Welcome to Laser Pointer Forums - discuss green laser pointers, blue laser pointers, and all types of lasers

LPF Donation via Stripe | LPF Donation - Other Methods

Links below open in new window

ArcticMyst Security by Avery

laser pointer (very cheap) became dim

bamb

0
Joined
Jul 13, 2009
Messages
4
Points
1
Hi all

I already searched for some answer but here everybody seems to be very advanced and I only need some basic answers, please.

I bought a very cheap red laser pointer, a Chinese key-chain type, about 2 dollars

It is powered by three cell buttons (a total of 4.5 v)

It was working just fine and now it is just very, very dim. You can barely see it.

Probably I damaged it when trying to power it with a battery (NiCd 9.6 volts and a resistor to reduce voltage to 4.5 volts) and perhaps I miscalculated the value of resistor so I delivered more than 4.5 volts to my cheap laser pen.

Could this be a cause? How much these diodes can take?

However, I also own another laser pen, a bit more expensive and more fancy (about 30 dollars) and it sometimes shows erratic response. It sometimes goes dim, and sometimes works fine and it has nothing to do with batteries or terminals getting dirty or such. This is something I had noticed before, this thing works well and sometimes just don't work.

I already tried all of the possible solutions given in the previous thread "laser going dim" but nothing works.

You may ask why bother, just a get another 2 dollars toy and forget about it.

Well, I already bought another one, but my question is with the aim to know what are the causes why a laser works well and then it suddenly goes dim. What are the possible causes? Did I damaged it? From the scientific point of view, what is going wrong?

Thanks all!!
 





Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
5,725
Points
0
The most likely reason for the death of your laser is the fact that those are very cheap with little or no quality control at the factory. You just never know what you're going to get with those. If you want a cheap laser that will hold up, try www.0-like.com--Ê×Ò³ or Rayfoss--home.

regarding your other ~$30 pointer, what color is it?
 

bamb

0
Joined
Jul 13, 2009
Messages
4
Points
1
Hi!

Thanks for your answer. The other laser pen is red. Actually before I came to this forum, I didn't know there were (comercially available) other colors.

Ok, but so there is nothing I can do about my 2 dollar laser?

Thanks
 
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
5,725
Points
0
No, sadly.. plus you should really consider getting a green laser. They're much more visible and a lot more fun in general. Check out the site I just linked. O-like is the best, IMO. Very consistently good performing lasers, and inexpensive.
 
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
5,725
Points
0
You probably don't want to start off with a module, but instead a complete laser pointer. Here's some complete pointers. Near the bottom of the page are a few that would work very well for you IMO..
 




Top