100mw 520 module from techhood/ebay

[RedCowboy]

Update

I received 3 x 532nm modules from Fastech and two were around 50mw and one was about 30mw, none would pot up, they were all already maxed out and one has that issue where it starts bright then shunts down in the 1st 2 seconds, adjusting the pot doesn't help.

IMHO For the same 5 dollars and change most would be better of to buy some 303's

 

[paul1598419]

It has been a long time since I bought any of these modules from Fasttech. They used to be better than this. I never got one that would do 100 mW, but they used to get up to 80 mW without too much difficulty. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[GSS]

Update

I received 3 x 532nm modules from Fastech and two were around 50mw and one was about 30mw, none would pot up, they were all already maxed out and one has that issue where it starts bright then shunts down in the 1st 2 seconds, adjusting the pot doesn't help.

IMHO For the same 5 dollars and change most would be better of to buy some 303's

That's a bummer.
Are they still the same as the pic show's with the big blue restistor on the driver?
I had at least 3 that did over a 100mw. Talking with Pman who loved building with them and seeing for myself, they seemed to come from Fasttech set at 280mah and ran best at 430mah.
It was a good run while it lasted

 

[Alaskan]

I'm disappointed, but not surprised that happened. Anything from China is suspect to have been far over rated for the true power, unless a specific part numbered diode, and you get the diode advertised. Techhood has been one of the better sellers, but for modules, I don't trust anything they state after seeing this. I guess we have to asked them to LPM before they send the unit, but will they?

 

[RedCowboy]

Yes they have a blue resistor and come with a red and black wire attached, also you have to bypass the monentary switch unless you want to build a pen which is of course no big deal and they are still case pos

I put a battery spring on the one keeper it didn't come like that.

They also have a unit from " new wish " but I have not tried them.

Print on the boards says " Been_V3 17.11.1 "

 

[Alaskan]

The reason these folk don't mind selling underspec is few buyers have LPM's. Thanks for the photo

 

[RedCowboy]

These were actually listed as 5mw but I suspect they get batches of whatever is being run at the time, who knows.

I can say the 303's and some of the cheap 6-10 dollar greenies from flebay are much better than they used to be but I see 80mw as the top end of the cheapies, all my 100-150mw 532's I had to pay more for than 5-10 bucks so far and they all seem to come maxed out as far as the pot goes except for the 5mw direct 520/515/510/505 units, they can be turned up to about 35mw or so.

I expect in time the single mode directs will be super cheap and then I will load up for some multi beam projects I have been thinking of, but these cheap 532's don't always stay stable all that well, you don't really notice it but even in a good heat sink some of them will tend to drop in output if you run them for more than a minute or two unless you sink the boards chip and even then they are not all that consistent, not like I expect the directs will be.

--edit--

I do love the dpss lasers when they are running good and I have a couple dozen pedigreed survivors but I have several times bought a handful to make an array and been disappointed with the inconsistencies between them.

 

[GSS]

Looking at one I LED'd by shorting it out there is no BEEN V3 17.11.1 marking on mine.
The little C2 marked resistor is there but placed horizontal length wise instead of the way yours are. Other than that, it looks the same on that side.

EDIT: I just want to add that I have one doing 125mw and compared it to a 100mw module and the 125mw unit is definitely brighter by eye so i'm guessing it isn't all IR?

 

[GSS]

Some crystals are more efficient than others and they sell the more efficient crystals for more money and use them in the higher quality modules that sell for more money.

Granted the Chinese have become much more proficient and are making better modules today, but they do bin them by their range and they are not all created equal.

I expect they use 250, 500 and 1000mw 808nm pump diodes in the basic springboard 532's and I'm sure they still bin the modules according to where they are most stable at least in a quick test, but you can't really expect to get 200mw from just any 5 dollar 532nm module by pot modding it, not a stable 200mw

I have a few dozen survivors and 50-100mw is common but modules that put out a real 200mw I haven't seen many of and I paid a lot for some advertised as 200mw, again today they are better and I haven't been buying many but the 5-8 dollar units lately but I have quite a few that didn't hold up and developed issues such as coming on bright and fading fast, just how much you can push what they make today and how long it will hold up is likely proportional to the cost range of the modules and their rating, I expect modules rated as 100mw will take it much better and last longer than 5 - 30mw rated modules when pot modified for max output.

p.s. A decent heat sink is a good idea for anything modified if you want it to last and hold output, heat is the enemy.

I have thrown away most but here's some of my old 532nm boneyard.
View attachment 64784

This is the module and my added AL sink, you can't see it as it's on the other side but the driver is also sinked.

---edit---

Are these what you are using ?

It says 3v at 250ma so the pump diode can't be more than a 500mw as no driver is 100% efficient and diodes are around 50% .

$5.29 5mW 532nm Green Laser Module (3V 11.9mm) at FastTech - Worldwide Free Shipping

Probably the best deal for a 5mW 532nm Green Laser Module (3V 11.9mm) USD 5.29 as of 11/17/2019 - Free shipping worldwide on all orders. Prices unbelievably cheap.

www.fasttech.com

I just ordered some with fast shipping ( still 8-12 days ) and I will pot them up and test them in a good heat sink with the chip sinked as well and post what I get.

