New to lasers, want to increase the power of mine!

Hello! First time poster here. I was given a green laser pointer, and I'm not sure what brand or model. There aren't and identifiable markings on it that I'm aware of.

It's a silver pen shaped tube, with chrome tips on each end. The back end unscrews to reveal the battery. I've pulled the front out with pliers, which reveals the laser, and the circuit board.

I've taken a few pictures with my digital camera, but I don't have my usb cable with me to put them on the computer. I'll get them up asap.

Anyway, I tried turning the pot on the circuit board, but it doesn't seem to affect the brightness/intensity of the beam. The screw does not tighten or loosen, it just turns forever.

I was hoping someone on here would be able to help me out. I understand the pictures would speak louder than words, I'll try to get them up.

Thanks for any help!

Re: New to lasers, want to increase the power of m

mattress said:

Hello! First time poster here. I was given a green laser pointer, and I'm not sure what brand or model. There aren't and identifiable markings on it that I'm aware of.

It's a silver pen shaped tube, with chrome tips on each end. The back end unscrews to reveal the battery. I've pulled the front out with pliers, which reveals the laser, and the circuit board.

I've taken a few pictures with my digital camera, but I don't have my usb cable with me to put them on the computer. I'll get them up asap.

Anyway, I tried turning the pot on the circuit board, but it doesn't seem to affect the brightness/intensity of the beam. The screw does not tighten or loosen, it just turns forever.

I was hoping someone on here would be able to help me out. I understand the pictures would speak louder than words, I'll try to get them up.

Thanks for any help!

Click to expand...

You won't be able to "see" the difference in the beam's brightness with a laser like this (unless you kill it). There may be a measurable difference if you had a power meter, but not a visual difference.

Peace,
dave

Re: New to lasers, want to increase the power of m

What you most likely have is a laser that has APC control or has crystals that are saturated. If it has APC control, turning that pot will do nothing. If it just has saturated crystals, turning the pot may increase the IR going into the crystals, but because the crystals are small, no more IR gets turned into green.

Re: New to lasers, want to increase the power of m

That "screw" is a potentiometer. They don't get tight or loose. Bigger pots have a stopper, where they don't have a range, but most SMD pots just turn around.

You should not be turning the "screw" without measuring the current, just because a stupid YouTube video says so.
If you were measuring the current, you could see if it is changing. It probably is, but you won't get anything out of increasing the current, except shortening the life of the diode.. Such adjustments should be done carefully. The pot is not there to be screwed with (no pun intended ). It's there for the manufacturer to set the current to the optimal level for each laser.


In most of the more powerful green lasers, where i was replacing the driver, and trying to figure out the best current (not set it higher), there was no difference in power from a certain current up. In fact, higher currents can make it drop in power faster.

But as Daguin said, you would not even see these differences without a meter.


Only lasers, that were made more powerful and adjusted DOWN can be made more powerful by turning the pot. Most of the lasers today are just set to the highest power they can produce and sorted into a power range (often badly). That's why you can't get more power out by increasing the current.

Some older 5 and 10mW lasers were made with components capable of much more, which were later adjusted to give 5 or 10mW and sold as that. There you could increase the power, but your laser is not one of those.

Re: New to lasers, want to increase the power of m

and when you put too much current into it you wont have time to turn it down, itll be goodbye diode!!

Re: New to lasers, want to increase the power of m

I'll ask the question . How much current did it draw prior to modification? How much current after or during you turning the pot?

Basic question - Asked here hundreds of times. Did you read the FAQ's before modding or posting?

Mike

Re: New to lasers, want to increase the power of m

Your just going to break your laser .

Re: New to lasers, want to increase the power of m

I destroyed everyone laser which I want to incerase power. So buy better or be very careful.