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What is it?
The DX HRS002G is a laser projector designed to generate kaleidoscopic effects and patterns on your walls as well as create a dynamic beam show with the use of a fog machine.
It's base as an aluminum shell with a hanging bracket for your lighting rack and features a 100 mW red and 50 mW green laser (mfgr spec) which are combined and directed at a diffraction grating which is connected to a stepper motor.
The unit is capable of creating Red and Green and does not ever mix colors (as far as I can tell)
The unit features 2 modes: Sound and Auto
The power supply is capable of running off 120 or 240v and uses the included AC to DC adapter. It also comes with a EU round plug converter.
It is very small 4" long x 4" wide x 2" tall
As for controls it has a Sound/Audo toggle, a reset button, a sensitivity dial and a 3 position switch (off, on, strobe). On the front is the aperture, a mic and an IR receiver.
The unit comes with an IR remote that controls the following: power, music mode, auto mode, strobe mode, strobe frequency, and color toggle.
The unit also comes with a mini tripod which is mostly useless it barely supports the unit itself and will bend or fall over if you even look at it funny. Fortunately it has a standard size tripod socket at the bottom so you can mount it on any standard tripod.
How to use?
It can be hung from a lighting rack, placed on a shelf somewhere or mounted on any tripod. The beam is not likely extremely dangerous due to the fact that the light is diffused into hundreds (thousands) of points and patterns however regardless of the power you should avoid direct exposure to the beam as there is always potential for eye damage.
You plug the "wall wort" AC-DC adapter in and then plug the power cord into the unit. Set the power switch to 2 (ON) or 3 (Strobe) The unit will start up, turn it's fan on and begin running in auto mode and immediately start projecting patterns.
Pressing the sound sense button on the unit or remote will toggle it into sound sensitive mode. If no sound is detected for 2 seconds or more the unit will stop projecting.
It does a decent job of going with the music but as any of these systems it's not perfect.
The unit has about 5-8 different animations each consisting of about 3-5 "frames". It sometimes hits one of it's limits and jumps and makes a clicking noise for a while. This makes the images jumpy but does not seem to hurt the device.
The IR remote will allow you to set the modes, enable the red,green or both lasers, set strobe speed and other fairly basic things. You can turn it off in software with the power button but the unit has to be in an "ON" mode on the power switch for the remote to be able to control it.
It's projections can easily cover any sized room or ceiling in "stars" it can get old after a watching it for a while as it gets very repetitive. If you use it as a backdrop for another effect it can add a lot to a show.
The front of the unit is just a hole and the actual lens / grating is exposed behind the front plate. This is directly attached to the servo but is not really accessible without taking the front off.
The unit doesn't actually have any kind of scanner but uses a image wheel attached to a servo to change what image is being projected to give the illusion of animation and different patterns. Each dot seems pretty dim and gets dimmer the further you get from the center of the lens. If you compare it to a scanning laser of the same power you will notice just how dim it is.
All the patterns are "hard coded" on the grating and can not move location or have any effects applied to them. The different models of the same unit DX offers come with different pattern discs on them.
If you have _a lot_ of fog you can see a whole lot of beams coming off this thing, however they are quite dim and I needed to get the whole room foggy before I could see any beams. They also don't hold a candle to a scanning projectors beam show.
The red seems quite a bit dimmer than the green it's probably a little under balanced with this unit however it shows up fine on most surfaces.
The system makes absolutely no attempt to combine the red and green lasers so don't expect to see any yellow.
Again although it's not as dangerous as a scanning laser the unit should not be directed at people's eyes as it has the possibility of causing eye damage.
I don't have any testing equipment so I can't give you power readings or wavelengths of lasers but I can say it's a very cool system and extremely cheap.
(For those of you in the US and Canada similar systems can also be had at Spencer's)
If you are looking for an extremely cheap projector (under $50) or looking to add some special effects to your existing equipment this is a really good way to go.
Videos:
This is a video from another DX user
This is my video with all of my effects running
Tear down:
The diffraction grating with the front off:
Top view:
PROS:
Metal case very well put together
Creates a large "star show"
Has an IR remote control
Extremely tiny and portable
Can be mounted on a lighting rack or a tripod
Several patterns and mini animations
Super cheap
Has a strobe mode
Will fill a room with stars
CONS:
Only a few patterns
Red is almost invisible
Sometimes the wheel gets stuck and it "skips"
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MFGR: None listed anywhere. I bought it from deal extreme.
PRODUCT TYPE: Sound-activated laser show projector
LAMP TYPE: Laser
No. OF LAMPS: 2 (1 red, 1 green)
CASE MATERIAL: Aluminum
WATER RESISTANT: No
SUBMERSIBLE: No
ACCESSORIES: AC adapter, EU adapter, Mini tripod, Remote, Manual
COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURE: China
PRODUCT RATING:
* * * * (4 Stars) Great addition to a show or even on it's own.
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