Thread: best uv for frequent on and off?

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Doing evil carnival for hallows eve, and I'm going for an effect where the carnies look fairly normal under dim white lights but switch to skeletons under blacklight by painting hands and face with invisible uv reactive ink.

I have several fluorescent uv tubes, but I dont know how well they will do with frequent on off cycles. I need enough coverage to illuminate a 20' x 10' area.

What's the best way to light up that much area and not burn stuff out with frequent on/off? I've been thinking about the 38 led uv par20 but not sure how well it will do for such a large area. Maybe several of them, but then I might as well go for a uv wash light.

hook up 2 lights for each actor. one normal and one blacklight. you could do a timer thing or go the easy way and hook them up to 2 switches and switch them whenever someone comes by

Fluorescent bulbs will probably be OK for this effect, but realize they will flicker upon each startup. But that may actually add to your morph concept.

Are we talkign about 48" tubes in shoplights? I think two units with two bulbs each placed somewhat at the corners of your area would give enough glow. If talking about smaller all-in-one units for like the 18" bulb, then ymmv.

I don't think service life of the bulbs is that impacted by on/off cycles. Some, but nothing to really worry about. Unless this is a haunt that will run for weeks and go thru thousands of cycles. If there is an issue about service life - it would be the ballast or starter. Esp for a cheaper shoplight fixture, I think these would last thru many cycles - but you should be prepared to replace it on Nov 1.

I just got some 18 or 36 LED UVs. I like them and they are instant on/off concepts. However, I am guessing that you would need 3 or 4 of those bulbs to match one 48" tube. I may be way wrong and have not yet compared side by side. So quite a bit more expensive for a wide area....but...you could have just one bulb dedicated to each carnie...Other than coverage, I thinl 'throw' is important to consider with the PAR20 style. I can place dual 48" tubes out and get good glow 20' away. I am guessing that distance limit is more like 10' with the bulbs.

Sounds good. I figured the 48" tubes were going to cast off quite a bit more intensity and depth. And I have some fixtures that I don't mind wearing out. And Conman, that is the generally the effect I'm going for. But first I might try an effect where the blacklights are on full time, and then have a string of overhead "failing" white lights, hooked up to a color organ and jacobs ladder electrical sounds so that the whites flicker on/off. When on, they'll overpower the blacklight effect, and when they're off, the uv bones show.

Aye, tha' be jus' wot I was thinkin' 'mate.. blacklights on all th time, white spots wash out th' UV when they(th' spots) be on, switch'em off an' th' UV takes over, savvy?

Also, i'm considering buying the elation uv wash light. Any word on how good the uv reaction is for that unit?
Edit: After reading around in the forums, the elation seems like a good investment. So now I'll be running twin 48" tubes and/or an elation wash light. Cap'n I'm thikin I jus went overboard.