Another great transaction with Yobresal!

This is the second time I've bought an item from Luke, and both times involved a fair amount of cash. This time I bought a 1W CNI/ExtremeLasers lab-style laser. the item was shipped fast, packaged great and arrived without a scratch. It pegs my Laserbee I no problem, indicating that it produces well over a Watt.

Yobresal is a top notch member and seller. I'd recommend him to anyone..

I most heartily agree

Plus, you have to watch his posts. When he decides to sell something, the price is usually phenomenal.

I missed this one by minutes

Peace,
dave

I totally agree!!!! Great guy!!!

I would like to amend my previous post, but first I must say that I don't hold the following against Yobresal.. he's a stand-up guy.

The laser pegged my meter whenever I checked it for about the first 30 minutes of my stability test.. Then for the last two hours it's been running solid within 5% of 800mW ..

I had heard bad things about Extremelasers before, but I took the risk with this system because it's made by CNI, it's nearly new and because of the price. This is most likely a 700-750mW laser that's been rebranded as a 1W.. The stability of 5% over two hours seems awful stable for this to be an alignment or temperature issue.. I think that Extremelasers inflates their power ratings.. NOT cool. I'm just glad I didn't buy this at full price.

Again, i'm not mad a Luke. The price is right as long as we're not dealing with degradation (which I don't think we are.. the system is very stable once it settles) The laser does make over 1W for awhile, but it's not a 1W laser. Time will tell...

I probably should have been more thorough testing. I've never left that laser on for more than 15 minutes at a time. I never suspected the output would change with extended use being TEC cooled and all. I hope you are right and it doesn't degrade. I believe it is still under warranty but extremelasers probably would find nothing wrong with it with their QC standards.

Chinese lasers do ALL kinds of crazy things for about the first 15-20 minutes of operation.. overpower, underpower and everywhere in between. Then they normally settle down as the crystal temps equalize. The TECs just maintain the crystals at a temperature. They're not active enough to be able to adjust to the rapid fluctuations that occur as the system warms up. You don't begin to see what the laser really does until after that time. 30 minutes is a bit long for a warm-up, but not outside the realm of possibility.

It's not at all unheard of for a Chinese seller to see that a laser will do 1W and sell it as such (slap a couple labels on there and call it a day).. I've read negative things about Extremelasers before, so I'm not overly shocked to find this out if that's in fact what the case is. If it didn't come directly from CNI, DON'T trust the label.

Of course it could be an issue in the laser itself.. only time and use will tell.. I just find the stability to be very good. It's just like the rest of my CNIs.

Perhaps I could try contacting ExtremeLasers.. see what they have to say.

Aww Im sorry for your loss EF, but 800mW is killer!

UPDATE: found the problem.. the head and power supply are mismatched. CNI systems have matching serials on the head and PSU. These two numbers do not match.. that means that the temperature controls on the driver have been tuned for a whole different laser. Odd.. and not cool, really. If Extremelasers won't fix the problem, I'll have to try to tune it myself.

Good catch, Let me know the route you want to go and I can talk to extreme lasers about the mismatched parts. If at any time you feel like you just don't want to deal with this let me know and I will buy the laser back from you.

If you would contact them, that would be great! If they're willing to honor the warranty, I'll send it off to them. I've tried emailing them, no response yet (it's only been a day, though).

Given the fact that the price was quite good, I'd like to hang on to the unit for at least week or two to see what I can do with it.. I'm not opposed to a project, and I tend to bond a bit with lasers when I repair them. I especially want to check out how it does under modulation, since these lasers behave so much differently when they're being rapidly blanked vs. being run CW. If the system maintains good average power under modulation, then I might just leave it be. I don't use them CW anyway..

Here is the listing http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260523813528
I bought it on the 21st of December so It is still under warranty for 9 months. I will ask them if they would be willing to exchange this laser for one that maintains 1 watt output over the duration of it's "on time" is that good? It would probably be best if we communicate with them about this laser through me as I do not believe the warranty is transferable and I wouldn't want them to try and use that as an excuse not to trade it in. Let me know what you think.

I received a response from them. They want the original invoice number, so PM me the invoice number or a screenshot of your electronic invoice from ebay.. I told them I'm contacting them on your behalf to avoid them trying to say the warranty won't transfer.

EDIT: I'm certainly more than willing to let you handle this.. just let me know what the outcome is and where to send it when the time comes... I'd like to forward you the email I got, so I'll send it to your paypal address.

Thanks!!

PM sent

I forgot all about this thread, so this is a twofer:

Luke was nothing short of a hero throughout the above debacle. We negotiated a deal with Extremelasers to replace the laser's PSU, which brought the output up to ELs spec guarantee of 900-1000mW. I'm quite happy.

I would like to add that Extremelasers resells CNI lasers. If this had actually been a 1W CNI laser, it's output would have been more like 1.3W or somewhere in that vicinity. I would imagine this is a 700-800mW CNI head that is sold as 1W based on it's output. Regardless it does 900-1100mW which is great for the price Luke sold it to me for.

Additionally, I just received a CNI pen from Luke. It arrived today in precisely the condition he stated it as being. He's a knowledgeable guy who checks his inventory and knows it well. You can't beat folks like this in the laser business, especially used lasers. He stands behind his word and he ships fast. Highly recommended.

He was understanding when I got into a wreak and shipped his laser diode a bit late. +Ve for yobresal