Help me to bring this laser to life again.

Hey friends I need your help

I don't know what happened with my laser pointer, It is a BudgetGadgets 50mW Green laser I bought a few days ago for $28

Product link here: $20.87 New Keychain Green Beam Laser Pointer Pen Flashlight AG-1005 - BudgetGadgets.com

It suddenly stopped working.

I don't know if the laser is dead.. I did never break it, drop it or anything, it just stopped emitting green light.

Now it only emits a red dim light (barely visible) coming from the IR filter and I thought the batteries were not working properly

This laser runs with a CR123A or 16340 batteries, the batteries are still fine, I tested them on another device (on a camera) and they're working as they should.

I was playing around with my green laser a few seconds (less than a minute) and decided to stop playing with it for a while and left it on a table, then I return back to pick up the laser and start pointing outside again and I couldn't see any green light. I looked inside it and it was emitting a very dim red light from the aperture. (I know the IR light coming from the inside may be dangerous, so I took my camera and saw the red light coming outside).

I tried removing the batteries once and putting them in again and still the same

I also tried removing the module from the housing to see if it was burned inside and there was no heat or smoke anywhere, everything is like new.

NOTE: I did not touch the little screw on the module *potentiometer* to pot mod it.

If you guys could help me on how to make this laser shine again It would be really appreciated. Otherwise, If I don't get any solutions, I will report this problem to BudgetGadgets Support Center, send them the pictures of this item and probably return it back to get a refund or get a repaired/new item.

Here are some pictures:


http://gyazo.com/0b1507fd94f700aa244e60ba5672ff76.png (Laser Label)

http://gyazo.com/4e42e482e6dc5b4203dd007018ca6aa4.png (Laser taken apart)
http://gyazo.com/8c8baf6f2c92b6004dbf890ad60f5017.png (Laser taken apart 2)

http://gyazo.com/fffd16dc52d80e430ede01544c5b13f0.png (DPSS Module front side)
http://gyazo.com/80d91cc1e23d201ae7b03bfb073515a2.png (DPSS Module back side)

http://gyazo.com/c00da549ecbd6a1e4695cbcc5c2ba5f1.png (IR light 1)
http://gyazo.com/d51023c1c30a3ae8c564485343b2bdb6.png (IR light 2)

Didn't want to add IMG tags between direct links to not make this thread huge, (Too lazy to resize images). Let me know if the links break, so I'll upload again.

Don't look into the "dim red light" ! It is infrared, those laser probably don't have a filter!
IT WILL DAMAGE YOUR EYES!

(Just my 2 CENTS)

On thread: Probably the DPSS crystals moved and are not being correctly pumped. This is somehow hard to fix ok? Wait for info from a member...

My bet is to ask for a new laser, and try to use the dead laser for something useful... or even fix it if possible...

Good luck.

Can you remove the front part of the module. Its most deffinitley miss aligned crustals. Usually they are glued to the piece of brass which is glued to the module with ir pump. Lot of points where glue can shift and knockf off the alignment. Not easy to realign but it can be done.

Leodahsan said:

Probably the DPSS crystals moved and are not being correctly pumped. This is somehow hard to fix ok? Wait for info from a member... Good Luck

Click to expand...

Thanks but I'm kinda 'new' to laser pointers to I do not know how to tell you if these crystals are un-alligned or how do they work. I'd rather not touch it because I don't know how to do it, and return the item so I could get a new one.

The only crystals I used to mess up with were the collimating lens, so I could adjust/ fix focus the green dot to make it smaller when pointing a few meters away.

Leodahsan said:

My bet is to ask for a new laser, and try to use the dead laser for something useful... or even fix it if possible...

Click to expand...

I've always wanted to customize a laser pointer by purchasing a laser module and attach it to the same housing and make it work. If I can't return this item for any reason, I might purchase a 50 or 100mW DIY Laser module from DealExtreme and put it inside the housing and make this laser shine again.

Speedy78 said:

Can you remove the front part of the module. Its most deffinitley miss aligned crustals. Usually they are glued to the piece of brass which is glued to the module with ir pump. Lot of points where glue can shift and knockf off the alignment. Not easy to realign but it can be done.

Click to expand...

Seems very hard to me since I do not have enough knowledge about this and I'm not enough accurate. I'd better not touch it I'll probably mess it up.

Looks like a "generic" green module. I have gone through about a dozen in the last year from 50 to 200mw.
They seem to just crap out and die for no reason. They are working fine, turn it off and back on a few minutes later and it doesn't work.
Most had less than an hour total use.
I got them from Laserland. Lazerer, O-like, all died.
I have two that are still working.

Now that I have this chance, I might not get this module repaired, so I'm looking forward to purchase a Do-It-Yourself high-power green module from somewhere and insert it into this housing to see if I can make it work. Can this be done?

Most are pretty close in size. It looks like you have a threaded ring pressed onto the module to screw it in. The tricky part will be getting that off and onto another one.

Lethere Belight said:

Most are pretty close in size. It looks like you have a threaded ring pressed onto the module to screw it in. The tricky part will be getting that off and onto another one.

Click to expand...

True that, If I get one I'll try my best to get that ring pulled off this module
As you said, most of these generic modules are pretty much the same in size. I'll take a look on DX Green modules, I'll make sure they're the same size.

This one here looks pretty good: http://dx.com/p/100mw-532nm-green-laser-module-3v-11-9mm-26890

Just keep in mind, those modules are underspec but other than that they are good. Also, DX is kinda slow with shipping so be prepared to wait awhile..

This one should be overspec, but it seems to not have a button... You can even ask the seller to insert a IR filter iirc.

Play safe!

Anybody know what the actual application is for the varying powered green modules?
There are LOTS of them out there.
I find it hard to believe a few Chinese guys are making these for hobbyists.
There are obviously a few different manufacturers.

lazerphase said:

Just keep in mind, those modules are underspec but other than that they are good. Also, DX is kinda slow with shipping so be prepared to wait awhile..

Click to expand...

Oh, don't worry, I'm just looking for something in the range of 50 to 100mW to be satisfied And yeah about DX shipping, they send items fast through HK post registered airmail but it usually takes 15-25 days to arrive my country. My last order from them lasted 21 days (exactly 3 weeks) to get here, didn't expect it to be faster, but I can wait patiently :wave:

Leodahsan said:

This one should be overspec, but it seems to not have a button... You can even ask the seller to insert a IR filter iirc.

Play safe!

Click to expand...

:thanks: Will take a look on it.

Thank you everyone.

Unless the accept some sort of exchange, chalk it up to a laser $ loss. Happens to all of us, welcome to the club.