Is my Laser Broken?????

so i bought this laser Focusable 50mW Green Laser Pointer with Safety Key Lock (1*18650 Included) [E15281]

and i just got it today. and when i put everything together. and turned the key. and i click on the button. nothing shows up. no green. when i look into the hole i see this tiny red light barely able to see it. is it because the battery is not charged. cuz im using the battery that was included.

That red light is high powered infared, I would not look into it. Yes it is broken, and very unsafe, you are lucky to still have good vision

Not necessarily broken at all. First, charge the batteries correctly and try again. You obviously have them in the right way round as you see some NIR light but do be careful, this is a lot more powerful than your eyes tell you.

Charge the batteries and be sure they are properly charged by taking a voltage measurement. If this still doesn't work then try a different battery. They sometimes fail too.

After doing this then you can narrow down the fault to the laser.

M

If it still acts this way after chargeing the batteries it may be missing the crystal that converts IR to green light in which case it may still burn things it'll just be invisable.Btw 50mw is enough to permanantly blind if you look dirrectly into the beam but it shouldn't be strong enough to do permanant damage by looking at the dot reflected from a non reflective surface. From now on if it's not bright enough to see from a distance try shining it at your hand instead of at your face. :tsk::spank: This goes for <5mw lasers as well because their often above specs.

thanks for all your guys reply. means i just have to wait for my new batteries. than ill be able to see if its broken so i can return it.

psi seeker 34 said:

If it still acts this way after chargeing the batteries it may be missing the crystal that converts IR to green light in which case it may still burn things it'll just be invisable.Btw 50mw is enough to permanantly blind if you look dirrectly into the beam but it shouldn't be strong enough to do permanant damage by looking at the dot reflected from a non reflective surface. From now on if it's not bright enough to see from a distance try shining it at your hand instead of at your face. :tsk::spank: This goes for <5mw lasers as well because their often above specs.

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^Sorry? Missing the crystals? What are you talking about? This is not a second hand laser. This is a brand new laser. The crystals will definitely be there! Please don't answer queries like this if you don't know the answer. This only confuses people and misinforms them.

It is unlikely this laser will burn anything no matter how much IR it's putting out as the IR will either be focused inside the, (nonexistent), crystal set, or completely unfocused and pumping the crystal set directly leading to huge divergance by the time it reaches the exit aperture. At $32.80, it's most likely the latter. Agreed though, it can still damage your eyesight. It's best and more safely viewed through proper goggles and then a CCD camera, (phone camera etc). If no googles then use the phone as a physical block between you and the laser.

If the batteries are not the problem then the most likely answer is an LEDed IR laser diode but the batteries can be proved by measuring them and/or replacing them.

Test with some other batteries first. If they are not the problem then at least you have more sets for all the other lasers will be buying in the future.

M

It isn't impossible for a mass produced laser to be missing a piece.
Nor is it unreasonable for the existing optics to be able to focus IR light if there is no IR filter in the design. Though it may be unlikely that it'll burn something using IR alone it is nevertheless possible considering that even a completely unfocused laser diode of sufficient power to do so will burn through paper at extremely close range.

psi seeker 34 said:

It isn't impossible for a mass produced laser to be missing a piece.
Nor is it unreasonable for the existing optics to be able to focus IR light if there is no IR filter in the design. Though it may be unlikely that it'll burn something using IR alone it is nevertheless possible considering that even a completely unfocused laser diode of sufficient power to do so will burn through paper at extremely close range.

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Please stop this here psi seeker 34, I'm not going to argue with you. These lasers are batch produced and are, 'binned', to certain outputs. To do this they must output some green light and therefore must have crystals. The possibility there is no crystal set in this laser is so infinitesimally small as to be pointless considering. IR filters have nothing to do with focus and when set for well collimated 532nm output the IR is so divergant it is not focused well enough to burn. You would have to have a reasonable power IR pump diode to burn paper at any range through the existing optics in a green module whether there are crystals or not.

The OP needs valuable information not speculation. Batteries are the first thing to think, not whether the crystal set is missing. Show me proof of any of these things happening, (except a high power diode burning paper at close range), otherwise this is ridiculous threadjacking IMO.

M

In this case I agree arguing is pointless and unhelpful to the purpose of the thread.
As such in order to keep any more somewhat useful information in overwhelming quantity from further obscuring the simple and basic purpose of this thread ,which is to determine weather or not said laser is broken, all further information concerning the internal workings or (lack there of) which is not expressly helpful to the task at hand shall be ceased or taken into either a PM or another more appropriate thread.

Thank you and have a nice day.