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Zallus Laser Power Meter

R

random person

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Howdy all,

I'm a student and always wanted to try my hand at making a decent laser power meter. Projects been on the back burner for awhile now but finally had some time to work on it. Almost finished but still in development though.

Pics:
63367819.jpg


zallusback.jpg


Features:

-2.5W Peltier Optical Power Sensor
-16x2 LCD Display with blue backlight
-USB Mini B Cable + USB Interface. Internally fused for PC Protection
-16BIT Delta Sigma ADC Oversampled to 24bit resolution
-Can be powered by USB cable/PC, Battery, Wallwart. 9-24V: 2.5mm walljack, 200mA+
-Free PC GUI AP for data logging

Bare Bone GUI (WIP)
garg.png

If your bored, download it at: at github here (click view raw) and let me know if it works for ya. Sorry no MAC/Linux support as of now. However, my command structure is open source. Any linux/mac user could write a GUI for the meter.
Source:
https://github.com/NateZimmer/Zallus_LPM

Demo Video
(sorry for the crappy quality, might want to fullsize. Not sure why WMV cropped the video)

If anyone is interested, I could probably pump these out for around 100usd.
 
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jcranmer

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That would be awsome if you can get those built and sold for anywhere near that price. Very professional looking unit!

I haven't watched all the video yet, but what are you using as a reference to calibrate these? (someone else will be along to ask soon, if I don't :) )
 
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jcranmer said:
That would be awsome if you can get those built and sold for anywhere near that price. Very professional looking unit!

I haven't watched all the video yet, but what are you using as a reference to calibrate these? (someone else will be along to ask soon, if I don't :) )
Click to expand...

Heh, the first question everyone always asks. Our optics lab at school has a Newport Power Meter Model 1815-C as well as a few other meters. I've done some preliminary calibration with that meter but I want to test across a broad spectrum of powers (to confirm linearity and if not, add adjustment). In addition, I want to confirm its response to different wavelength. So, the final calibration is still a WIP. Thats the only part I have left on this project beyond a fancy GUI graph.
 
ryansoh3

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Cool setup! Love your narration. :D

How accurate are they compared to a professional meter?

Would it be on a par with say... a laserbee?

Again, thanks for sharing this.

Cheers! :beer:
 
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ryansoh3 said:
Cool setup! Love your narration. :D

How accurate are they compared to a professional meter?
Click to expand...

So far, my initial tests have been pretty darn good provided one takes care with the measurement setup. It most certainly can't beat a professional meter since i'm using a professional meter to calibrate by. In addition, you can only get so far with peltier based sensors in comparison to what the 1000+ usd. meters use. They use a completely different technology. At the end of the day, I still need to do more testing.

Would it be on a par with say... a laserbee?
Click to expand...

Ideally! 16bit ADC --> 65535 decimal counts. 2.5W / 65535 counts = ~26 counts per mW or ideally 38.5 micro W resolution. That would be ignoring oversampling, I'm using 240x hardware based oversampling (which equates to 24bits) as well as a multi order low pass buffered input circuit for noise reduction and filtering. So the hardware has got promise.... it will all come down to the peltier sensor that i'm using. Which... still need to do some more testing. Will keep you guys updated as to how the testing is going.
 
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Extremeshade

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That is a very professional looking setup! I'm still waiting for the analysis that laserbee will post on here eventually ;)
 
ARG

ARG

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random person said:
If anyone is interested, I could probably pump these out for around 100usd.
Click to expand...

I hate to be the one to say it. I like a good deal as much as everyone else...
I think 100$ is too low for these. Unless you're prepared to deal with many orders. It's easy to burn out and get tired of making these if you start selling to many for such a low price. It's happened with Moh, and it happened with the Radiant Alpha. You're going to KILL the competition if you sell these for 100$. You could still beat the competition by a sizeable margin if you decide to sell these for more, but if gives you more motivation to continue selling these.

You've got what looks like a great LPM here. For that cheap, with a screen and data logging you've got something that could potentially take over the LPM market! :D
 
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Things

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Looks great, though just curious why the actual PCB is so large? You could probably drop the cost significantly if you shrunk the PCB down to about the same footprint as the LCD, and it's look nice, neat and compact too.

Also, I'd probably look at replacing that Mini B with a Micro instead, they have proven a lot more durable than Mini :)
 
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Things said:
Also, I'd probably look at replacing that Mini B with a Micro instead, they have proven a lot more durable than Mini :)
Click to expand...

Interesting advice, i'll have to consider that in the future. All the dev boards that I work with now use mini so I have an extreme abundance of those cables.

Looks great, though just curious why the actual PCB is so large? You could probably drop the cost significantly if you shrunk the PCB down to about the same footprint as the LCD, and it's look nice, neat and compact too.
Click to expand...

PCB fab from china that i'm using has price brackets based upon max area. To go down in size in this case wouldn't have saved me money but your right, it would look more clean and neat. Next rev I plan to center the LCD on the PCB and try to make it smaller... there also a few bodges on the pcb that could use fixing (can you spot them?) This was my first board rev in which i used an oversize pcb out of laziness since the routing is easier.
 
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dpup5520

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Wow, real neat looking, i'd def be in for one at such a great price, also when I get back home i may be able to do up a linux version of the gui
 
gillza

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Awesome looking LPM. And the price is right! Could it be upgraded for 3W+ lasers in the future?
 
sinner

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Im definitely interested in this, i've been planning on buying an ophir sensor based lpm just for the fast response time.. Wonder how fast does this goes to max reading i.e: 95% or so..
 
bdgreenb

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wow awesome. I would like to be one of the first on the list to order before you get flooded :D . Once all the testing is done of course. Nice work! +1
 
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dpup5520

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Didnt even think of that yea if you got a list or something going put me down for one
 
n2stuff

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Great job. You can put me down for one. I am shocked Jerry has not put his 2 cents in yet.:D
 
jcranmer

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n2stuff said:
Great job. You can put me down for one. I am shocked Jerry has not put his 2 cents in yet.:D
Click to expand...

Shhh! If you say his name (or mention his products) three times he will show up. He is like the Canadian Candyman. :eg:
 
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