RPL in action (way above average RPL-325)

I made this new video today that shows the output power of a premium (to say the least) RPL.
I'll be adding more of these to the Optotronics gallery in the following days.

The next one of this series will show an RPL doing the "burn a hole through the film can trick".

[media width=425]http://www.youtube.com/v/ehjh3_VWXqA[/media]
Jack

See my comments in my post below. This was not a typical RPL-325.

Jack

Re: RPL in action

Very nice jack, very nice indeed

Re: RPL in action

Good to see you on youtube now, I just subscribed to your videos. I'll be looking forward to watching your videos!

Re: RPL in action

dang very nice. 325 peaking at what 470 did i see

Re: RPL in action

I didn't see it drop under around 425mW and saw it hit 470+. Hey I was barracking for it to hit 500, for a minute there I thought it was going to. That would be a very nice Laser Jack.

Re: RPL in action

Morepower said:

I didn't see it drop under around 425mW and saw it hit 470+. Hey I was barracking for it to hit 500, for a minute there I thought it was going to. That would be a very nice Laser Jack.

Click to expand...

As Murphy's laser law would have it, at the end of the video when I pointer the camera down onto the RPL, I pushed the stop button on the digital camera thus ending that video. I then looked at the meter and it was at 506mW and remained between 497 and 514 for another 20 seconds before dropping back to the 460's. This was all done with a battery that already had a good 10 minutes use on it.

I have to tell you though, these power levels are not typical by any means. I have this laser and one other that is just bit better that I even made an RPL-400 label for and it's peaked at 551 and held steady at 520mW last night on a new battery.

To give you an idea of how rare this kind of power is, I tested hundreds and hundreds of them and these two are the best of the the bunch.

The typical RPL-325 will usually average ~340mW, but sometimes go as high as 370mW.

I guess the main purpose I had in mind when making the video was to show that Optotronics isn't blowin' laser fog up it's customer's (well you what). I wanted the meter to begin at zero and show the laser in action along with the meter and thermal head all in the same frames.

Many of the companies are blowin the fog' and claiming huge output levels and either not testing them at all or only using a lasercheck at best and an lasercheck only measures peak power over a 2 second period, even if that peak only lasted a few microseconds.

If we could encourage other companies that are claiming high power output and saying that they really test their products (not that some don't, there are a few and I could name them on the digits of less than one of my hands.), to make some video's like this with their lasers in use with a real thermal based sensor.

It could help give the buyer some confidence that they're really getting what they pay for.

Oh, Morepower, one thing I wanted to say about this video is that the laser had to be warmed up a bit before getting up to this power. That's probably why it still increased when I stopped the camera. Several months ago, I believe there was a slight change in crystal or diode properties so that rather than being at their best/top power output in the few seconds after being turned on, they now behave more like bench lasers in that they take a bit of time to warm-up ( at least when they begin at a room temperature of 72F). This laser when 1st powered up from it cold state will output ~330-350mW, but will continue to climb as it warms up. To run this video, I ran it for about 35-45 seconds, then turned the laser off, reset the meter and then started the camera and turned the laser back on.

Jack

Re: RPL in action

I've mentioned this before to you Jack, but something odd I noticed with my rpl is that right off a fresh charge I get less power than after the battery has been used a bit. Leaving the battery in thr rpl armed with the LED overnight gives me good results. Don't know why but it makes a ~50-100mw diffrence in measurable power. I don;t know if that is because I have an older model with the overzealous current control or not. Just an observation.

Re: RPL in action

Damn! Your lasers seem to be powering very nice!

Re: RPL in action

Aseras said:

I've mentioned this before to you Jack, but something odd I noticed with my rpl is that right off a fresh charge I get less power than after the battery has been used a bit. Leaving the battery in thr rpl armed with the LED overnight gives me good results. Don't know why but it makes a ~50-100mw diffrence in measurable power. I don;t know if that is because I have an older model with the overzealous current control or not. Just an observation.

Click to expand...

What current adjustment level are you using?
It sounds to me like you are trying to use it on level which is over saturating the crystal, but when the battery gets discharged some, this same level may be just right.

You are only supposed to turn the current up to the point that produces the most bright output.
You can go past this a couple clicks just to check, but only using at the diode current level that produces the brightest beam. The level that works best is most determined by the battery make and mWhr capacity as well as the amount of charge on that battery.

If they are cells I provided, then level 4-5 will typically give the best results on a full charge.

Jack

Re: RPL in action

do the batteries feel warm straight out of the charger (mine ususally do)? maybe the batteries themselves need to cool down a bit before using them.

Re: RPL in action

Great video Jack ;D That is a very powerful laser. More importantly, you make the point that these beasts are very rare and you quote the typical average of you laser and not make the claim that they are all like this. You prove time and time again of your Honesty and integrity when it comes to promoting your products.

Hats off to you.

Jase

Re: RPL in action

bootleg2go said:

[quote author=Aseras link=1189029979/0#6 date=1189090733]I've mentioned this before to you Jack, but something odd I noticed with my rpl is that right off a fresh charge I get less power than after the battery has been used a bit. Leaving the battery in thr rpl armed with the LED overnight gives me good results. Don't know why but it makes a ~50-100mw diffrence in measurable power. I don;t know if that is because I have an older model with the overzealous current control or not. Just an observation.

Click to expand...

What current adjustment level are you using?
It sounds to me like you are trying to use it on level which is over saturating the crystal, but when the battery gets discharged some, this same level may be just right.

You are only supposed to turn the current up to the point that produces the most bright output.
You can go past this a couple clicks just to check, but only using at the diode current level that produces the brightest beam. The level that works best is most determined by the battery make and mWhr capacity as well as the amount of charge on that battery.

If they are cells I provided, then level 4-5 will typically give the best results on a full charge.

Jack [/quote]

I use 4. 3 cuts the measured power by half. I also have an indefinate runtime on 3 too. On 4 I get somewhere between an minute and 5 minutes before cutoff, and somewhere between 350mw and 260 mw output. Going over 4 has never made any diffrence when I measure the output. The battery I am using is the one that came with the unit. It's a salmon colored LG 2600mah ( by part # ). It has your + and - writing on it ( matches the laser so I assume it's your writing )

Re: RPL in action

Hi Aseras,
Yes, it's one of my batteries.

One tip / FYI for you.

The run time on level 4 will be longer on a fully charged cell than on one that has 10-15 minutes of use on it. This is because any shutdown that occurs is because the battery voltage has dropped down to a predefined level that triggers the battery protection circuit to protect the battery. Shutdown is not related to the diode temperature as there enough mass to dissipate the diode heat and the diode even at max diode current of level 9 is only running at 80% of it's rated sustained operating current.

The charger won't "top off" the charge on a cell until gets fairly low on it's charge.
One way to get around this is to unplug the power connector at the charger and plug it back in. It may take a couple tries, but when the charger LED turns red, it means that it's charging the cell again and when it turns green your fully charged again.

Jack

Re: RPL in action

I know it sounds weird, but If I pull the battery fresh off the charger it'll last a minute tops. If I just put it in the rpl, leave it overnight with the armed LED discharging it just a bit, I can get 5 mins out of it AND a higher power reading.

That's just what works for me, and when I get it right, I love my little rpl. It's certianly better that even my Herc, which is STILL MIA ( out for repair ) at laserglow for over a month now.

I just updated the video title and added a cooment to reflect that this was not your typical RPL-325.

Jack