Laser Tag Query

Hey all,
So I went laser tag today and I had some questions that I thought of. Firstly, they had a couple of laser projectors projecting some green dots at the ground hitting everyone. Is there any concern about the power rating of these?

Secondly, the laser gun itself (or phaser as the guy called it). It "shoots" out a green beam that is very visible in the dark. Now should there be any concern about eye damage with these? I mean can we assume that the laser tag company knows the dangers of lasers and have made it safe for the players?

I ask this because we weren't given goggles of any kind and I took several hits to the eyes as there were these girls who were screwing around trying to blind everyone. I'm sure by the very nature of this activity there was a lot of the beam hitting peoples' eyes.

The laser that came out looks quite bright. Brighter than me 15mw green =S

Any info would be great.

Side note. How does this whole laser tagging system work? ie. how does it track who shot who and keep track or the scoring? I read in an old thread that they use IR leds? Could someone explain this for me? Cheers

Usually there is some kind of body armor, which has photodetectors on it, which detects 'hits' and somehow shows who is 'dead'. It usually also blocks 'dead' person's laser.
Still if those lasers have bright beams without smoke, they were probably beyond 5mW, and people playing the game and all around should wear goggles.

I used to play laser tag when we had it here (it was awesome)... This was like 10+ years ago so the lasers were all red...

I know they had a lot of environment effects like smoke and day glow paint and black lights and stuff. That's super common for laser tag places. I wouldn't be surprised if the place was filled with smoke... I have never seen laser tag played with goggles on though.

Probably the dots they were projecting on to everyone was from one of those cheapy star effects lasers. It uses a diffusion grating to break the beam into a bunch of little dots.. The power of the laser inside is probably not eye safe but once the grating diffuses the light it's probably within safe viewing power.

I don't know what the power output of the packs is but I think they are generally 5mw or less. They have full control over the maze so they can make things seem brighter than they really are, however I wouldn't put a ton of trust in a laser tag manufacturer to care that much about eye safety.

And yes the guns have a separate IR transmitter usually under the laser output that works like a remote control. Each vest you wear (or sometimes just the gun) has a receiver like your TV has. Each "phaser" transmits it's own code and when a receiver "sees" the code of another pack it run the "I'm hit" routine and makes a note of the score.

On the older system they had here they used to go to each pack and download the stats from them into a central scoring computer which would then figure out who shot who and then show game scores on the monitors and print out a score card for each player. Most packs also kept track of how many shots were fired to figure out your accuracy.

They may have some kind of wi-fi or wireless thing that does the downloads now but other than that the basics of the system are the same.

If you don't have any damage to your eyes the lasers are probably safe

Back in the early 90's I produced some music for PHOTON, which was one of the first laser tag "chains". They worked just like Guy said above.

As for the lasers, the tech told me they got pointers, cut them in half and soldered a plug on them - and apparently the plug fell out ALOT.

they do use smoke machines too, but not too much, just enough to put a nice laser-excitable haze about the place.

azzman372 said:

Hey all,
So I went laser tag today and I had some questions that I thought of. Firstly, they had a couple of laser projectors projecting some green dots at the ground hitting everyone. Is there any concern about the power rating of these?

Secondly, the laser gun itself (or phaser as the guy called it). It "shoots" out a green beam that is very visible in the dark. Now should there be any concern about eye damage with these? I mean can we assume that the laser tag company knows the dangers of lasers and have made it safe for the players?

I ask this because we weren't given goggles of any kind and I took several hits to the eyes as there were these girls who were screwing around trying to blind everyone. I'm sure by the very nature of this activity there was a lot of the beam hitting peoples' eyes.

The laser that came out looks quite bright. Brighter than me 15mw green =S

Any info would be great.

Side note. How does this whole laser tagging system work? ie. how does it track who shot who and keep track or the scoring? I read in an old thread that they use IR leds? Could someone explain this for me? Cheers

Click to expand...

Why don't you go over there with a Laser Power Meter and
test their Lasers...


Jerry

lasersbee said:

Why don't you go over there with a Laser Power Meter and
test their Lasers...


Jerry

Click to expand...

Hah! Jerry will stop at nothing to sell one of his LaserBees (TM)

Guyfromhe said:

however I wouldn't put a ton of trust in a laser tag manufacturer to care that much about eye safety.

Click to expand...

I don't think so. Companies are not willing to be sued for allowing operate lasers what can damage costumers' eyes in their premises.

We did laser systems for tag guns, and we were required to make not more than 0.5 mW red. :angel:

When a room is dark, eyes' pupils opens and eyes can collect more scattered light, thus laser look more brighter. :drool:

lazeristasUVISIR said:

I don't think so. Companies are not willing to be sued for allowing operate lasers what can damage costumers' eyes in their premises.

We did lases systems for tag guns, and we were required to make not more than 0.5 mW red. :angel:

When a room is dark, eyes' pupils opens and eyes can collect more scattered light, thus laser look more brighter. :drool:

Click to expand...

That's what I was saying about environment controls.. lighting, fog, walls, special paints, mirrors, etc.

I have never seen a green laser tag before...

I am sure SOME companies care, but I am sure a lot don't even think about it and just get whatever is cheapest.

There are laser shows that crowd scan with several watts of power and damage peoples eyes.

Hahaha Jerry. I was actually thinking about it but it would be hard as I'd have to take a laptop in with the usb laserbee. Also the laser it shoots out isn't continuous so that would make it even harder to measure.

Thanks for all the responses!

Yes we were given body armour with sensors. Is it correct to say that the green laser is used essentially just for effect and the IR led is what actually does all the work?

azzman372 said:

Hahaha Jerry. I was actually thinking about it but it would be hard as I'd have to take a laptop in with the usb laserbee. Also the laser it shoots out isn't continuous so that would make it even harder to measure.

Thanks for all the responses!

Yes we were given body armour with sensors. Is it correct to say that the green laser is used essential just for effect and the IR led is what actually does all the work?

Click to expand...

Yes, it's a sham! The laser in laser tag is actually a placebo to make it look cool, that is all... Also so you can see what you hit... If you took the laser out it would work exactly the same.

You could get a fancy optical head with it's own display that could give an instant reading.. I dunno if they would like that though.

Like one of those ophir heads? A touch too expensive at the moment haha.

Now its making so much more sense! I remember getting hits without the green laser actually hitting any of the sensors and also not being able to hit anyone with the green laser directly hitting the sensor

azzman372 said:

Like one of those ophir heads? A touch too expensive at the moment haha.

Now its making so much more sense! I remember getting hits without the green laser actually hitting any of the sensors and also not being able to hit anyone with the green laser directly hitting the sensor

Click to expand...

300 bucks is a small price to pay for science!

yes the laser is pinpoint the ir is fanned out in all directions like a tv remote with a laser pointer attached to it.

take your 445 into laser tag.

Hahaha Fiddy. I do have my 300mW firedragon. *pew pew* wtf was that!
how many ppl did I just blind