Why won't the chinese lasers last?

primary.Sequence · Apr 8, 2009

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum, and I have a quick question:

why won't the cheap chinese lasers (eg. from DX and the like) last ?

I recently bought a romisen 30mW (haven't received yet), and I want to do my best to get the most life out of it...

is there anything I can do besides good duty cycles, keep out of heat and shocks?

I am thinking maybe they are run at a high current, or they just have a bad diode. . . so maybe pot modding it down will help?

Thanks.

JLSE · Apr 8, 2009

primary.Sequence said:
Hi guys, I'm new to the forum, and I have a quick question:

why won't the cheap chinese lasers (eg. from DX and the like) last ?

I recently bought a romisen 30mW (haven't received yet), and I want to do my best to get the most life out of it...

is there anything I can do besides good duty cycles, keep out of heat and shocks?

I am thinking maybe they are run at a high current, or they just have a bad diode. . . so maybe pot modding it down will help?

Thanks.

Instead of using 3.6v lithiums (if thats what it uses) use 3v cells instead. It will knock down the mA's to the diode and give you some more life

primary.Sequence · Apr 8, 2009

hmm ok I will try not to charge the 3.6v's to full then

Lotus_Darkrose · Apr 8, 2009

Not sure that is the same, lol. You can get 2 3v rechargables with a charger for very cheap.

JLSE · Apr 8, 2009

That wouldnt be a good idea, those batteries if unprotected shouldnt drop below a certain voltage. And when fully charged they are over 4v.

You need 3v if you want to achieve this.

Lotus_Darkrose · Apr 8, 2009

That would suck if you used AAA batteries for 30 minutes and they dropped down to like half a volt a piece, lmao. Glad it isn't like that or I'd be lugging around a pillowcase full of batteries everywhere I went

primary.Sequence · Apr 8, 2009

ahh I see, so the cheap lasers have bad quality diodes that live a short life if run with high currents.
Does that mean the custom built ones are better because of the heat sink?

primary.Sequence · Apr 11, 2009

and I assume that the O-like modules aren't the same as the ones that come with cheap chinese units?

MarioMaster · Apr 11, 2009

primary.Sequence said:
and I assume that the O-like modules aren't the same as the ones that come with cheap chinese units?

o-like is still cheap chinese lasers, although they seem to test theirs fairly well. (less chance of getting an underpowered unit, etc)

randomlugia · Apr 13, 2009

MarioMaster said:
[quote author=primary.Sequence link=1239163547/0#7 date=1239427558]and I assume that the O-like modules aren't the same as the ones that come with cheap chinese units?

o-like is still cheap chinese lasers, although they seem to test theirs fairly well. (less chance of getting an underpowered unit, etc)[/quote]

O-like is cheap, but they're usually overspec, not under. And if they are, Suzie garuntees it and will replace it.

Edit: 600th post! W00T

GooeyGus · Apr 14, 2009

primary.Sequence said:
ahh I see, so the cheap lasers have bad quality diodes that live a short life if run with high currents.
Does that mean the custom built ones are better because of the heat sink?

it's not that the diodes are of bad quality, they are just bad for that particular application. The manufacturer should pick a diode that has a CW power rating which exceeds what will be necessary in the laser. CNI does this. Their diodes are usually driven at 50% of rated power.

Chinese pointers have diodes driven at or OVER their rated power level, leading to shortened lifespans.

Illuminum3415 · Apr 14, 2009

I've bought plenty of cheapie reds before I settled on the first green.

Occasionally it could just be sloppy work on diode/driver compatibility...purposeful overdriving of a diode to make it look nice then cut all bets once the unit is sold or there could be a complete lack of heatsink causing overheating.

Personally when I gut lasers I don't see any difference...occasionally you'd see sloppy soldering but rarely now. Yet the ones with more $$$ just seems to last longer even under heavy use.

I guess laserglow just works :

Sk8trboipyro · Apr 15, 2009

Cuz they're full of lead and antifreeze!

Illuminum3415 · Apr 15, 2009

SushiNinja said:
Cuz they're full of lead and antifreeze!

LOL, while its plausible that much of what we see coming in from foreign waters is not RoHS compliant...I can't speak for anti-freeze ;D
I think a more realistic cause might be humidity. Wasn't there a thread not too long ago about water accumulating inside the diode window? only issue that I can see that would cause this to occur is high humidity within the fabrication facility and what we see is the accumulation of that humidity on something cold, like glass.

Dark_Horse · Apr 18, 2009

Another possibilty that could account for some of the "fallen" imported lasers: The less people pay for a laser, the more willing they are to open them up and tinker.

I have bought many lasers from DX and all of them still work fine after moderate use/abuse, although the componets are of lesser qaulity than some of the more respected-brands. I have had the AR-coating rub-off on a few of the lenses.

Keep in mind, nearly all lasers that are available to us are "Chinesse"

primary.Sequence · Apr 18, 2009

yea, I've decided to stick around with my dx30mW rominsen until it dies, and then have one of the guys on the b/s/t board help me put a <50mW module in it with heat sink

Why won't the chinese lasers last?

primary.Sequence

Guest

JLSE

1

primary.Sequence

Guest

Lotus_Darkrose

0

JLSE

1

Lotus_Darkrose

0

primary.Sequence

Guest

primary.Sequence

Guest

MarioMaster

0

randomlugia

0

GooeyGus

0

Illuminum3415

0

Sk8trboipyro

0

Illuminum3415

0

Dark_Horse

0

primary.Sequence

Guest

Online statistics

Forum statistics

Share this page