eBay laser re-labeling

Has anyone ever considered making bulk purchases of over spec Chinese lasers and re-labeling them with the correct power for re-sale after testing with a lpm?

Does anyone know where you can buy/produce the laser warning labels you get on pointers.

Just purchased a selection of other "1mw" Lasers as I am curious after buying a 1mw 532 which records ~113 mw.

Would re-selling them be illegal?

yes as >1mW laser are illegal in most place.

Isaac Clarke said:

yes as >1mW laser are illegal in most place.

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That's what's funny right?

It's perfectly fine to sell a 100mw laser as long as you mislabel it as 1mw!

But if someone were to sell it with an accurate label I'm sure I would be the one getting in trouble...

Yep, i ordered 20 pointers at once from a Aussie seller noticed the labels looked funny and they had stuck a <1mW label ontop of the original <5mW label.... these stupid laws need some serious revision its just a false sense of safety, like wearing sunglasses to save your eyes from a 1 watt+ laser....

Rich99 said:

That's what's funny right?

It's perfectly fine to sell a 100mw laser as long as you mislabel it as 1mw!

But if someone were to sell it with an accurate label I'm sure I would be the one getting in trouble...

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yes that true

SyKo said:

Yep, i ordered 20 pointers at once from a Aussie seller noticed the labels looked funny and they had stuck a <1mW label ontop of the original <5mW label.... these stupid laws need some serious revision its just a false sense of safety, like wearing sunglasses to save your eyes from a 1 watt+ laser....

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It seems like people have their heads in the sand in the government and UK trading standards. I have no problem with high powered lasers. I am having a lot of fun with mine and am looking forward to fiddling and experimenting with the ones I have on the way.

I have a problem with powerful lasers being sold as toys. eBay said they didn't care and if I wanted a refund contact the seller lol. I am not sending back a 113mw laser to be resold to a kid. Will be interesting to see how powerfull the others are especially the 405s

Rich99 said:

Has anyone ever considered making bulk purchases of over spec Chinese lasers and re-labeling them with the correct power for re-sale after testing with a lpm?

Does anyone know where you can buy/produce the laser warning labels you get on pointers.

Just purchased a selection of other "1mw" Lasers as I am curious after buying a 1mw 532 which records ~113 mw.

Would re-selling them be illegal?

Click to expand...

Note that 532nm laser are DPSS lasers, not direct diode, which means IR is generated during the process that ultimately results in a 532nm laserbeam. If it's not filtered out then you could very well be measuring that power also.

Labels are readily found on Google, here is one on eBay, etc. However, might want to check on the rules of labels being FDA approved too.

EDIT: Found these pics illustrating Direct Diode and DPSS.

Yep. Common knowledge that ebay sellers mislabel their lasers to get around customs restrictions. It's problematic because then people treat their <5mw laser as a toy when really it's <100mw.

OVNI said:

Note that 532nm laser are DPSS lasers, not direct diode, which means IR is generated during the process that ultimately results in a 532nm laserbeam. If it's not filtered out then you could very well be measuring that power also.

Labels are readily found on Google, here is one on eBay, etc. However, might want to check on the rules of labels being FDA approved too.

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What is the significance of the percentage of ir being emitted?

Thanks

Razako said:

Yep. Common knowledge that ebay sellers mislabel their lasers to get around customs restrictions. It's problematic because then people treat their <5mw laser as a toy when really it's <100mw.

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As I have a week off and I can't go anywhere at the moment (and because I bothered to make the damn lpm), I have decided to buy a good selection of cheap Chinese lasers from different sellers in red/green/purple to do some general research on what is out there. Any interest on the results when they are in or has this horse already been beaten enough?

It varies from laser laser to laser, sometimes drastically. Sometimes just 2% other times half the output. I'd say about 20% on average.

Rich99 said:

As I have a week off and I can't go anywhere at the moment (and because I bothered to make the damn lpm), I have decided to buy a good selection of cheap Chinese lasers from different sellers in red/green/purple to do some general research on what is out there. Any interest on the results when they are in or has this horse already been beaten enough?

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I'm interested. More knowledge is always good in this hobby.

Rich99 said:

What is the significance of the percentage of ir being emitted?

Thanks

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It can vary based on many factors from design, construction, quality, etc. Here's an article from SPIE.

I've seen people here on LPF advertise IR filters at reasonable prices so you can measure "with" and "without". Having IR protection at 808nm and 1064nm for 532nm DPSS laser pointers is worthwhile until/unless you know it has an IR filter. Places that sell laser glasses will often offer their 'green' safety glasses that also cover IR. For example here's one at Survival.

If you have an LPM, just having two decent sets of goggles will also work just fine. Block off the green light, and what you're left with is IR. I found it easier to do testing that way, vs taping on little IR filters onto lasers. You may even be able to use the "better than nothing" goggles from my signature for that, though I'd test the goggles themselves first to make sure they work.

I don't imagine your DIY LPM is calibrated in any way?

I've also used a technique using a CCTV camera or cellphone to determine if there is IR, it won't tell you how much. If there is only a little IR, you may not see anything so be aware. I originally used this technique to compute the beam angle of various IR LEDs for another project.

With the room a little on the dark side, from 3'-4' away shine the laser onto a wall. If there is a fair amount of IR, through the camera you should see fairly distinct rings/circles around the bright green one in the center. Because of the different wavelengths the beam 'cones' spread differently through the lens. Longer wavelengths produce larger circles. Your eyes will tell you which one is from 532nm (the visible one in the center), but the cameras may also see the surrounding circles produced by IR.

If the 532nm is quite bright, it may wash out the IR circles in the image so your mileage may vary. The safety goggle suggestion for use as a filter might remedy the 532nm but make sure you don't physically damage the goggles. Cheap ones are probably plastic, don't want to accidentally burn a hole in it. And watch out for reflected light off the goggles (or any DIY lens) too.