Laser issue

hello. i just recieved today my 1W 445 nm laser and 200 mW violet laser.
this one: LZCB - 405nm 200mW Water Proof Violet Laser Pointer
the thing is that it dose not work with the battery inserted "+" side up, like the green and blue lasers i have. it did not came with a instruction manual, so i put the battery as i knew, 1 x 18650 3.7 volts "+" side up, and nothing.
i tought the laser is dead. after i was about to stop trying (to screw and unscrew the tail cap, recharged the battery to full capacity) i tried to put the battery "-" side up. it works. it has a dime dot, but it works. i gues its somewhere around 10-20 mW. it dose not smoke black plastis with focus. so its verry dime.

after this, i said its the diode damaged or something is wrong with the power source, so i tried the 2 x 16340 (3.7 volt each). i turned it on for a fraction of a second and it was bright. for sure 200 mW bright.

the question is: could it be the driver set to work on 2 x 16340 ? why is it outputing 10 mW with the specified 1 x 18650 3.7 volts battery and why dose it work with battery "-" side UP ? will i destroy the diode if i use 2 x 16340 ? or should i try some 2 x CR123A batterys (3 volts each) so the diode will still have some overhead?

send it back and get a new one.
dont mess with it and void what little warranty you may have.

also have you ever owned a 405 before they are much less bright compared to 445 and 532

bennett326 said:

also have you ever owned a 405 before they are much less bright compared to 445 and 532

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no i havent, but i have a 100 mW green and with focusing lens it easily burns black plastic. this one dose not even smoke it and its 200 mW. and i really believe it is, but only with 2 x 16340's. can someone give a better advice ? why "-" side up, and why full output with 2 x 16340 instead of 1 x 18650 as rated ?
maybe it is nothing wrong with the unit, and this is the place where i can find that out. maybe someone had the same problem here

I would just send it back for a new one, because if you try to fix it it might void your warranty and then you will never get a working laser.

geekypyro21 said:

I would just send it back for a new one, because if you try to fix it it might void your warranty and then you will never get a working laser.

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im talking to Max about what to do. i will not try to fix it im sure i would destroy it.

Well, the description on the website says "This is LZCB405-200 405nm Red laser pointer." - you can be fairly sure that they have no clue what they are selling over there. And its not a random typo either, just below it says "Package include:
1. LZCB405-200 200mW 650nm Violet Laser."

I have no idea if this thing is even UV or bluray, but from your description its probably bluray. If the mix up the color and wavelength this badly, i reckon they could do the same with the battery type.

It may be possible, that when you put it in the wrong way, you screwed up the driver, i'm not sure if that is true, but I have heard it happening before.

Benm said:

Well, the description on the website says "This is LZCB405-200 405nm Red laser pointer." - you can be fairly sure that they have no clue what they are selling over there. And its not a random typo either, just below it says "Package include:
1. LZCB405-200 200mW 650nm Violet Laser."

I have no idea if this thing is even UV or bluray, but from your description its probably bluray. If the mix up the color and wavelength this badly, i reckon they could do the same with the battery type.

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:crackup::crackup::crackup::crackup::crackup: they know there lasers

Considering the description, I wouldn't be all that surprised if this laser did take two 16340's.

Contact Max to check if it's a linear driver. If it is that would explain everything, and if not... you got a dud that needs to go back.

Post back what happens please.

I would definitely check, but O-like, CNI and Dragon lasers 405's use 2 CR123A batteries so I would imagine that yours is the same. So I agree with InfinitusEquitas that it uses 2 CR123A batteries instead of 1 18650. If I am not mistaken CR123A batteries are 3.0V and 16340's are 3.6V. so it should be all right.

Putting your batteries in back wards can kill some drivers but not all, some have reverse polarity protection built in.

00Giorge said:

I would definitely check, but O-like, CNI and Dragon lasers 405's use 2 CR123A batteries so I would imagine that yours is the same. So I agree with InfinitusEquitas that it uses 2 CR123A batteries instead of 1 18650. If I am not mistaken CR123A batteries are 3.0V and 16340's are 3.6V. so it should be all right.

Putting your batteries in back wards can kill some drivers but not all, some have reverse polarity protection built in.

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I can't for the life of me remember which way it went in, but I had the 400mW 405nm o-like and I do remember for sure that it was running off of one 18650.

Sold it Lotus_Darkrose white back since 300mW of 405nm didn't really impress me.

^^^^ I went to their web sites to make sure before I posted and know somebody else that uses 2 CR123's in his 405 and I think his is 300mw Spartan.

You have to admit that it is sad when you get something that is not right and doesn't come with any information what so ever, even what batteries it takes or what direction they go in.

00Giorge said:

^^^^ I went to their web sites to make sure before I posted and know somebody else that uses 2 CR123's in his 405 and I think his is 300mw Spartan.

You have to admit that it is sad when you get something that is not right and doesn't come with any information what so ever, even what batteries it takes or what direction they go in.

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Tell me about it... when I ordered 1.2W tactical from o-like, finding out whether the laser fits both protected and unprotected cells was like pulling teeth (guess why they added that to the description).

I also killed a green laser from gadgettown like that... it was my first non newwish green dpss and I put the battery in the same way I always have with flashlights:undecided:

InfinitusEquitas said:

Tell me about it... when I ordered 1.2W tactical from o-like, finding out whether the laser fits both protected and unprotected cells was like pulling teeth (guess why they added that to the description).

I also killed a green laser from gadgettown like that... it was my first non newwish green dpss and I put the battery in the same way I always have with flashlights:undecided:

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After looking at the Dino thread they have a 405 that looks the same 300mW 405nm Waterproof Adjust Focus Violet Purple Blue Laser Pointer Pen (1 x 18650 Battery) - DinoDirect.com
check that out and see if you don't think that it looks the same.

^^^Looks exactly the same, but that still means nothing. It's a very common hosts that used with reds, greens, 405's and 445's. No way to guess what's inside. Fact is any host that can hold one 18650, can also accomodate two 16340, two cr123a, or two 18350's... no way to tell which one is meant to be used though, and with what polarity.