My new 200mw Gatlin arrived!

The mailman knocked on my door just this afternoon!

I haz a happee!

EDIT: This is my FIRST Hi-Power laser.

I received a pair of safety goggles from Trevor about a week ago (Wicked Lasers, very dark red, unmarked but Trevor did some tests and estimates between OD 3.5 to 4). They seem to work just fine. Green dot from both my 5mw Laserglow Lyra and the 200mw Gatlin both look small/dim (almost identically dim; weird huh) after passing thru the goggles at/to the wall (just BRIEFLY w/ the 200mw).

Looking THROUGH the goggles, dot from 5mw looks dim/"yellowish", from 200mw looks "moderate"/"whiteish", NO sense of "greenish" from either laser (I guess that is just "fluorescence" effect). Note: I realize that these goggles probably DO NOT offer IR protection.

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ORDER & SHIPPING HISTORY:

Ordered: Thu June 09 @ ~ 08:50 local (CST)

It took 9 days for the status at O-Like to change from "processing" to "shipped".

Singapore Post Info:
Posting Date: 16-06-2011 (about the same time that O-Like status changed to "shipped")

Dispatched to overseas: 17-06-2011


USA Post Info:
Foreign International Dispatch, June 17, 2011, 11:19 am, SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE

Arrival at Unit, June 25, 2011, 5:44 am, ABILENE, TX 79605

Arrived at my door ~ 12:10, June 25th (local/CST)

From order to arrival = ~ 17 days.
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Apparantly working just fine right out of the box.

I don't have matches or balloons, but it cuts black electrical tape, tape scorches/smokes immediately. O-Like claims that it metered at 190mw+ before it left (I have no reason to doubt this).

Mode looks absolutely stable (TEM00).

I took it outside (broad daylight and BTW currently 95 degrees fahrenheit, predicted 104 by the end of the day)... and scorched a dead leaf and roasted an ant (sorry, I am not a Buddhist).

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Battery that came with it is stamped 650 mAh, so it is apparantly rechargeable. I ASSUMED beforehand it would be dead or almost-dead; so a while back I ordered 4x Duracell CR123A primaries, (capacity unknown) from one company, then noticed Mouser Electronics (here in Texas) had known capacity for their Panasonic primary CR123A; 1550 mAh; so I ordered 2x; 6x primaries in all.

Also ordered the CR123A charger (with 1 battery, stamped 800 mAh), and the model OL-T-1644 "universal Tripod for laser torch/dia from 16-44mm". Tripod fits the Gatlin just fine.

I plugged both my rechargable Cr123A batteries in (1x 650 mAh, 1x 800 mAh) in as soon as everything was unpacked - the light is still blinking on the charger (but possibly blink rate is accelerating?).

(EDIT): Not sure how this precisely effects charging, so I decided to charge these 2 batteries NOT at the same time; different capacities.
Label on the back of the charger says 2x 4.2v at 300 mA
"60 mA at 15 hours (standard charge)"
"300 mA at 2.4 hours (quick charge)"
... but there is no "quick charge" switch ????
The charger is a "SINCE model SE-H001"

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I have a Laser Warning Label that I made & copied from Trevor's site:
Safe Lasers - Laser safety information and free warning labels.

The Gatlin is too small, there is no good place to stick a label on it, but I will put one on the box cover.

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I have 2 sets of 2x IR filters on the way; (EDIT: I checked with O-Like, apparantly the Gatlin is NOT IR filtered).

2x 5mmx5mm from Radiant Electronics (probably too small and cumbersome to work with; the outer aperture itself on the Gatlin looks to be about 4-5 mm in diameter).
(EDIT: got a response from the owner- it will probably be a while before I receive these).

2x 12mmx12mm from Sunex, scheduled to arrived next tuesday (28 June).

UNFORTUNATELY the focus knob on the Gatlin does not appear to screw off. I turned it all the way to the outer extreme, used "moderate" pressure, it feels like it hits a "stop". Chances are, the host needs to be disassembled to install an IR filter on the inside; I am NOT going to risk it. I've thought of a way to mount an IR filter on the outside that will look fairly "neat", and will not damage the filter against future recycling (sandwiched between 2 layers of cut / shaped index card w/ hole; taped on with cut / shaped blue "painters"/masking tape; circular in shape to "look good").

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Next project(s): complete my Jedi training with a DIY kit / or / parts. Probably (a) red (red-orange would be better, I need to check around) (b) violet (c) I will save ~ 1+ watt blue for last (experience, risk).

I have a charger like that, and it took me a bit to figure it out. At first I thought that once it started to blink with green it was done but I checked the voltage and it wasn't good. I figured out that a dead battery will have a solid red light then when almost full it will start to blink. The blink wil get quicker but farther apart until it finally stops on green then it's charged.

benmwv;

Yes, soon after I placed the order I enlarged a picture of that charger from the O-Like website to get the make and model number.

Then I googled it.

I found a few sites that sold it, and they had user comments; some comments expressed the same confusion, but there were answers posted that explained it.

What I DON'T understand (now) is why, on the stamp on the back of the charger, it mentions quick-charging, but there are no controls on the charger to put it in a quick-charge mode.

Not that I would necessarily want to... battery life.

Found an answer, after googling, on some forum:

Just a quick note to anyone else who has this question in the future:

You can't switch the mode on this battery charger. It seems to charge at the higher current if the voltage is low enough, then eventually switches over to quick charge.

The light will be solid orangy red in quick charge mode, then start blinking when it goes to slow charge.

Click to expand...

Also... found a couple of references concerning this charger catching fire, shorting out, blowing up, starting World War III... Not MANY events, just a couple.

ALL Li-Ion chargers: Never charge batteries unattended.
(And for my amatuer radio NiMH batteries, I never charge them unattended either. For that matter, ALWAYS "supervise" when charging ANY batteries).

sorry for the thread bump
but does anyone have a gatlin host they are willing to part with?
and if not, would it be possible to transform this into a ~1W 445??
thanks!