Anyone using a Solarmeter 6.5 (UVI meter)?

[dpjm]

Just wondering if anyone else is using a Solarmeter 6.5 or UVI meter to monitor the output of their UV lamps? If so, what number are you aiming for? I usually go for around 2.5-3.5.

 

[Roadkill]

I had thought about getting one, but considering it is still basically the same thing as the 6.2 but with a little different output, decided against it. They're great for portability and giving a rough estimate, but really not that "accurate".

 

[dpjm]

Agreed that they are not perfect, but for the average keeper who wants to monitor their uvb output fairly well, I can't think of a better way. A spectrophotometer is certainly more accurate but not so user friendly and can be expensive.

 

[Roadkill]

On that I would agree, but when people fail to understand how the equipment actually works, then they think it gives them information that it really doesn't. Trust me, I understand that the average hobbyist really doesn't have the money to invest in accurate equipment, but when you see these things perform side-by-side with accurate equipment, you really begin to wonder if they are serving much purpose at all. I understand to most hobbyists, this isn't all that important.....until I get into debates with them and they shove these sources in my face as gospel without realising their weak points. Kind of like that paper that goes into the protein and fat content of vertebrate prey, we see all the time people saying that mice have more fat than rats, or this prey is more unhealthier than another, without understanding the actual statistics behind that information and seeing that really, most vertebrate prey is pretty much the same. With these things, you see people giving the values as if they're golden, without realising that these meters are giving a sum/average of a very broad range that doesn't exactly match with the wavelengths they think they do, and that over that range the meter has different sensitivity to the different wavelengths. If this sensitivity matched with the response we see in the living system, then I'd have to admit this would probably be a complete non-issue (except if you're trying to report the absolute values....), but I'd have to say that I don't think I've seen any research yet that could accurately address this.

 

[dpjm]

Thanks for that. You seem to be knowledgeable about this so I appreciate your input. I use a 6.5 so I want to know as much as I can about it, its drawbacks, and how to minimize them. When I look at the spectrum that it measures, it is a bit different than the D3 action spectrum, but not too far off. One issue that I can see is that the 6.5 measures strongly in the 260-290 nm range, though this range is not strongly represented in the D3 action spectrum. If your lamp has a strong output in that range, then you will get a high number on the 6.5 but will not contribute much to D3 production in the animal. However, if you know the output spectrum of the lamp you are using, then you may be able rule out the possibility of a high proportion of your 6.5 reading coming from that lower range if you know that your lamp doesn't produce those wavelengths. Does this sound reasonable?