Getting rid of my laser

Better late than never but I've come to the realization tonight that my laser must go....

I feel so stupid! :thinking:

Basically, I bought a laser and fog machine a while back (2010) to use at home in our attic converted room which is 20 ft length by 11 ft width...

The laser is a 30mw green DPSS and me being ignorant and stupid I didn't read the manual in full and was too eager to get it out of the box and plugged in.

I know that lasers can be harmful if stared at directly so just assumed as long as we didn't state into the laser we'd be ok - I had absolutely no knowledge of what mw measurements etc. all stood for literally until about half an hour ago having researched on the Internet, and discovering to my horror how much damage anything about 5mw can do...

Anyone that's ever come around here for a party has always been told not to directly look at the laser. But now I know that there's more to it and even if looked at for one second damage can occur.

I had an eye test about 3 months ago and my prescription had changed from -3.50 to -3.75 in both eyes, she looked at the back of my eye at the end of the examination with a torch thing (as you'll no doubt know) and the lady said that everything looked fine. So I'm just hoping nothing majorly bad has happened if at all.

I don't have any problems with me eye sight (touches wood) apart from not being able to see without glasses properly ... which has been the case since I was a child. I'm 28 now.

I feel stupid. Should I go and see an eye expert ? (i'm not sure what they're called over here in the UK) ....

America should be commended for not allowing anything about 5mw for personal use.

I see videos on youtube with people having lasers at home and I'm worried that they're ignorant of the full health risk of lasers like I was.

Thanks for hearing me get this off my chest.

You know you could always mount it on the ceiling above peoples heads... 30mW
or 300mW can be safe, but that comes down to how the 'operator' sets things up.

If you dont have the room, and the ceiling is low, stick to 5mW, you can still see the beam
easily with some smoke and the lights out :beer:

JLSE said:

You know you could always mount it on the ceiling above peoples heads... 30mW
or 300mW can be safe, but that comes down to how the 'operator' sets things up.

If you dont have the room, and the ceiling is low, stick to 5mW, you can still see the beam
easily with some smoke and the lights out :beer:

Click to expand...

Unfortunately the ceilings are sloped and quite low where they join the wall so that wouldn't really be an option ... a 5mw laser would be good but I don't think DJ lasers come in 5mw?

Your change in eyesight is probably normal due to ageing, and has nothing to do with lasers. Damage from lasers doesnt usually cause myopathy, it causes blindness in spots or overall.

What kind of laser do you have up there anyway? The way you describe it, it sounds like a moving laser show more than a fixed beam?

Please post the exact laser you have. If it is meant for DJ/Professional lighting use, it's actually likely that it's not harmful (unless you directly look into it obviously). If the total power is 30mW and it is being split into many beams, there should be no problems. It's when you have a single 30mW beam that is well focused you run into problems.

If you're truly sincere about getting rid of it, I'm sure there are many here who would be happy to relieve you of your burden.

smr said:

Unfortunately the ceilings are sloped and quite low where they join the wall so that wouldn't really be an option ... a 5mw laser would be good but I don't think DJ lasers come in 5mw?

Click to expand...

Well then, you have come to the right place.. If they are available in <5mW
I could not tell you, but you could just as easily modify your existing
laser down to a safer level to suit your needs.

Most China based green lasers in projectors have a trim pot on the driver board
to lower or raise current to the diode.

All you need to do is post what you have, some pics, and find a member locally
with a power meter to double check the output for you.

Its a project to learn from followed by the reward of an eye friendly projector
you no longer have to worry about, and get to enjoy :san:

Thank you to all of you for all the helpful replies.

I actually have three lasers but didn't feel it was necessary to say as much being that two of them are identical and the other one is in the same category of safety class (although having just realized that the red laser is a 40mw one)

The two which are the same are the Equinox Orion :



Single Green laser

Output power: Green 30mW 532nm

Produces more than 100 laser patterns

I also have a red one which was bought a few months ago and more recently... this is

Panoramic Vader Red Laser:



The Vadar Red is a superb unit operates a 40mw 532mw high density Red DPSS diode, for a sharp red beam show displays.

edit - I didn't write the descriptions of each... just copied and pasted.

smr said:

The Vadar Red is a superb unit operates a 40mw 532mw high density Red DPSS diode, for a sharp red beam show displays.

edit - I didn't write the descriptions of each... just copied and pasted.

Click to expand...

These stats are pretty nonsensical, I'm not sure how reliable the mW rating could be with a description like that. Either way like others have said, if used properly they can be very safe. Just make sure you educate yourself and learn the right way to use them.

