Thread: Black flood light?

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I tried Home Depot and Party City and the guy looked at me like I had nine heads. Aside from mail ordering one any ideas where I can buy a black flood light? Thanks?

I think I actually got one at Ace...not sure if they are nationwide, I think they are, they are a smaller hardware store....HOWEVER........they stink in my opinion. Bought one about 3 years ago, thinking it would be perfect for my cemetery and it didn't work AT ALL!! You just can't get good black light effect from and incandicent (sp?) bulb. Has to be UV. Seriously, I might as well have kept it off and the effect would have been the same! Not to mention that it go hotter then he!! and mine was outside, couldn't imagin if it was inside!

I don't think I've ever seen a black light flood light, you should ask for a flourescent black light if that will work for you - you can them in 2' , 3' and 4' lengths and some even have a shiny reflectory attached to them. These produce the best "black" light effects.

There are black light CFL's out there, that will fit nicely into a floodlight holder.

As lhallowsHubby pointed out, the incandescent bulbs (like a regular flood light) simply do not put out enough UV light to be useful.
Florescents are going to give you much, much more UV light, at a lower bulb temperature, and lower cost to use.

If you're putting this into a flood light holder, I would recommend painting the inside of the holder with a silver or glossy white paint (or anything else you can make reflective) to help put as much of the black light as you can, in the direction you want.

Agreed that the UV LED's are excellent, however, they're still a bit pricey from what I'm finding online, compared to the typical black light CFL - about $20 for the LED compared to $10 for the CFL...I am very likely missing better deals, so let me know what you've found.
(keep in mind, I'm talking about bulbs with a standard Edison base - not the bi-pin type or some other derivative)

The CFL's do produce a good amount of UV light, but I'm not sure if they can project the light as well as the LED spots - nothing to compare to.
(I do use home-made LED spotlights of my own making, but they're only 4 LED's, and the distance they can project UV is kind of short...about 6-8 feet at the most, 2-3 feet is much better)

Thanks for all the great advice! I thnk I will go LED. After seeing markgoodson's pics, I think I will forgo the UV and go with either a blue or purple bulb. Thanks again!

Originally Posted by Ugly Joe

Agreed that the UV LED's are excellent, however, they're still a bit pricey from what I'm finding online, compared to the typical black light CFL - about $20 for the LED compared to $10 for the CFL...I am very likely missing better deals, so let me know what you've found.
(keep in mind, I'm talking about bulbs with a standard Edison base - not the bi-pin type or some other derivative)

The CFL's do produce a good amount of UV light, but I'm not sure if they can project the light as well as the LED spots - nothing to compare to.
(I do use home-made LED spotlights of my own making, but they're only 4 LED's, and the distance they can project UV is kind of short...about 6-8 feet at the most, 2-3 feet is much better)

nothing beats the 4' flourescent tube bulb - the led ones are nice because it can be pointed in a direction. just a FYI - taking a picture of how much light is produced isn't really an accurate way to represent its 'brightness' too many variables with the camera.