30mW Green Laser with a Single AAA Battery

I tried this tiny little 30mW green laser from O-like...

It comes with a little case, and a Kaleidoscope tip attachment as well:
2 in1 Smallest green star laser pen£*>5~200mw green laser pointer£*>Laser&lighting products£*>www.0-like.com

If your looking for tiny, it's a nice price - $22 dollars plus $4 dollars shipping.



I am very happy with it!

It starts out at about 25mW's and peaks at 35mW's within 15 or 20 seconds. Still over 30mW's after 45 seconds...

It must have a nice little boost circuit in there to run off of a single AAA battery. I measured 550mA's current draw using an Energizer e2 lithium AAA battery.

The module must be at most 10mm's in diameter. But maybe even 8mm's. (not sure)

I'm going to ask Susie if she can get just the modules. They would be great for combining with blu-ray or red in a small build. (I've been wanting to do this with blu-ray and green in a hand held) It would be good for all kinds of projects!




Safety recommendation:

Since it has a tiny pocket clip, and the orientation is 'aperture up', I would recommend using an aperture cap for safety...

Re: 30mW greenie on a single AAA Battery

Adding to RT!

Update:

I got word from Susie about the availability of small sized green modules that run off of a single 1.5 volt battery. Here is the response:

"Dear Jay
I got information that there two size modules applied to small size star pen . they are both powered by 1.5V .
one size is 11.2mmX20mm , the other size is 8mmX15mm
it is $19.00 /11.2mmX20mm module 30mW
it is $23.00/8mmX15mm module 30mW


Thanks and Best Regards

Susie"



I went ahead and ordered two of the 8mm ones to try out. I'll report back to let everybody know how stable they are...

I want to try to build a hand held green/blu-ray, or a hand held green/red and combine the beams for a 3 color build! That would be nice!

Wow, those will be some pretty small modules, and putting out ~30mW's, now thats somethin'

I have this too! really nice laser to carry with you!
but i found some cones- The laser need to warm up ~1-2 minutes, then it bevome good laser with normal dot, before it warm it have a non round dot that looks terrible (maybe defective?), I'll take pictures when I'll be in home..
I also ordered a 5mw from DX.. to see if they are the same..

Ofek.

I also have a lil greenie like the one in your pic.

Just so you guys know my cap is not threaded so it fits perfect over the aixiz focusing ring so now all my lasers can have lil stars

jayrob said:

I tried this tiny little 30mW green laser from O-like...

It must have a nice little boost circuit in there to run off of a single AAA battery. I measured 550mA's current draw using an Energizer e2 lithium AAA battery.

Click to expand...

Just saw your email.. You're right, it has to have a boost driver. There are ICs that work down to 0.8V, some even a little lower.

Thing is, depending on the IC used, and how they wired it up - if they did it right, it's quite possible it's a buck/boost driver, that can take anything from 0.8V up to 5.5V while keeping the output current constant! At least the ICs i've toyed with operate over that input voltage range....


But if it is a boost-only IC on the other hand, the input voltage should NEVER exceed the diode Vf, or the diode would get the full input voltage across it's pins!


Depending on what IC they used (and how), it might not be necessary to give it a regulated 1.5V PSU.


If i had one to test, i'd take the driver off, put it on a dummy and hook it up to a PSU set to 1.5V. First i'd go down, to see if the output current stays the same as the voltage drops (to check if the Chinese finally grasped the concept of constant current).

If it does, it's likelly a good driver. Then i'd go up from 1.5V again checking the current, to see if at some point it starts climbing (if it's a boost only driver, that point would be approximatelly just above the dummy load Vf + the Vf of the Schottky rectifier on the driver's output).

If the IC's name is not sanded off, looking up it's datasheet would be helpful. Might not even need a regulated supply...



On the other hand, i've had plenty of bad experience with Chinese "drivers". It's possible they made the simplest boost circuit (like a "joule thief" type circuit) that just boosts the voltage to approximatelly what the diode needs, and that the output current then changes depending on the battery voltage (like with many cheaper modules).

In this case, using a constant voltage PSU would be the safe approach, as it would keep the output current somewhat stable.


However, using a 317 to regulate the voltage, to feed the boost driver to then power the diode, seems kinda obsolete. You could just as well remove the driver and have the 317 power the diode in constant current mode directly. Might even be better, if the boost driver is not really a constant current source...

It would really be best to test this driver thoroughly and then decide what to do. Also, if you can get to the driver, let me know what IC they used please.


In the meanwhile i'll edit the schematic you sent me, in case you still end up needing it.



EDIT: Sorry, didn't read the email carefully enough.. A 317 couldn't regulate the current through an IR pump directly off of only 3x 1.5V...
Looks like you will need an 1.5V constant voltage source (unless that driver is a buck/boost IC, which while possible is not very likelly)...

Unfortunatelly the 317 won't suffice as an 1.5V constant voltage source either, from only three 1.5V batteries. I'm afraid you're gonna need a low dropout regulator, like the LM1117 for that....

Those are soooooooo small, i dont feel confident using them.

I like my bulky lasers more.

I aually really like the look of these, I Would love one for my keychain, so i don't have to take my DX True 20mW out and about. I was wondering how there gonna run from just 1 battery... though I'm sure an energizer Lithium would work great in these.

Thanks Igor...

What I am interested in doing, is trying to build a dual head laser with these since they are so small. I want to combine blu-ray and green from a single power source. Such as a 3 X AAA host.

So I found this 1.5 volt regulator that I hope will work:
http://focus.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tps73601.pdf

What do you think?



tysonc1979, I see you followed my Key Chain build! :gj:

Glad to know that the 0-like star tip will fit an AixiZ focus ring. Didn't think of that...

DX got it for cheap...
DealExtreme: $13.45 30mW 532nm Stars Light Show Special Effects Green Laser Pen (1*AAA)

jayrob said:

tysonc1979, I see you followed my Key Chain build! :gj:

Glad to know that the 0-like star tip will fit an AixiZ focus ring. Didn't think of that...

Click to expand...

Thank's i made 3 keychain builds 2 PHR's and 1 LOC these are probably my favorite host that i have just because of there small size and weight. I wonder how many mW you can push through the star tip before the plastic starts to melt or distort

Yeah, I wonder the same thing...

I'm sure that blu-ray will melt it faster than other colors. I notice that they don't seem to sell it in anything higher than 30mW's.

But then again, I doubt that a 100mW green will etch white or clear plastic...

Here is the pic that show before and after the laser heat up..

Do you or would you make a heat sink for these tiny green modules?
Also what driver is needed ? or is everything contained inside the module all you need is a 1.5volt power supply?
thanks
-Sarge

dieselmarine said:

Do you or would you make a heat sink for these tiny green modules?
Also what driver is needed ? or is everything contained inside the module all you need is a 1.5volt power supply?
thanks
-Sarge

Click to expand...

Sure I could fit a heatsink for it easily...

It has the driver included as shown in the picture. (first post)

The driver is not glued to the module like with normal modules, so that's one area to watch out for, but yes, all it needs is a 1.5 volt battery...