Problem with laser 200mW help!

hello everybody
recently i bought laser pointer of 200mW by ebay,after testing it-practically- i concluded that it was not
true 200mW so i sent it back and they sent me a new one which is obvious more powerful but i think that yhe beam is not very stable.
I know that because whet i first used it ,it lighted a match from 10 cm in one second,now it takes 5seconds approximately.what should i do?
ask for another one?will the beam gets worst time after time?

Maybe they just adjusted the pot and now the power is unstable. Are you sure you are in the right focus point when burning?

what is a pot?is there a standar focus point?the pointer has steady focus,i mean without moving lenses

A pot is a potentiometer. It is a component on the driver board which is basically used to alter the current going to the laser diode.

By focus point he means the point at which the beam is thinnest.

If you are in the UK I would be happy to test the power of this laser for you. I have tested other lasers before, and reviewed two, the reviews are in the review section. one is a 1W IR laser the other is an Infiniti 55 green laser.

Regards,

Adam

thanks adam anyway but i live in greece!hope that the beam wont get worst
!

I'll still test it for you if you want, it just means it's going to cost you more in shipping

Hey it's the mini-RPL - I LOVE that host!

And there's a reason for it, which might be part of your trouble ... These hosts are SUPER easy to swap modules in and out of, but the tradeoff is they like to work loose inside (the module retaining ring) and that can cause spotty performance as the module isn't making a good consistant "+" contact with the host (which carries the current).

In the pic below, you'll see the host with the module removed and retaining ring I'm talking about. In your case, I wouldn't pull the module but I would definitely unscrew the head of the laser and check to make sure the retaining ring is as tight as you can get it (it's a little difficult to work with as it just has notches for a special tool but with a little care and a flat screwdriver you should be able to tighten it up)... IF this seems to fix the problem, go ahead and put a drop of epoxy on the ring to keep it from backing off and you should be fine (make sure you put the epoxy where you can chip it off later in the case you need to service or upgrade your laser in the future).

Hope this helped - here's that pic:

thank you! very helpful pics!i once tried to unscrue but its too tight and was afraid of damaging it.Are you that if i apply force on it will just unscrew it?hope no damage will be made!

ok thanks.i will first gonna try the unscruwing below and if still i have weak beam maybe i ll send it to you!thanks anyway!

I hope it works for you! Good Luck!

its too tight screwed,wont brake it if i apply more strength?