Will our costumes and scenery actually glow?

Only if they are UV-reactive. Fluorescent and neon paints, UV scenic paint, highlighter colours and most white cotton — ordinary detergent leaves optical brighteners that glow strongly — all work well. Ordinary dyed colours, dark fabrics and standard emulsion do next to nothing. The rule is simple: test everything under the fixture at a rehearsal, not on the night, and paint or dress with UV in mind from the start.

How many do we need, and how dark does the room have to be?

One panel is a 40 degree flood that works over a few metres: right for a puppet booth, an entrance or one zone of a small stage. A full-stage UV sequence or a hall-sized disco wants several, spaced out so the glow is even rather than patchy. The room matters as much as the count. Daylight through curtains or hall working lights will wash the effect out, so the darker you can get it, the better it looks. Tell us the room size and what has to glow and we will give you a straight number.

Is UV light safe for a school event?

Fixtures like this use long-wave blacklight UV, the sort found in clubs, bowling alleys and theatres, not the short-wave kind used for sterilising. Used sensibly it is fine for an evening: rig it above eye line where you can, light the paint, costumes and scenery rather than pointing it straight into faces at close range, and switch it off between UV numbers instead of leaving it running at the audience all night.

We have no lighting desk. Can we still use it?

Yes. It runs stand-alone straight out of the box, with a sound-active mode if you want it reacting to music, and master/slave linking to keep several units doing the same thing. With a desk it takes two DMX channels on 3-pin XLR, dimmer with blackout and strobe, so even the most basic desk has faders to spare.

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UV light hire — blacklight for scenes and parties

Ultraviolet light makes the right things glow and leaves everything else dark. Fluorescent paint burns bright, UV costumes and whites lift off a black stage, and the audience cannot see the puppeteers or the scenery around them. We hire LED blacklight floods, the LEDJ Stratos UV, a 336-LED panel that runs cool, dims from a desk and sits on a shelf or hangs from a bar. It hires at £5 per day, dry or with a technician.

The Stratos UV is an LED blacklight flood from LEDJ: 336 ultraviolet LEDs behind a 40 degree lens, in a flat panel not much bigger than a shoebox. Point it at a scene and anything fluorescent glows, UV scenic paint, neon fabric, highlighter colours, white shirts and trainers, while the stage around them stays dark to the eye. That is the whole effect, and it is a strong one: puppets that float in blackness, skeletons that dance by themselves, a floor full of glowing costumes.

Be realistic about coverage. This is a 30W flood with a 40 degree beam, effective over a few metres rather than across a sports hall. One panel covers a puppet booth, a doorway or one area of a small stage. A full-stage UV sequence or a hall-sized neon disco wants several panels spaced along a bar or on stands so the glow is even, and at this day rate that is not an expensive answer. The room also needs to be properly dark: daylight through curtains and hall working lights flatten the effect.

Control is as simple as it gets. Two DMX channels on 3-pin XLR, dimmer with blackout and strobe, so it patches to any desk in a minute, or run it stand-alone with no desk at all, with sound-active and master/slave modes to keep several units together. The LED source runs cool, needs no warm-up and has no lamp to break, unlike the old discharge cannons. At 2.5kg it hangs on a bar with a hook clamp or sits on a shelf or stand, and mains links in and out on IEC so a row of them shares one run.

Two honest notes. Fluorescence needs UV-reactive material: ordinary dyed colours and most paints do nothing under blacklight, so test costumes, props and paint under the fixture in rehearsal rather than finding out on the night. And although fixtures like this use the long-wave blacklight UV found in clubs and bowling alleys, treat it sensibly: light the scenery and the costumes, rig above eye line where you can, and do not park it shining into the audience's faces all evening. Indoor use only. Tell us the room and what needs to glow, and we will say plainly how many you need.

What you get

The fixture, with a mains lead

A hook clamp and safety bond if it is going on a bar — say what you are rigging to when you book

DMX cable to reach your desk or link units, if you tell us the distances

Not included: a lighting desk, stands, and the UV paint, neon costumes or fluorescent materials themselves — we can point you at scenic suppliers

A technician to rig it, focus it and run the show, if you would rather not do it yourselves

Good for

UV puppet scenes and blacklight sequences in school and youth theatre shows

Neon and glow parties: school discos, university socials, birthdays

Halloween events and haunted-house corridors

Science week demonstrations: fluorescence, tonic water, security markings

Dance school numbers with UV-reactive costumes

Church and community events wanting a glow-in-the-dark games or craft corner

What you need to know

What it does: Floods a scene with ultraviolet so fluorescent paint, UV costumes and whites glow while the room stays dark. Ordinary colours do not react.
Coverage: A 40 degree flood, effective over a few metres. One unit covers a puppet booth or one zone of a small stage; bigger rooms want several.
Power: 30 watts from a standard socket, with mains linking so a row of units shares one run.
Control: Two DMX channels for dimmer and strobe, or stand-alone and sound-active modes with no desk at all.
Where it goes: 2.5 kg — a shelf, a stand or a bar with a hook clamp. Indoors only.

Rates are per day and exclude VAT. A longer hire costs less per day — tell us your dates and we will price the period exactly. Ask us about delivery and hiring with a technician.

Alternatives

Wireless uplighters — wireless colour uplighting — pair with UV for a full party look.

Full technical specification (11)

Manufacturer and model	LEDJ Stratos UV
Order code	LEDJ66
Fixture type	LED UV (blacklight) flood panel
Light source	336 x 10mm ultraviolet LEDs
Beam angle	40 degrees
Control	DMX-512, 2 channels (dimmer/blackout, strobe); stand-alone, sound-active and master/slave modes
Connections	3-pin XLR DMX in and out; IEC mains in and out
Mains	230V 50Hz
Power draw	30
Weight	2.5
Dimensions	382 x 215 x 105 (L x H x W)

Common questions

Only if they are UV-reactive. Fluorescent and neon paints, UV scenic paint, highlighter colours and most white cotton — ordinary detergent leaves optical brighteners that glow strongly — all work well. Ordinary dyed colours, dark fabrics and standard emulsion do next to nothing. The rule is simple: test everything under the fixture at a rehearsal, not on the night, and paint or dress with UV in mind from the start.
One panel is a 40 degree flood that works over a few metres: right for a puppet booth, an entrance or one zone of a small stage. A full-stage UV sequence or a hall-sized disco wants several, spaced out so the glow is even rather than patchy. The room matters as much as the count. Daylight through curtains or hall working lights will wash the effect out, so the darker you can get it, the better it looks. Tell us the room size and what has to glow and we will give you a straight number.
Fixtures like this use long-wave blacklight UV, the sort found in clubs, bowling alleys and theatres, not the short-wave kind used for sterilising. Used sensibly it is fine for an evening: rig it above eye line where you can, light the paint, costumes and scenery rather than pointing it straight into faces at close range, and switch it off between UV numbers instead of leaving it running at the audience all night.
Yes. It runs stand-alone straight out of the box, with a sound-active mode if you want it reacting to music, and master/slave linking to keep several units doing the same thing. With a desk it takes two DMX channels on 3-pin XLR, dimmer with blackout and strobe, so even the most basic desk has faders to spare.