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- Dec 10, 2013
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Hi all,
I have been given a few pen lasers this holiday season and I was curious to see what kind of duty cycles they would be capable of. I researched and couldn't really find any kind of solid documentation or answer so decided to test myself. I am lead to believe all three of the pens tested were bought from deal extreme - they're the Matt black type with dimples on the battery compartment, and "laser pointer" embossed on the pocket clip, with a silver tip and momentary push button.
First I tested one of the two 532nm lasers, could be anything from 5-50mW I honestly have no idea. Using a small clip to hold the button on, and using a black torch as a beam stop I noticed a few interesting things:-
-In typical DPSS fashion the beam took some time to brighten up and become properly visible - this is in a room at about 14 degrees C, so a tad on the cold side.
-using an infrared thermometer (the pistol grip type with a red laser pointer) I observed almost no heat increase across the entire barrel of the laser for a full 6 minutes of on time. The beam stayed stable the whole time.
Afterwards I unscrewed the laser and did a thorough temperature check. the battery compartment, batteries, lens and diode (pointed the thermometer through the aperture) were all no hotter than 18 degrees C.
I did the same test with the second 532 nm pointer, albeit with a faulty button so the test was harder to conclude - but I saw the same results.
I then tried with the 405nm pointer - again I have no idea of power, the beam is visible in a dark setting if you hold it up to your cheek. the 405nm, being non DPSS didn't want any time to heat up and stayed stable the entire 8 or so minutes I had it on, but rose in temperature a tad more than the DPSS greens, sitting at a barely tepid 20 degrees C at its hottest parts.
Conclusion? Firstly, I was surprised that after a minute the pointers did not start to burn up. I won't even run my SKY laser for more than a minute, never mind 6. Second, the absurdly long duty cycle makes these, at least for me, good for star pointing, provided the DPSS green manages to warm up at all on a cold, clear night. Set a clip round its button, tripod it and I could probably point objects out for long periods until the batteries died. Great for groups.
I hope this was helpful and I appreciate it won't apply to every pen laser so please don't go burning out those wildly overspec or pot modded pens.
I have been given a few pen lasers this holiday season and I was curious to see what kind of duty cycles they would be capable of. I researched and couldn't really find any kind of solid documentation or answer so decided to test myself. I am lead to believe all three of the pens tested were bought from deal extreme - they're the Matt black type with dimples on the battery compartment, and "laser pointer" embossed on the pocket clip, with a silver tip and momentary push button.
First I tested one of the two 532nm lasers, could be anything from 5-50mW I honestly have no idea. Using a small clip to hold the button on, and using a black torch as a beam stop I noticed a few interesting things:-
-In typical DPSS fashion the beam took some time to brighten up and become properly visible - this is in a room at about 14 degrees C, so a tad on the cold side.
-using an infrared thermometer (the pistol grip type with a red laser pointer) I observed almost no heat increase across the entire barrel of the laser for a full 6 minutes of on time. The beam stayed stable the whole time.
Afterwards I unscrewed the laser and did a thorough temperature check. the battery compartment, batteries, lens and diode (pointed the thermometer through the aperture) were all no hotter than 18 degrees C.
I did the same test with the second 532 nm pointer, albeit with a faulty button so the test was harder to conclude - but I saw the same results.
I then tried with the 405nm pointer - again I have no idea of power, the beam is visible in a dark setting if you hold it up to your cheek. the 405nm, being non DPSS didn't want any time to heat up and stayed stable the entire 8 or so minutes I had it on, but rose in temperature a tad more than the DPSS greens, sitting at a barely tepid 20 degrees C at its hottest parts.
Conclusion? Firstly, I was surprised that after a minute the pointers did not start to burn up. I won't even run my SKY laser for more than a minute, never mind 6. Second, the absurdly long duty cycle makes these, at least for me, good for star pointing, provided the DPSS green manages to warm up at all on a cold, clear night. Set a clip round its button, tripod it and I could probably point objects out for long periods until the batteries died. Great for groups.
I hope this was helpful and I appreciate it won't apply to every pen laser so please don't go burning out those wildly overspec or pot modded pens.