Dangers of DX "5 mW" Green Laser "Class IIIb"

[legojohn]

Hey guys,

so of course I only started worrying about laser hazards after I already bought the damn thing, but hey, what do you expect. Anyway, it is marked as <5 mW and Class IIIb by the manufacturer, however I measured Voltage and Current, and it is actually 4V at 355 mA so about 1.42 Watts, but I have no idea how this translates to laser terms. Is there any way to get a real sense of how dangerous this thing is? I don't even wanna get tempted to play with it if it's a one hit, perma damage kinda deal. Probably already got enough light off slightly reflective surfaces already, and safety glasses won't make me feel much better.

So yeah, maybe someone with experience can tell me how bad this thing really is?

 

[swamidog]

without a laser power meter, it's impossible to say with certainty how powerful it is. you have not provided enough information to even take a stab at a guess.

the chinese are notorious for mislabeling pointers to try to fool customs. assume your pointer is not eye safe. assume reflections off specular surfaces are also not eye safe. these assumptions are most likely true.

Hey guys,

so of course I only started worrying about laser hazards after I already bought the damn thing, but hey, what do you expect. Anyway, it is marked as <5 mW and Class IIIb by the manufacturer, however I measured Voltage and Current, and it is actually 4V at 355 mA so about 1.42 Watts, but I have no idea how this translates to laser terms. Is there any way to get a real sense of how dangerous this thing is? I don't even wanna get tempted to play with it if it's a one hit, perma damage kinda deal. Probably already got enough light off slightly reflective surfaces already, and safety glasses won't make me feel much better.

So yeah, maybe someone with experience can tell me how bad this thing really is?

 

[Pman]

Need lots of description such as how bright does the beam seem in different lighting conditions? I can take an educated guess as far as how much 532nm but this will not include IR as I have one pen unit that is over 80% IR. W0uld also want a link to the unit.

 

[tttonyyy]

I measured Voltage and Current, and it is actually 4V at 355 mA so about 1.42 Watts, but I have no idea how this translates to laser terms.

Just speculation, but probably 700-800mW of IR pumped to 80-100mW of green with an invisible IR component. Is the beam visible in the dark?

Is there any way to get a real sense of how dangerous this thing is?

Can you focus it on something black and plastic? If it smokes or melts, mentally replace that with a retina and apply appropriate protection. Most cheap laser goggles that will block the green component will also pass the IR.

Take care with that thing

 

[legojohn]

This is the device:
G301 Green Laser Pointer Pen 532nm Adjustable Beam + Battery Charger - Black - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

Thinking about buying the goggles from wickedlasers, any other recommendations that ship worldwide (EU)?

 

[tttonyyy]

That'll be about 80mW. The charger I wouldn't trust with Lithium Ion cells though, too much of a fire/explosion risk. The supplied 18650 cell isn't probably up to much either (not an Ultrafire is it?)

 

[legojohn]

I think it's a surefire, definitely one of those DX brand things. Not too scared by that, since I only charge supervised on these types anyway.

Considering trashing the thing just to prevent any sort of temptation.

 

[BowtieGuy]

Thinking about buying the goggles from wickedlasers, any other recommendations that ship worldwide (EU)?

You can take a look at these, they are from "Survival Lasers" International store, so their shouldn't be any shipping problems.

 

[legojohn]

Should I get one with IR filtering? Also, the battery is an UltraFire one.

 

[BowtieGuy]

There doesn't seem to be any mention of an IR filter on the link you provided, so I'd assume that there is no filtering on that laser.
To be safe, and for any of your future laser purchases that may emit IR, it would be a good idea to get a pair of safety glasses with IR coverage.

I would also stay away from those 18650 Ultrafire batteries, if possible!
Check out this thread out before you use that Ultrafire battery:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f67/warning-see-if-you-will-ever-buy-ultrafire-after-seeing-87108.html

 

[Pman]

You linked to the unit but didn't answer any visibility questions. Most likely in the 50mW range and can even be over 100mW. Iow n a few 301 and a couple 302 and they output 50, 66, 101, 104, 106mW.
As far as the battery goes, I recently got rid of 3 ultrafire (2 black with some red/white smaller stripes at one end and 1 red). All 3 were way underweight of a real 186560 and I could tell one of them had a bad connection inside.
IF you are going to use that battery, then charge it where you don't walk away from it and check the voltage at times to make sure it isn't overcharging. That thing starts getting really warm/hot take it off the charger immediately and don't ever use use 2 of them together as you never know what kind of battery is actually inside them.
I only say this as I know lots of people will ignore the potential fire/explosion issue and use them anyways.
Oh yeah, I would be shocked to find an IR filter in that unit.

 

[legojohn]

Sorry, what kind of visiblity description could I give you? To me it's a bright green dot, dunno how else to describe it.

 

[NightExplorer96]

Sorry, what kind of visiblity description could I give you? To me it's a bright green dot, dunno how else to describe it.

Can you see the beam indoors with the lights off? Indoors with the lights on? How about outside?

-Alex

 

[legojohn]

Yes and yes, I am not going to test outside since I don't want to risk blinding someone.

 

[Pman]

It sounds like you are around the 100mW range to me.
Think you are being a bit over the top in the paranoia department. Why would you blind someone by just taking it outdoors, making sure no one's around and pointing it? I can't tell if your serious or a troll at this point.

 

[legojohn]

I don't know why'd you immediately assume I'm trolling just because I'm concerned about a device that can immediately blind someone for life simply by pointing it at them. It's not really that easy to make sure no one is around, and since I'm assuming by outdoor you didn't jsut mean shining it outside, but rather also at a distance, I couldn't make sure there's no one at the other end.