Is it a suspect/dangerous laser, how can I be sure

jimmycr · May 26, 2008

Hi there my first post and all!

I have a friend who just got a new powerfull laser whch is great and all but...

Wait for it... He got it from eBay! While he says it has an ir filter and is safe I really don't want to hang around with him right now to find out.
Is there any simple way to check for a filter or any precautions I can take.

When it comes to IR even if it is leaking loads is it ok to be around it when its just being pointed around in the sky at night. It doesn't 'radiate' IR right so i would be safe?

Cheers for any help

You can check out shane.dominic as an ebay mamber for the laser listing

Razako · May 26, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous, laser how can I be

As long as he is using it outside and pointing it up at the sky you're fine. People worry WAY too much about IR.

Petrovski · May 26, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous, laser how can I be

How much power (supposedly) has that laser?

jimmycr · May 26, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous, laser how can I be

it claims to be 200mW Green cost about $130 or £65

I am pretty new to lasers myself and just reading through a few close calls in the safety section of people who don't know what they are doing burning and using powerfull lasers indoors without glasses

Petrovski · May 26, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous, laser how can I be

Even if that laser would only put out 50% of its specified power, you still would need goggles just for looking safely at the dot when you point it at a reflective surface at close range. Not because of the IR, but simply because of the power of the laser beam. If you want to operate a high powered green laser without goggles, do so outside and don't point it at reflective objects close to you.

I'd recommend some goggles though.

Book · May 26, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous, laser how can I be

If you have a videocamera with "nightshot" or any other commercial name for it (it can shoot and detect IR light) or any other IR camera (you could buy one if you want), you can test for IR, since (from what I've heard) it's got greater divergence than the visible light from the laser.

You can also use a power meter and swap an IR filter in front of the laser and see if there is a (big) difference in the mW it shows.

However, if it's *just* for pointing in the sky then you shouldn't worry about anything, but I highly doubt it can ever only be for that

bobobob121 · May 26, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous, laser how can I be

almost ANY camera/cell phone with a lcd screen will pick up IR. To test this just point your remote control at the camera/phone. Then press the any button it and if on the preview screen it shows a whitish light that means it is sensitive to IR.

hope that helps

Switch · May 26, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous, laser how can I be

bobobob121 said:
almost ANY camera/cell phone with a lcd screen will pick up IR. To test this just point your remote control at the camera/phone. Then press the any button it and if on the preview screen it shows a whitish light that means it is sensitive to IR.

hope that helps

I would guess that only the very high end phones are IR filtered.And the screen doesn't matter :

it could be a b/w crt for all we care, it's the camera that picks it up.

My brain stopped and I don't know how to search a user on ebay, but as I recall , wasn't shane.dominic selling spymodex? :-/ Spymodex lasers are a no-no, btw.

The only way you can screw your eyes with leaking IR is if you have protection goggles for 532nm and think you're safe, or if you point it at a highly reflective surface for IR yet the green seems dim, and again you think you're safe or if the IR that is leaking is really poorly collimated.

Here's a video of an IR filterless greenie using a coke glass.Coke is opaque to short waves and transparent to IR.

jimmycr · May 26, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous, laser how can I be

Thanks for the advice

I guess it boils down to you should never cut corners good lasers are bloody expensive for a reason. :-[

P.S. to check the ebay user just hit the community tab in the top right corner and enter the user I.D next to the 'find member' button if anyone feels the urge to get curious

cheers

Switch · May 26, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous, laser how can I be

jimmycr said:
Thanks for the advice

I guess it boils down to you should never cut corners good lasers are bloody expensive for a reason. :-[

P.S. to check the ebay user just hit the community tab in the top right corner and enter the user I.D next to the 'find member' button if anyone feels the urge to get curious

cheers

Yup , it's him, and it's spymodex.He even sells a 300mW pen laser.WOW :

Btw, I edited my last post, added a video.

jimmycr · May 26, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous, laser how can I be

Ahhhhhhhhh some one should throw that guy off a very high cliff

He should be made to post your video alongside his deceitful ones.

So now you have got to the bottom of this. Is it simply a fairly harmless underpowered green laser that leaks IR or should i tell him its flat out dangerous and recomend he destroys it? He will be most unhappy :'(

Razako · May 26, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous, laser how can I be

jimmycr said:
Ahhhhhhhhh some one should throw that guy off a very high cliff

He should be made to post your video alongside his deceitful ones.

So now you have got to the bottom of this. Is it simply a fairly harmless underpowered green laser that leaks IR or should i tell him its flat out dangerous and recomend he destroys it? He will be most unhappy :'(

It is simply a crappy green laser that leaks a lot of IR and can be dangerous if used inside or for burning stuff. It is completely harmless when used outside for star pointing or w/e. Destroying it would be pointless and stupid.

jimmycr · May 26, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous laser, how can I be

Kool good advice,
(presume w/e stands for whatever - me not very good with acronyms)

Wasted enough time talking about ebay cons so guess its time to wrap this chat up

[smiley=dankk2.gif]

pseudolobster · May 27, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous laser, how can I be

infrared is just another color of light.. it's no more or less harmful than any other color of light... it's just that our eyes can't see it.
The only real dangers of IR are that if you have goggles that are coated to block green, but not IR, you could still be getting a good deal of light in your eyes without knowing it... (you should, btw, have googles for a laser that powerful)... The thing with IR is that your eyes don't pick it up... if you were shining an IR laser in your eyes you would blind yourself without your eyes ever knowing to blink. (which isn't really a problem since you're probably already going to be squinting at 100+mW of green)

Just recommend to your friend that it's dangerous to look at the dot (not only because of IR, but just by the sheer amount of green light as well).. so he really shouldn't use it to burn things or pop balloons unless he has goggles that protect from green as well as infrared.

Petrovski · May 27, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous laser, how can I be

IR does not have a color, its wavelength is beyond the spectrum of visible light. The longer the wavelength, the less harmful radiation becomes btw.

Book · May 27, 2008

Re: Is it a suspect/dangerous laser, how can I be

Actually I don't think you're quite right (considering microwaves have a lot longer wavelength, still they are considered harmful in cellphones for example), but I can't scientifically back up my argument. Can you back up yours? Or provide a link of some sort

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