new laser bad

got a bd5 green laser pointer from microfiber.com and after using it a little while the button felt a little funny (felt loose and rattled) laser goes bright then dim then off and on....switch bad i guess?

I dont know that particular greenie but I did have the same problem with one of my pointers, when I took it apart it had through plated holes on a double sided PCboard. The switch was just pressed in .

When new it worked because the pins were tight in the holes but with use they became loose and the laser did what yours is doing, all I had to do was solder the pins and it all works fine now.

Hope that helps

Regards rog8811

all of my cheap unbranded keychain reds seemed to die this way...

As if those little switches had a tough enough time with ~50mA of reds...

Using them with 150-500+ mA on greens is really bad! There's enough room for a microswitch that can take a few AMPS that would never have this problem. But the real problem is the $$$.

anyway to take it outa there and bypass the switch? i need it mounted anyway..