Modification of a 5mW laser.

Alright, so I finally got around to buying one, and it's supposed to arrive in the mail in a few days. A standard green 5mW laser.

Now, I'm sure we've all seen the videos at one point, people soldering a part of the laser (or rather, heating it), and doing other crap, which, upon searching these forums, I've found so far that I suppose that's not really the greatest idea.


Now, before I go spending a wad of cash on an expensive laser (which I will do when I get this specific wad of cash in about 6 months), I was wondering if there's an alternative. I got this green 5mW, and I could care less if I accidentally break it, so, my question(s) are:

1. Can I modify a standard green 5mW laser into something above a 50mW?
2. Can I modify it safely?
2b. If it's not safe, are there precautions I can take to make it safe?
3. Is there a good guide to look at or a good visual external source that will give me a good visual of what to do?

If not, I understand, I'll probably wind up buying an expensive one later on, I'm just curious to know if there is this cheaper, temporary alternative.


Thanks for any advice / help / insults at my bad ideas.

what brand is it?

Sorry but the simple answer is "NO!". NEVER try pot modding any laser you aren't fully ready to lose. Most new 5mW green lasers are made with components that barely put out 5mW if even. Trying to push them any further means instant death for the laser. Even the old leadlight 105s which were the good lasers for modding didn't normally put out much mre than 30mW, and even at 30mW you had to run them for only a few seconds at a time, AND EVEN then they'd usually die after a few weeks/months.

So the general idea is if you want a 50mW laser, buy a 50mW laser. If you want to ruin a 5mW laser but learn about how a laser works, by all means go ahead and try modding it

Well, that's a decent answer. I suppose I'll just fiddle with it in the dark, and wait till I get some cash saved up.

you could try finding a chinese website to get a cheap ok laser but be careful about shipping. don't ask me what website. i was in china a week ago and got one for 100rmb( $15)

awesome, what other kinda cool stuffs did u get from china?

cybob101 said:

you could try finding a chinese website to get a cheap ok laser but be careful about shipping. don't ask me what website. i was in china a week ago and got one for 100rmb( $15)

Click to expand...

What area of china? I might be going soon, and I will want to stock up on laser parts if they are super cheap.

No, you can't pot mod anything safely
Welcome though!

* pulls out his pot modded Core (20 mW and CNI 40mW) and turns them on after years of use and again enjoying the beams brightness I LOL!* I bet almost anybody could mod your average Galileo Laser!
Yeah both Still Running!  2-26-08
 Stay safe!

I tried to mod it once. It stopped working in about anhour

Can you not just replace the IR diode in a CORE 5mW with a more powerful/200mW IR diode and replace the driver with one that can run a 200mW IR diode?

Midknight said:

Can you not just replace the IR diode in a CORE 5mW with a more powerful/200mW IR diode and replace the driver with one that can run a 200mW IR diode?

Click to expand...

Nope, the crystals in the Core are too small to get much real power out of them, they are only meant for 5mW. Once you put enough IR through them they get "saturated", and they can't produce any more green out of the IR put into them.

Say you have a 125mW green pointer. Can you upgrade that?

Chances are, you would burn it up or start it mode hopping without gaining >6%.