Amount of IR in O-like Modules

I am trying to found out how much IR light an O-like 150mW or 200mW old style (regular brass) emits. I'm hoping someone on this forum has one of these modules, an LPM and an IR filter. I searched using LPF's search box and the Google Search Box on LPF however it is a PITA to find any actual metered amount of IR.

I vaguely remember someone saying 4-5% IR? I would still like someone to test this however as I have been informed by Jack at Opto that many of the 150mW-200mW modules he has recieved from various retailers (including O-like) usually contained 50mW-80mW of infrared light! Jack said the best way to test is to get a filter that blocks all visible light, meter the IR and those readings will be about 95% of what the actual IR the laser is putting out.

I really hope that Jack's test results aren't standard for all high powered non IR filtered O-like modules.

Thanks

I just tried this with an o-like module putting out 97mW. Inserting the IR filter caused a drop in power to 77mW. Measurements were taken with a Laserbee. Another module put out 72mW, and only 54mW with IR filter. Note that I used an IR blocking filter, so probably 6% or so of the green was lost as well. (Reflective and transmissive losses)

Thanks. So was a 100mW and an overpec 50mW tested?

Using the 95% rule to find the real amount of IR being released, that's about:

100mW: 22% IR (21mW of IR)
50mW: 26% (19mW of IR)

The 95% rule only added 1mW of IR to each laser. That's worse than I expected. And I think the higher the module power the greater the % of IR light. So from an old-style 200mW I should expect at least 50mW of IR.

Just buy that module already! IIRC you've been undecided since at least October. I bought the new style and didn't regret it. Old style 150mW are also sold by laserlands for much less. If they only output 130mW after the IR filter (which they have) it's still good for the price. It should be pretty clear by now that you won't get anything close to true 200mW of green out of these modules. Only possible with "RPL style" modules, I think. Or have a look at this one. Merry claims that they are right around 200mW and have a high quality crystal that doesn't leak IR. And we have reviews of them coming.

vitalyx said:

Just buy that module already! IIRC you've been undecided since at least October. I bought the new style and didn't regret it. Old style 150mW are also sold by laserlands for much less. If they only output 130mW after the IR filter (which they have) it's still good for the price. It should be pretty clear by now that you won't get anything close to true 200mW of green out of these modules. Only possible with "RPL style" modules, I think. Or have a look at this one. Merry claims that they are right around 200mW and have a high quality crystal that doesn't leak IR. And we have reviews of them coming.

Click to expand...

You would be correct about the "since October" thing. :undecided:

I don't trust "Merry" to be honest. That sounds like the same thing that Susie says and the same thing that Faona says.

Now I'm trying to decide wether to buy an Opto 150 pen for $200 or a highly overspec Opto 150 pen for $260. It would probably do about 180-190mW but the duty cycle would only be about 30 seconds. Should I start a poll?

Well, you can wait a little longer for reviews. Those lasers/modules could be cherry-picked of course. You never know.

What you do know however is it's unlikely you'll be able to tell the difference between 150mW :undecided: 190mW of green with your eyes while lasing or burning.

But it's your choice...

Good luck!

I'll be waiting for the reviews but I have to warn you that is definitely not a 200mW module. Laserlands says that their 200mW can light a black match. Their 100mW should be able to do that. And like you said the modules they send you could be cherry picked.

Yes the two modules were a 100mW in a brass handheld and a 50mW in a labby.