CNI pen greenies HATE cold!!

Well my CNI pen greenie HATE the cold!!! LOL just like me it is crippled in the cold

first is normal dot (through 532nm glasses)
second is when laser is at about 65 F at about 30feet it has 2 perfect dots lol

Many DPSS lasers have some temperatures that will cause a mode shift. It's really important to have one that works well at the temp(s) you use it most often.

yea my greenie too, goes very dim in the cold. but if you warm it up in your hand for a bit, works great :yh:

I believe most, if not all, DPSS lasers are like this. My WL core does this, so I warm it up by holding it tight in my palm before using it. Works.

-Moptsp

Why do you have to warm it up in your hand, wouldn't pushing the button do it even faster ?

Doesn't that stress the diode and crystal set?

Thanks,
Moptsp

It wont really stress anything.

There are many reasons why they do this. There's wavelength shift, crystal and mount contraction, and the KTP crystals typically like being over 30C to work the best.

Do you not have to take temperature based expansion and contraction into consideration?

Interesting....Temperature doesn't even seem to phase my green laser....IF anything, the colder it is, the brighter it gets.

On my aquaries I have to hold it in my hand tightly or leave it on for a full minute before it warms up to full power. It is MUCH brighter after I do that. It makes me wonder if they took the output measurement during a cold minute or the second warm minute.
I NEED MY LASERBEE!!!

Same thing for my DL (CNI) lasers, both the viper 75 and the aurora does the same when they are rather cold.

Heating them up with my hands is just causing more and more power it seems like

Flaminpyro said:

Why do you have to warm it up in your hand, wouldn't pushing the button do it even faster ?

Click to expand...

Exactly this.

However, with lower power greens, I think the pump diode will not produce enough heat for it to stabilize quickly.
Using the pump to warm up the laser will not cause damage as long as you're not operating it below the specified temperature range.

My PGL loves cold weather.
Most of my smaller greens prefer warm (~75-85F) weather.

RA_pierce said:

Exactly this.

However, with lower power greens, I think the pump diode will not produce enough heat for it to stabilize quickly.
Using the pump to warm up the laser will not cause damage as long as you're not operating it below the specified temperature range.

My PGL loves cold weather.
Most of my smaller greens prefer warm (~75-85F) weather.

Click to expand...

Does the crystal contract in the cold and expand in the warmth (like most materials), changing the behaviour of the out-putted beam? Or are these kinds of fluctuations down to other factors?

If you think greens are bad, wait till you have a 593nm yellow! I had left several of my lasers in the garage and it had gotten rather cold out there, maybe 45 degrees F. So I went to show someone my yellow and how well my 450nm lights a match, and the whole "show" was a dud due to the cold storage conditions I had my lasers in. The yellow was like trying to start an old car on a cold morning - switch it on, let it shine with that weak green dot for a minute, turn it off, turn it on again, and on and on until it warms up enough to produce yellow.
You also have to watch your batteries sometime if you keep your laser in really cold place - we all know that a 140mw 450nm laser, properly focused, should easily light a match, especially one that is black. But no, the laser came on but not enough power coming from the cold batteries to light a match.

Usually, greens in my experience only have problems starting if it goes below 55F. But there's one type of laser that never seems to mind the cold - argon lasers! And better yet, running one in a cold room will warm it up very nicely!

VW said:

Does the crystal contract in the cold and expand in the warmth (like most materials), changing the behaviour of the out-putted beam? Or are these kinds of fluctuations down to other factors?

Click to expand...

Temperature variations can cause the output wavelength of the pump diode to shift a nm or so which will decrease the efficiency of the laser.
The efficiency and the wavelength the crystals "want" may shift slightly at high or low temperatures.

I'm not really sure exactly what goes on for this to happen (but I'm sure pullbangdead or someone else who knows their sh+t has the answer).

I have heard the KTP needs to heat up before working. Though I'm not sure if that's true, it makes sense.

-Moptsp