200mW DX flashlight style green laser DOA...

Funny thing, right after I ordered it (in early June) I had a dream that I got it, turned it on, and nothing happened. Well the laser arrived today, I installed a charged battery, inserted the safety lanyard, opened the shutter, pressed the button, and something did happen. The blue LED lit up (wheee...). Unfortunately there is no sign of photon emissions (coherent or otherwise) from the business end (and yes, I am certain that the shutter is open). I even held the button down for a while, hoping that it was only a delay feature of some sort. If so, the delay exceeds 60 seconds, which is where I give up. Maybe I should have a more optimistic expression on my face when I press the button? Does it only fire when I point it toward North Korea (it was in the instructions)? The awful odor that comes out of the battery compartment does not make me optimistic.

I now have 3 lasers from DX: a 200mW paperweight, a 30mW intermittent green, and a completely useless pen type pointer. I can stand the loss on the smaller units, but the paperweight is going back for a refund. I have no use for gear that I can't trust.



gerG

Hmm.. Can you perhaps measure the current draw, by replacing the tailcap with a DMM?

Hi Igor!

Yes, it is pulling a steady 75ma.

gerG

Hahaha! 75mA! Oh my god..

Well in that case it must be some kind of electronic problems. Unlike crystal alignment this is easy to fix, but unfortunatelly, this doesn't help everyone..

It could be a loose solder joint, that opened up during shipping. Or it wasn't even fired up before shipping.

This is why i always make someone there test lasers for me first.. I force them to point the lasers through a magnifying glass for two minutes, and observe for mode hopping and abrupt brightness changes..

But i've had lasers, that were tested like this arrive, and one of them for example worked just fine, and really didn't have mode hopping problems.. The only problem was, it didn't work with the batteries in.. : Of course it also didn't work with the batteries out. But it's still the best laser i ever got from there, since it was only a contact problem. ;D


Anyway, DX actually takes care of broken stuff, and if you are nice, but demand they test the replacement for you, they might... Otherwise, i can give you my contact, and he will test it for you before shipping the replacement.

Igor, that is great advice. Making them test the thing before shipping.

The thing that really got me pissed off was the little "QC Pass" sticker. I wonder what the QC test actually involves (besides applying a sticker).


gerG

Hehe.. I think they do "test" them..

But the test involves putting a battery in, turning it on, and if green comes out, it's good..
And if the smell really is something burnt, it could have happened during that test.

Or, something could have gotten dislodged during shipping, shorted something out, and when you powered it up, it burnt itself before it could do anything..

But i'm just guessing here.. The 75mA shows there really is something wrong. And most likelly with the driver.


Does something rattle inside, if you shake it?

BTW, i know it feels bad, but i have a $1100 paper weight..

did you try flipping the battery? cause those lasers need the + side facing the battery cap, the - goes in first


edit - nvm, if the LED turned on the polarity was correct

is the led BRIGHT, or is it very dim like mine was?

i hope nothing like that happens to my dx lasers i ordered. They should test them prior to shipping them. It would save them and they buyers trouble.