug them in. I think im going to try and solder in my own LEDs.