Like Benm stated, lasers are not going to cause you myopia. That's probably from old age (you're not "old" but getting older), reading under low light, or using the computer too much without resting your eyes. Also -3.50 to -3.75 is nothing. I had -6.0 to -7.0 or thereabouts in my teens mostly because of computers, reading, etc. In your case it could even just because you felt one lens was sharper than the other; 0.25 isn't much of a jump.

You'd have a blindspot in your vision if you suffered laser eye damage. Also, you haven't described any other symptoms commonly associated with laser eye damage, such as eye floaters.

Not to make light of your concerns, nor the precautions we should all take using Class 3b+ lasers, but the laser projectors you've linked to above are relatively low power for those types of scanners. While the laser is 30mW--six times the 5mW limit for blink-reflex exposure time (0.25 seconds)--such DJ scanners generally do wide sweeps with their patterns, which reduces exposure dramatically. At any given time you're probably being exposed to maybe 1mW or less of power. This of course depends on how fast and wide the scan pattern is, and how close in proximity you are to the opening, but I expect that you were not to close to the opening and therefore not subjected to much of the energy.

We do invite you to seek out a member in the UK (where I believe you are) who can help meter your laser devices. It may be good for peace of mind, and to determine whether you want to keep your laser devices.

Addonex said:

These stats are pretty nonsensical, I'm not sure how reliable the mW rating could be with a description like that. Either way like others have said, if used properly they can be very safe. Just make sure you educate yourself and learn the right way to use them.

Click to expand...

On panoramic's website they state that the laser is "100mw 653mw high density Red DPSS diode, for intense red beam show displays"...

The retailer I bought it from decks.co.uk describe it being 40mw.

So it seems the laser is infact 100mw :\

Bionic-Badger said:

Like Benm stated, lasers are not going to cause you myopia. That's probably from old age (you're not "old" but getting older), reading under low light, or using the computer too much without resting your eyes. Also -3.50 to -3.75 is nothing. I had -6.0 to -7.0 or thereabouts in my teens mostly because of computers, reading, etc. In your case it could even just because you felt one lens was sharper than the other; 0.25 isn't much of a jump.

You'd have a blindspot in your vision if you suffered laser eye damage. Also, you haven't described any other symptoms commonly associated with laser eye damage, such as eye floaters.

Not to make light of your concerns, nor the precautions we should all take using Class 3b+ lasers, but the laser projectors you've linked to above are relatively low power for those types of scanners. While the laser is 30mW--six times the 5mW limit for blink-reflex exposure time (0.25 seconds)--such DJ scanners generally do wide sweeps with their patterns, which reduces exposure dramatically. At any given time you're probably being exposed to maybe 1mW or less of power. This of course depends on how fast and wide the scan pattern is, and how close in proximity you are to the opening, but I expect that you were not to close to the opening and therefore not subjected to much of the energy.

We do invite you to seek out a member in the UK (where I believe you are) who can help meter your laser devices. It may be good for peace of mind, and to determine whether you want to keep your laser devices.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the information. How would I go about seeking someone to help meter the devices? I have absolutely no idea where to start.

As i suspected these are scanners, which are far less dangerous then stationary laser beams, unless the scanning mechanism fails or otherwise stops. The benefit is that the beam just quickly hits your eye as it is moving around, so its not likely to expose you for the 0.25 secodns it takes to blink.

Still, if you want to be on the safe side i recommend getting rid of the lasers, or having their power reduced to <5 mW levels. This could be an extra concern for the scanner that has the red in it - 5 mW of green appears a LOT brighter than 5 mW of red, but is equally dangerous.

smr said:

Thanks for the information. How would I go about seeking someone to help meter the devices? I have absolutely no idea where to start.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure who in the UK has a meter. Perhaps put a request in on the BST forum or something?

Finally, for peace of mind you can always just ensure that wherever you've mounted those lasers is out of reach from the audience. In the US you can't do audience scanning with lasers, and the beams must be well out of reach wherever they're positioned. It's different in Europe. Really, it just depends on whether testing has been done to ensure that the lasers will in no way subject people to dangerous levels of energy.

In your case, if you mount your lasers to the ceiling or somewhere out of reach, the beam will probably be quite weak by the time it reaches any surface in your room, even if it's a specular (shiny) surface. Remember that the 5mW class 3r/a rating applies to concentrated laser beams like laser pointers, so your moving scanner will not likely reproduce such conditions unless it's broken.

I think Ped may be able to help you out. Pretty sure he has an LPM.

Laser Pointer Forums - Discuss Lasers & Laser Pointers - View Profile: ped

If you decide to actually get rid of them, shoot me a PM, I might be interested

Thank you for all of the replies guys, I've read them with much interest.

I am very keen on keeping my laser, if I can keep it safely.

I've taken the top casing off of one of the Equinox Orion lasers and these are the results...

Would I still be able to modify this?...