Lasers and Motorcycles

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

Glad I could help, Mike. I look forward to getting more of a concensus from the forum on their experiences with 473s as well.

If anyone else here concurs with these observations, please do chime in!

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

I thought I was alone on my readings. Two lasers can't always be wrong when the observed readings are so similar. I can sleep well tonight -- Thanks for your info.
There aren't many who can chime :-(

HMike

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

Hemlock_Mike said:

I made a comment about an observed TEM 01 mode with this laser. I now notice that another DPSS BLUE I'm testing also has a reported and observed oblong beam spot at over 100'.
Has anyone else testing a DPSS BLUE observed this beam characteristic?

HMike

Click to expand...

my Rpl 25 473 had a perfectdot and boy was it stable
I really miss that unit (sold it to a friend he said he hasnt even used it once yet

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

john_lawson said:

my Rpl 25 473 had a perfectdot and boy was it stable
I really miss that unit (sold it to a friend he said he hasnt even used it once yet

Click to expand...

That's odd.. LBO is inherently only stable between a very narrow temperature band... I've actually had experience with three; two of which were keepers, all of them extremely temperature dependent, and power curves over time all over the place.

Again, nothing like 593.5, which never stops dancing around no matter what the temperature is. 473 at least seems to... "acknowledge a warm-up period", and THEN start dancing all over the place, and eventually get "tired".

It's funny, I'm starting to learn the "personalities of the wavelengths". 532 behaves differently from 594 behaves differently than 473. So far 589, to me, seems to be closest to 532 in behavior.

473 is certainly its own flavor.

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

yea i heard they were funny but the one i had started off at 50 mw then slowly settled above 23-25 mw i ran it 5 minutes once and it went tem o1

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

Thanks for the help and confirmation of my observations.
I just added a picture of the output waveform in my review. I used a green LED as a solar cell to drive the O'scope. I think the noise on the waveform is stray interference but it still shows the duty cycle.

HMike

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

John --- You are confirming what Aryntha and I have found. Now there's 3 of us!!! I have power graphs going all over the place depending on starting temp and ambient temp. Rolls of graph paper all around :-( BUT OH how nice 98 mW of BLUE looks ! Puts my ArIon's to shame.

Thanks -- HMike

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

I don't have a LPM to test power but mine LOVES to mode-hop all the time, sometimes up to four dots(TEM30) if it gets too hot and it does that just by being on indoors. If I bring it out on a nice cool night it stays TEM00 and seems brighter to me, but I think that's just the fact that 473 is closer to the scotopic vision peak sensitivity than photopic vision. I also measured my divergence to be .761 mRad which is pretty nice

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

Brando ---

If you have read the posts above you now know why it works that way. I never pushed mine into that much heat but it's cool here at night. What I thought was TEM 01 may be the normal oval beam from these BLUE portables. I've never observed TEM 30 because I won't run a portable that long. With mine, the power drops off long before serious mode hopping.

Thanks - HMike

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

I don't run it that long at all, it get to TEM30 in about 30 seconds and TEM01 within 10s. and it is and obvious 10 with a gap between the dots, but yet the power seems stable to the eye. And like I said if I run it in a cool environment it works beautifully.

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

Brando---

I was mistaken when I said my CNI GLP was TEM01. I was looking at it from 156' and the oval appeared to me to be a mode hop. I had never had a portable DPSS Blue. I now have some education from others and experience !!!!
You may need to do what I'm doing and soaking the laser for an hour at a specific temperatures. Try for example 70 Deg F. Then watch it. These can all be very different.

HMike

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

My 473nm GLP-50 needed two days before it showed me its power. The beam was clearly visible in a lit room. But today, after I haven´t used it for two days, the beam isn´t visible any longer and I also noticed the big power drop due my eye. I tried another batt, one half charged, one fully charged, the laser doesn´t get stronger again. Do you know what´s the matter? Do these 473nm need a daily use after their burn in time after 2-3 days? Or do I have to wait another 2 days (using it very often) that I´m going to get the full power again?

- 500

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

Temperature is EVERYTHING with these, DJ.

I'd try it:

1) letting it warm up for 30 seconds - try a 30 second duty cycle and watch it,

2) see how it behaves in a cooler environment.

Mine seems to heat up quickly (too quickly) on an *overcharged* (as my 18650s were) battery, but, honestly now mine is behaving well.

Keep using it for a week and let me know; this "break in" thing does seem to have some merit. Give it 30 second duty cycles with 2-3 minutes of rest inbetween.

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

Hi Mike, As aryntha has already told you, he & I compared our observations of our individual 473's in the GB #7 Thread, but he's done an admirable job of re-writing & posting our joint findings here for you. There is one BIG difference that I've noticed with my 473 that doesn't seem to be evident on the other 473's being discussed here. While I don't have the space length to get a good divergence measurement, I have noticed that "SO FAR" (knock on wood), no matter what the ambient temp. or the duty cycle duration, my 473 has stayed in a nice tight TEM00 mode, with a nice round 'dot'. I sure hope it stays this way. I have also reached a new "PEAK" mW. out-put reading of 104mW's in a 2 min. - 45 sec. duty cycle. As aryntha & I surmised earlier, it SEEMS that the longer & "harder" you "burn them in", the better the performance seems to get, (crossed fingers). I hope that this added information helps you out in the "Performance of the 473nm. Laser" book that you seem to be putting together. j/k I'm sure that a lot of people are going to reference this material that you are so kindly amassing for the entire Forum to utilize, especially if they're considering purchasing a 473nm. laser for themselves. + REP for your effort. rob

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

P-77 --

Using your method, I just got my review WL Spyder III 60 mW to go over 100 mW !!! These 473's are touchy about temp but what a nice color.

HMike

Re: CNI GLP-473 Blue Review

Just tried to replicate this and had a successful >75mW, 98mW Pk for 3min run here, after seeing this. It was actually the second try, as the first time around the 18650 died after 1m30sec. So I gave it a rest and with a new 18650, was able to hit 98mW close into the second run's period. Post peak it did not go below 75mW.

Blue beam visible in clear air - that's kind of nice, and not something that was always happening before. After rests, subsequent 'firings' reach the peak rather early into the cycle; seems like it has "warmed up".

Towards the end I saw TEM01 but still above 75mW. Note, I have the window open, laser about 1ft from the window and it's about 45'F up here in the mountains today at this time of night. After the initial warm-up I tried to avoid holding the laser, instead having it on my desk, to prevent insulating it or heating it by holding it. The laser heatsink did get warm but was able to dissipate it pretty quickly due to the cool ambient temperature.

It looks like it likes to be not-so-cold, but wants to be able to dissipate the heat it does generate.

This laser is behaving so much differently (read: better) than the day I got it... (It's kind of scary; it stings my hand rather easily if I point it at it.) Now, to wonder if they'll all reach a "prime" and start to go downhill - lets hope not!

For now, i'm going to give it a rest, as I've given it about five 3:00 duty cycles and am going to let it recover before trying more runs later tonight. 30-second runs without it dropping to ~10mW were not possible the day I got it.