Diagnosing a weak laser light

[Jian Ng]

I have a small, red laser pointer that I use to, well, point at things my arm can't reach, not powerful by any means. Unfortunately, I was caught in a rain yesterday and some water got into it. Now I've left it to dry overnight, but the light is much weaker than before, even after changing batteries.

I suspect it has been damaged, is there a way I can diagnose exactly what is wrong with it and maybe fix it somehow?

 

[Gryphon]

Water loves to corrode exposed bare metals, especially those used for battery contacts in small electronic devices. It's possible a small bit of corrosion is acting as a resistor on the battery contacts in the laser reducing power through put.

Low power pointers are cheap and easy to come by, unless you have sentimental attachment to it I would replace it. Or, if you would like to learn more about how the pointer works and what is causing the issue the only way to know for sure would be to dismantle it and see.

 

[paul1598419]

Water loves to corrode exposed bare metals, especially those used for battery contacts in small electronic devices. It's possible a small bit of corrosion is acting as a resistor on the battery contacts in the laser reducing power through put.

Low power pointers are cheap and easy to come by, unless you have sentimental attachment to it I would replace it. Or, if you would like to learn more about how the pointer works and what is causing the issue the only way to know for sure would be to dismantle it and see.

This would have been my response to your post had I seen it just a bit earlier.