Laser acting up

I have an x45 from NOVA. It's just over a year old and it's starting to take it forever to get up to full power. It starts out with a very dim dot and then slowly works its way up in brightness. I just put new batteries in it and it still struggles. Is the diode dying on me or could it be dirty?

Something is dying...I'm not sure what though. It could be a problem with the driver, the on/off switch, etc. You could try to clean the contacts with some Deoxit, also look inside and make sure nothing is interfering with the on/off button or the contact spring. Just my 2 cents. Contact NovaLasers as well.

Diode characteristics vary widely from diode to diode, and they also vary over time. Something may have changed about the way your diode behaves, but that does not necessarily mean that it is dying.

Most DPSS laser manufacturers specify a "warm-up time" of 5 to 15 minutes. During the warm up, anything can happen. The manufacturers warrant that the laser will operate with stability only after the warm-up is complete.

As long as the laser eventually makes it back up to full power, I wouldn't worry.

Also, lasers will gradually get dimmer and dimmer throughout their lifetime. This is normal, and the only way to get around it is to buy a new laser. It DOES NOT mean that the laser is defective. It merely means that the laser is living its life, just as it should be.

I agree it's probably the diode and crystals. I hope their alpha series are more resistant to this.

The same thing is unfortunatley going on with my Alpha125.

It struggles to reach full power, it needs a long warm up time. Also, I have to press the dongle into the laser for it to lase at full power. This is a contact issue though, so I'm looking for a way to repair it. I don't want to send it to nova because the the harsh import/export taxes here in Sweden.

my alpha 105 can take anywhere from 5 seconds to 15 minutes to warm up depending on where it is (outside in the cold ~15minutes, inside a few seconds to a minute)

Ahh, nice to see I'm not alone with the problem. Nothing else to expect tho, many DPSS lasers needs long warm up time, and is sensitive to cold.

One that wasn't was my old nova X-85 - it did best in cool conditions, when it just got a little warm (a minute of use or so) its power decreased significantly. So I guess every laser behave a little different than another.

I wish the alpha didn't have a momentary switch.

Xplorer877 said:

I wish the alpha didn't have a momentary switch.

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it's not like you can't just put a rubber band on it or something and let it run for 5+ minutes the batteries last forever too