laserbtb direct diode 5mW 515nm (PICS!)

This may not qualify as a review, as it is not my intention to write an in-depth review about this laser. Many things have already been discussed by The_LED_Museum. Please see this as a complement. This is only an expression of my personal experiences with this laser.

On january 5th, 2014 I ordered two 5 mW 515 nm laser pens. The first one was delivered shortly after. The second one, well, it took a bit longer. Due to 1° a misunderstanding, 2° address issues and finally 3° Belgian customs, I finally received the second laser earlier this morning, that is april, 4th, 2014.

At first glance, both units work flawless. Since I received the first one in mid January, I already had the chance to compare it with my 532nm 5mW astronomy laser. Apart from the difference in color and a slightly fatter beam, I was overall pleased with this first new pen.

These new pens come with some sort of lock on the back side. There are 3 positions in the lock, marked with a red, green and yellow dot. While the red dot obviously marks the OFF position, there seems to be no difference between the yellow and green position, as in both positions, the laser works. But then, I noticed a strange thing. I left the laser in the yellow/green position (doesn't actually make a difference as they seem shorted) for overnight. When I took the laser the other day, the batteries where empty. Hmm?

I took a fresh set of batteries and inserted these into the barrel. When I view the business side of the pen, I saw a tiny spot of green light inside. Short circuit?

http://laserpointerforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44938&d=1396624641

I decide to try my macro lens for looking inside the housing. You can clearly see the light bouncing off the junction. Remember that this amount of light is barely visible in daylight.
I have no idea if this is normal behavior, a design flaw or a single bad unit.

http://laserpointerforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44939&d=1396624641
http://laserpointerforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44940&d=1396624641

In came the second laser. I immediately checked if this behavior was also noticeable on the new delivery. It was, so I will need to remove the batteries after each use. Bit of a bummer. Please notice that the sideswith was not pressed while these pics were taken.

http://laserpointerforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44941&d=1396624641
http://laserpointerforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44942&d=1396624641
http://laserpointerforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44943&d=1396624641

Another thing that caught my attention : there is a distinct difference in color between the 2 515's. The newer one is much more of a bluish green color. In next pic you can see the difference between the two, compared to my 532 nm 5mW.

http://laserpointerforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44944&d=1396624641

and another one, unprocessed :

http://laserpointerforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44945&d=1396624641

Update 11.02 2015

I intended tuuse this laser for astronomy. Before this I used 532nm DPSS pointers, but these die when exposed to cold temps (the laser is permanently mounted on a telescope and is used to guide the scope towards prefered sky object). As we had no temps below freezing in jan/feb/march 2014, I had no chance to evaluate these new 515/520 nm lasers at low temperature behaviour. Whell, that changed : had a couple of weeks below freezing, now. Sad to say, also these new direct diode lasers allmost completely die to beyond visibility

Nice info!

It may not matter with a laser of only 5mW, but it's good practice to store the batteries outside the laser. Just for safety reasons :yh:

I have a 5mW pointer from laserbtb as well, and it measured 511nm.

The different color is just a neat thing, I don't care about that. But I do feel kinda annoyed by the fact that it drains the batteries when left in the yellow or green position.

I bought these for permanent mount on my astronomy gear, to replace the 532nm pointers. I think I will try to open them and fix the short circuit.

Cyparagon, does your laser also show this phenomenon?

svdr said:

...I took a fresh set of batteries and inserted these into the barrel. When I view the business side of the pen, I saw a tiny spot of green light inside. Short circuit?

http://laserpointerforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=44938&d=1396624641

I decide to try my macro lens for looking inside the housing. You can clearly see the light bouncing off the junction. Remember that this amount of light is barely visible in daylight.
I have no idea if this is normal behavior, a design flaw or a single bad unit.

Click to expand...

My unit exhibits this queer behaviour as well; as shown by the following photograph:



I'll be updating my review of it here on LPF with the photograph shortly (very probably tomorrow).

I missed that part in you first post. That's really weird. No, mine doesn't do this. The same AAAs have been installed since I got it several months ago and it still works.

My super-precise current meter (µCurrent Gold) arrived yesterday. It says the current draw is 13nA which is essentially zero.

Hi svdr, Cyparagon and The_LED_Museum

Could you tell me what is the net weight of the laserbtb 515nm 5mW laser pointer without batteries? laserbtb told me it is 300g. A DPSS 532nm 5mW laser pointer is only 48g, so I want to double check to see if the laserbtb's one is really that much heavier.

:thanks:

48g sounds too light to me :thinking: do you mean just a 532nm DPSS module, not a complete laser?

48g is for the laser pointer without batteries. I saw it on the website, unless there is a typo. Let me check with the shop.

confirmed by the shop, the laser pointer weight 48g only. :yh:

Good find. Can't really tell the color difference though as it is only 5mw.

added some new findings

Mine used to also act like an LED when the laser was armed, but for whatever reason, it stopped doing it. It seems to have resolved itself. I was running it on 1.5v batteries, but then used 1.2v NiMH's, with which it did not exhibit the behavior. I just recently switched back to 1.5v's for an LPM test and found that the behavior stopped. Not alluding to a magic cure, but that's what happened. I have no way to measure the current draw though, so I cannot confirm 0.000Amps.