500mw laser won't burn help

I have a 500mw e3 elite laser 500mw and it's green ... For some reason it's not that powerful and it won't burn that great I also have a 200mw green laser that was like $49 us dollars and it has a focus and it burns much better the 500mw laser looks cleaner but the cheaper 200mw laser but seems to be a little brighter I am wondering why this is happening the laser looks and works fine and it's new I just don't understand why it's not powerful enough to pop balloons and light matches it does burn through black plastic but my 200 me burns much better maybe its not really a 500mw but it says it is ... please help thanks my English is not perfect so please be kind

Put a link to the laser. We know nothing about the laser.
The 500mW rating is probably the max. You see something <500mW on the label.

Or the pump diode is rated at 500mW...
No pics or links will only get you guesses and speculation...:cryyy:


Jerry

You can contact us at any time on our Website: J.BAUER Electronics

Like Blord and Laserbee said, we need to know what laser and what manufacturer.

Oh and if your 200mw greenie is brighter and DOES burn then your '500 mw' is more likely to be < 200mW instead of 500.

That's reason number 1 to buy from a reputable company, if you did and you got a bad laser you can also exchange it because it's too much underspec.

It's probably <500mw meaning it could easily be 15mW lol. How much did it cost?

If it looks less bright than your 200 mW, it probably is less powerful.

It could also be that as you can focus the 200 mW, you are concentrating the beam making it appear brighter. If you cant focus the 500 mW ie if its set on infinity, it wont burn nearly as well as a laser focused to a small dot...:beer:

Could be a few things.You got ripped off,got an underpowered laser/broken,Not focused.

A link would work wonders.

godpower said:

Could be a few things.You got ripped off,got an underpowered laser/broken,Not focused.

A link would work wonders.

Click to expand...

So true, a good 9/10 of these wholesale websites sell <5mw lasers passing them off as 100mW+

Can you tell us where you bought it from?

Ehm for best burning reasons you should put the match,ballon ... into the focal point if its fixed focus (infinity) it will not so good for burning fun put another lens in fron of the laser beam and search for the focal point (where the laser beam is smallest diameter) . It should burn pretty powerful 500mW of green Laser light is a lot of power may the pump diode is rated 500mW than output would be around 200mW when its a good laser. Or your laser has been factory pot modded and the diode is nearly dead in this case don't throw your laser in the bin you may just need to change the diode (may a higher powered one but don't forget a good cooling system otherwise it will just overheat and its dead . Hope i could help you