Thread: Pulsating black light ideas?

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I have a black light on a ghost and I would like to modify the light to pulsate so it looks like the ghost dissapears and re-apears.

Any idea where I could get a pulsating light fixture?

Your best bet would probably be to try to replace the LED's in a strobing LED light (I believe I've seen them at Walgreens and other stores) with UV LEDs. I have not personally done this, but recall a post from someone in the last two months who said they had (to light up glow in the dark paint lettering & graphics on a clear plastic sheet). Flourescent lights are great for black lighting, but generally don't pulse well for your application; and incandescent black lights are just terrible, but could pulse well.

Somebody here once rigged a motorized swinging door over the blacklight that would alternately close, blocking the light. Then open, allowing the blacklight out. Then repeat over and over.

Or even a rotating disc over the blacklight with a piece of the "pie" cut out of it.

is there such a thing as a black light strobe?

that would be kewl

dave's idea should work

amk

Assuming you are not trying to flicker the blacklight, you can turn the fixture on and off.
For instance you could easily have it turn on for 5 or 10 seconds when a tot comes by, and then off again.
Or could turn it on for 5 seconds then off for 30 seconds and repeat as often as you wish.
Might wear out your blacklight in a couple halloweens, but last I checked they were $12 at target.
To turn it on and off you could use an X10, or Picaboo, or ?
If you need it to fade in and out you should probably use diodes.

Any good real hardware store will carry lamp flashers. It's just a little round disk rheostat that goes under the bulb. They're cheap and work well on incandescent bulbs.

Cheers,
Mark
aka Reinhard Von Bittenfurst

You could do a black strobe. You need the lens for it. The last one I seen was $250.

Notes on things others mentioned:
There are very few good blacklight incandescent bulbs. Simply put incandescent bulbs don't put out much UV light. Fluorescent bulbs are not compatible with most controllers and dimmers.
Many LEDs marked as "Blacklight or UV" are simply near-UV and purple. Real UV LEDs can also be dangerous to use as they are not just putting out lots of invisible UV, but intense light sources in a small package can be worse for your eyes then a broad flood of light.
Here is a good source of information about all UV light sources: http://donklipstein.com/uvbulb.html

To clarify my answer a bit. Zapwizard is correct in that fluorescent bulbs & fixtures and not compatible with most controllers and dimmers.
My X10 suggestion above assumed you would know to use an appliance module, which uses a relay rather than a triac (semiconductor).
There are other controllers sold that also use relays to switch the power on or off.
If we knew more about your intended use it would help refine the answers.
For instance how much light is needed, how long on, how long off, does it endlessly repeat, and what triggers the change (could just be time).
Are you trying to pulse the light to dim it, to make the ghost smoothly fade out to dark and back, or do want it to abruptly appear ?
Does it need to run from batteries ?

BTW in case you only have to light up a small area, and do want it to flash quickly or flicker, Target sells a 4 UV LED strobe for $8.