Y.H UV LAMP GEL CURING 36WA

So, you ever cure black gel polish and then its all wrinkly even though you polished it on thin?

That's your lamp.

I'm going to first get out of the way: Wattage.

Wattage honestly has no real impact on the cure except to make sure that the lights are working at high efficiency.

If you take a look at your charging/power cable for your lamp, and multiply the voltage with the amperage, if you are using a legit from the mfg (you know what I mean) lamp, the wattage from the lamp that reading on the power cable's sticker are the same.

If you use a cord with a higher wattage, the lights shine brighter, but the lamp can catch fire. B/c overpowered lights = burn out or fire. ...I speak from experience with that one. Several times.

Less power though, and the lights will not be as bright.

You can go buy a high wattage lamp... AND STILL GET CRINKLING.

Then there's flux and intensity... Flux is the TOTAL amount of light the light source will put out, while intensity is how bright the wavelength dependent beam in a certain direction is.

In our lamps, we have these small SMDs (surface mount diodes) where some have many small LEDs in them, and some have just one. My new $150 lamp I got for free (mwahahaha) has TWO high wavelengths LEDs in one diode, where as my old lamp had one high wavelength, and one low wavelength LED per diode.

So while the flux per diode in between my old lamp and my new lamp might be the same... the intensity is higher in my new lamp resulting in a better cure since the beam isn't so spread out. (This is a sloppy explanation, sorry.)

Then, there is the wavelength is what allows for penetration/light "color" and brings us to the last part.

Let's start with this: higher wavelengths = more penetration; lower wavelengths = less penetration.

The UV lamps we used way back are a thing of the past. If you are still using these, you are exposing your clients to health hazards from the mercury vapor, and you need to upgrade. It's 2023.

(For the sake of simplicity, I will call the dual mode (365+405 nm) UV/LED, and the 395-405 nm version LED.)

If you are using a UV/LED lamp, your lamp has a dual mode where with a push of a button, it emits both 365 and 405 nm light through LEDs. In a single diode, you see one long bar, and one small dot. One emits 365, and one emits 405.

However, this really gives you a peak emittance of 385 nm. While the gel will cure, you might have to double cure... angle a single finger in the lamp... etc. You don't get the kind of penetration you'd get if you just had JUST the 405 nm LED.

Now, the lamp I have is LED only. The diodes only emit 395-405 nm with 2 of these long bar LEDs in a single diode. Because the wavelength is higher, I get increased penetration. And, I get a higher intensity since I have 2 of those high wavelength LEDs in my lamp, so I get increased intensity.