Red, I keep missing your Edits... I thought I had a little grave yard of 532 pens and modules but wow thats a lot..

My 200mw 532 module is actually a Aptlightingworld $60 unit that Paul purchased on a auction win a few years back.

This is the Aptlightingworld module and thats my added AL heatsink. You can't see it but on the other side the driver is also sinked.

 

[RedCowboy]

Yea the rule of thumb is something like twice the power looks half again as bright, that's why they can BS people who don't have a LPM so easily.
If someone asked me where they could buy a reliable 200mw real output 532nm module I would not know where to send them............do you or anyone know of an honest seller of 532 modules ? And even better yet an honest seller at a fair price ? I know Sanwu has the pointers but I am talking about bare brass modules.

 

[lasersbee]

The reason these folk don't mind selling underspec is few buyers have LPM's. Thanks for the photo

That's exactly the reason I designed an affordable
LPM almost 12 years ago. The cheapest accurate LPM
I could find back then was WAY out of my budget.
I was convinced that I got screwed by some Chinese
Laser seller's power specs (and rightly so) and saw
a need....

Jerry

 

[GSS]

Yea the rule of thumb is something like twice the power looks half again as bright, that's why they can BS people who don't have a LPM so easily.
If someone asked me where they could buy a reliable 200mw real output 532nm module I would not know where to send them............do you or anyone know of an honest seller of 532 modules ? And even better yet an honest seller at a fair price ? I know Sanwu has the pointers but I am talking about bare brass modules.

Like I said my 200mw will do 190+ but needs times in between.
I don't think the toy prop it's in is limiting the heat from escaping??
If you look at the somewhat recent thread of member "Slowerburn" 175mw Optotronic's pen review he mentions that a China based company called "Viasho" assembles Opto's pens.
Considering Opto's 532 pens are pretty stable maby something to look at. I googled Viasho a while back and it's a company but didn't really look at their products.
On another note if you curious, Jack from Opto told me starting with their 75mw units, they use either a .500W or a 1W pump, and all the other higher powers use a 1W pump.

Edit: How much did you pay for your suppositly 200mw modules? Were they the typical $50 to $60 units?
I'm due hopefully in the next few days for that 200mw labby I posted about that I paid $30 for. If I can power it up correctly I will see just how much it does??

 

[paul1598419]

It's nice finally having an LPM to measure these laser with, Peter. It takes all the guess work out of trying to figure out what output power you have.

 

[GSS]

It's nice finally having an LPM to measure these laser with, Peter. It takes all the guess work out of trying to figure out what output power you have.

It sure does It make's me feel kinda complete laser hobby wise.
I was kinda surprised to how off my guesses were on some units of mine.

I forgot to add that the same labby that Red started this thread about, which I believe is the exact same one I have, measured at a 53mw peak.

 

[paul1598419]

Yeah, human error is too unpredictable for guess work.

 

[RedCowboy]

..........................I forgot to add that the same labby that Red started this thread about, which I believe is the exact same one I have, measured at a 53mw peak.

So my 100mw ( advertised ) fan cooled ( LMAO ) unit from techhood did 39mw and yours did 53mw........................those are both FAILS as in ( F ) rating LMAO what a ripoff.

I have paid way too much for advertised 200mw 532nm dpss brass modules from China over the years that recently tested around 100-150mw and then I tried adjusting the pots just to find they were pretty close to max already if not at max...........I did buy one a while back that was advertised as the " real deal " and I paid around 75.00 IIRC and when it showed up the output was very weak until I adjusted it up which fixed it and it now yields around 150mw from a cold start and 125mw typical.

My O-Like 400-500mw ( died before I bought a LPM ) 532 was bright and had a nice beam but it did not live a long life and would often mode hop, I have looked at the 800mw 532 offered by JL but........ I am very happy with my single mode 520's and love my MM directs such as my NDG7475's and have had great results with NUGM03's running de-canned, that said the ready to use 30-80mw Chinese 532nm pointers are hard to beat as you can buy them for under 10 dollars but I can't see spending hundreds of dollars on dpss 532's in the half watt and up range, I would rather employ a c-lens pair on a 1w direct or use a 50 dollar 3XBE to get a tight and very bright spot far field.

I may build/buy a huge labby dpss 532 in the future with active temp control that can operate continuously, but the 60.00 - 100.00 supposed to be 200mw 532's I am done with, that money is better spent on direct single mode 520's that last and in the not too distant future I bet China will be pumping out direct pointers for dirt cheap as it's the driver and housing that cost us the most and the Chinese can mass produce those components for very little, example: I have won 30 and 50mw Osram 520nm single mode diodes at auction for 10-12 dollars and you can buy 50mw Osrams that will do 100mw for 18 dollars a pieces outright.

I did buy some of those yellow board Chinese drivers made for 520nm directs and so far that has not gone well.........I do love the Russian drivers ( LDSE500 and ACS1500SE ) and the way he sets the pots on the lowest setting, you can solder it up and tune by LPM without ever dealing with setting the driver pre assembly, I carefully find the start of the knee/foldback then back off a bit or set too what everyone says is a good output ( take note of your lens choice and it's efficiency ) if doing it this way of course.