tweaking a 400mW green laser

"There is a difference between ignorance and willful ignorance. You just got lucky with that bob's laser deal, and stop insulting people based on education, I truly find that extremely offensive."

Laser83.. you've definately got me lauging ;D I can't believe the hippocracy. :-X You can leave a post as smug as you did, then claim to be offended at a comment about people who choose to remain uneducated. Wow! You clearly thought you were being clever with the structure of your post. Hmm, you must be one of those GED people. [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Speaking of education, hypocrisy Not however the hell I spelled it before. [smiley=evil.gif]

lowell said:

No one missed me  :'(

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I missed you... :'(
Where have you been...
Long time no see..
Have you been a good boy while you were gone... :-?

;D ;D ;D ;D

Jerry

Laserbee, I was visiting a family member in the hospital in Nevada. I brought my laptop, but never quite had time to gossip with everyone. It's nice to be back, I'm all excited about a few new laser possibilites. Everyone has been so nice lately, but then Laser83 had to come in here and stir things up. Anyway, nice back otherwise...

lowell said:

Laserbee, I was visiting a family member in the hospital  in Nevada. I brought my laptop, but never quite had time to gossip with everyone. It's nice to be back, I'm all excited about a few new laser possibilites. Everyone has been so nice lately, but then Laser83 had to come in here and stir things up. Anyway, nice back otherwise...

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Right...

lowell said:

Don't try to be cleverly insulting. Doing it well requires more than a GED.

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Thanks for the helpful PM... :

Yes, Laser83, that's right.

Why do you have to come in here and contribute nothing to the topic, except to try to be cleverly insulting with someone you've never had any interaction? Especially when you don't even do that well. Be nice, or go elsewhere.

come on lowell and laser83 we are all friends here take it to the pm's or ask cold for help drama not needed here : i barely got my ged and its hard enough to understand why you guys are fighting :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X

John Lawson said:

come on lowell and laser83 we are all friends here take it to the pm's or ask cold for help  drama not needed here  : i barely got my ged and its hard enough to understand why you guys are fighting  :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X

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I greatly apologize, his comments rubbed me the wrong way. I'm really sorry about that, I should know better and left well enough alone. Sorry. :-[

I just don't understand jumping in, and slandering somone you've never even communicated with. But, I'm done, I promise. I don't like to argue, really I don't. [smiley=engel017.gif]

So, back to the original topic here.. Now that I've got my "Boblaser" for a cheap price, I'm thinking it's not such a big deal if it dies. So... I was going to run two CR123 batteries instead of the single 18650. I know, I can hear the groans from everyone already. This is what got me in trouble to start with. Anyway, just wondering what you guys would GUESS the lifespan would be. We talking a few minutes of use, a few hours, or what? Or just absolutely no telling? So, if you could set aside the urge to say LEAVE IT ALONE, :-X let me know what you think... [smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif]

lowell said:

I just don't understand jumping in, and slandering somone you've never even communicated with. But, I'm done, I promise. I don't like to argue, really I don't. [smiley=engel017.gif]

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I didn't mean to attack so hard. Laserforums is different then what I'm used to. Much much smaller, usually on other forums people attack each other at will for anything. I know people who worked on hard to earn a GED and doesn't make them stupid. Some people are better at some skills then others. That why I was bothered. Enough offtopic, no hard feelings then.

As for the laser, that could be double voltage depending on brand of batteries you are using. As a person who has blown a nice little blu-ray in the past doing the same I don't recommended it. The diode and driver can only take so much current if you go over you could fry both at the least the diode (module for greens). More experienced members can go into greater detail.

No hard feelings Laser83 [smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif] As for the laser, I had a 200mW red that I put in two CR123's, and it worked fine, but then I went nuts and got an extension tube and put in four 123's[smiley=evil.gif] and it was burning my dresser from five feet away, so I jumped up to get my Laserbee to measure it, and it died before I could test it. :'(

As for the green "bob" I have no idea what it's capacity is, and of course, they don't seem to know much either. I just thought it would be fun to see what it could do. Perhaps that's how they got the 700mW rating... Because, I never get anything beyond about 525mW. I guess I would be sad if I killed it right away, especially after all the drama I went through to get it. I'm so torn [smiley=embarassed.gif]

Hey Lowell...
if you are intent on driving it harder... why not attach a
variable PS to the battery connections and take the voltage up slowly
rather than doubling the voltage with one fell swoop...

Or try 2pc 3.0V batteries instead of 2pc 3.7V batteries to start with
Then bump it up to the 3.7V batteries...

But if you want to keep it running for as long as posSible... well you know... :


Jerry

hell, i read through the whole 6 pages drama..
seems like everyone is relaxed here again, nice. and yes, from time to time i take things too personally too.. :

doubling the voltage-input:

- the driver works properly, doesnt supply the laser any more current. the driver has to eat up the extra input, and may overheat die. perhaps never, perhaps in less than 30 seconds.

-the driver is poorly regulated and drops more current into the diode. it could be anything from 5% to 200% more current.
the diode could die instantly from the too-high current, anything over extra 20% current from the driver into the diode is asking for near-instant-death. less than 20% could still reduce lifetime to hours..

-everything worked out (surprisingly) until now. still, the extra optical output could destroy the optics. this does happen, its no theoretical risk. in detail: you burn stuff with lasers, right? the two main crystals are glued together with transparent glue. too high optical power, and the glue will color. with that, will now absorb mostly all the optical energy (up to watts are floating inside there!) and surely break and crack entirely.

-you could be lucky and the driver doesnt overheat, does a modest increase in current, the diode actually survives this, and the optics withstand this. increase? even in the best case, i wouldnt expect more than a few 10 percents. more than 50% increase? *really* unrealistic, like, a few of all handheld lasers ever built could do this stunt.

it all depends on the quality of the parts used. expensive microprocessor-controlled driver? laser-pump-diode with more safety-space, like a 4w diode only used to 3w? crystals with no glueing (but bonding), or individual optics? much more work, this adds big $! there are lasers with all that. i dont know much details on high-power handhelds. but normally, such features are expected from companies with names. spectra-physics, coherent and such. you pay double the price for the name only (and, of course, these features!).
chances, that bobs laser is such a high-quality unit? with such a packaging? with such customer support? with no IR filter installed? with what i would call obvious lies? calculate yourself.
you ask me? less than 1% chance that your laser will survive a doubled inputvoltage *and* output just a single mw more than before.

but you positively want more anyway? send the unit to one of the builders here. we have people here who do amazing work. designing *the* best driver available period, building hosts which set new levels, do amazing work with cnc and lathes, build whole scanners and the like. many who do professional work, and i mean pros in the real sense, like doing their living with lasers. one of them will gladly take your laser and find out what makes it tick. then perhaps tweak it, in the way only someone can who studies lasers for years. build a new housing for it. replace the driver. does measurements, to guesstimate how far the diode and optical system behind could go.
it would take a while, take much worktime, and so wouldnt be cheap. perhaps you will get the thing back untouched, if he doesnt see any chance. but then you know for sure, and we know more details about the inner parts. and, if you are lucky, you will have a real high powered unit afterwards. not that its weak now.. ;-)

but, again. what i wouldnt do is risk a 300$ laser for a 1% chance to get a slightly stronger one.

heck, that was longer than i expected. you asked for it!

manuel

I'm so glad everyone is getting along again now if i could only follow my own advice and not stress out and fight with my wife ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Shoot her with your lasers until she submits. [smiley=evil.gif]