20mW UltraFire WF-502B Green Laser Review

[High_Octane]

I just received my 20mW UltraFire WF-502B Flashlight-Style Green Laser today, I don't have the time to do a full review just yet. But I will comment on a few things about this laser that I have noticed.

• Its a nice Grippable size
• It doesn't come with a Battery. It takes 1 x CR123A (3.0V) or 16340 (3.6V)
• I'm testing it with a Radio Shack 23-155 3.0v Lithium battery. I will have the 3.6v Tomorrow.
• Well constructed at first glance, I will get more details as I have time to tear it apart.
• O-rings on all unscrewable areas. "Water Resistant?"
• Clicker "on tailcap" is rubber covered, solid feel. Much better than the New Wish pen style crap.
• It has a healthy pocket/belt clip on it.
• The top portion screws on to the LD module, I believe it acts a a heat sink.
• The sticker is still on the wrong end and it looks like an afterthought.
• It also has a 3dQ.C. Passed sticker on it. They might actually be checking these out!
• The dot is 2-3 time larger than my core.
• The brightnes compaired to my Pot Modded core is just slightly dimmer, however I need to retest with a new battery and a 3.6 volt one as well "Coming Soon".

Overall Its WELL worth the money so far. I will update this post as time allows, and in about a week or 2 I will ship it off to SenKat for further testing and a Meter test.

 

[High_Octane]

UPDATE:

I bought a new battery, and the laser lasted about 3 min. then died!
Upon further inspection, it looks to have a New Wish Pen style LD and circuit board assembly inside, Including the pushbutton switch on the circuit board!

The body is high quality, The New Wish laser portion is CRAP!
There is nothing to support the circuit board, drop this one time and its junk.

Now its time to figure out how to get the LD assembly apart, to install my own LD and circuit board for some 200mw+ fun.

 

[SenKat]

UPDATE:

I bought a new battery, and the laser lasted about 3 min. then died!
Upon further inspection, it looks to have a New Wish Pen style LD and circuit board assembly inside, Including the pushbutton switch on the circuit board!

The body is high quality, The New Wish laser portion is CRAP!
There is nothing to support the circuit board, drop this one time and its junk.

Now its time to figure out how to get the LD assembly apart, to install my own LD and circuit board for some 200mw+ fun.

Damned sorry to hear that I was wondering if that is what the y did - just repackage the same laser

 

[High_Octane]

Well I originally purchased it to make a high powered laser anyways, I'm still planning on doing that, If I can get it apart.

My Rat Shack order came in "Components to build 5 DDL power supplies"
and 2 LD module w/adjustable focus.

All I need now is a few Phaser diodes

 

[nes_ds]

That's what I figured, just a re-cased Newish, I'm sure the same is true with the new rechargeable model.

 

[Greenie]

Well that sucks. Looks like it will make a nice host for the 200mw Red.

 

[yew.sir-name]

Hey, i've got a couple of questions.

did the laser die or did it kill the battery in 3 mins? is it waterproof? is the flashlight lense ar coated? i've read that the reflection fo the laser coming back in on itself can damage it.

 

[High_Octane]

Hey, i've got a couple of questions.

did the laser die or did it kill the battery in 3 mins? is it waterproof? is the flashlight lense ar coated? i've read that the reflection fo the laser coming back in on itself can damage it.

The LD portion died.

I didn't get a chance to water test it, but I'll bet it is. I'll maybe test that later.

The lens is clear, and I had that portion off when it when it died, So the reflection wasn't the Cause Of Death on this one..

 

[yew.sir-name]

[quote author=yew.sir-name link=1190849364/0#6 date=1190939842]Hey, i've got a couple of questions.

did the laser die or did it kill the battery in 3 mins? is it waterproof? is the flashlight lense ar coated? i've read that the reflection fo the laser coming back in on itself can damage it.

The LD portion died.

I didn't get a chance to water test it, but I'll bet it is. I'll maybe test that later.

The lens is clear, and I had that portion off when it when it died, So the reflection wasn't the Cause Of Death on this one..[/quote]

one more question. 3V or 3.6v battery?

As for the death... unlucky, i hope mine is better, it looks like a sweet liittle laser.

 

[High_Octane]

[quote author=High_Octane link=1190849364/0#7 date=1190940481][quote author=yew.sir-name link=1190849364/0#6 date=1190939842]Hey, i've got a couple of questions.

did the laser die or did it kill the battery in 3 mins? is it waterproof? is the flashlight lense ar coated? i've read that the reflection fo the laser coming back in on itself can damage it.

The LD portion died.

I didn't get a chance to water test it, but I'll bet it is. I'll maybe test that later.

The lens is clear, and I had that portion off when it when it died, So the reflection wasn't the Cause Of Death on this one..[/quote]

one more question. 3V or 3.6v battery?

As for the death... unlucky, i hope mine is better, it looks like a sweet liittle laser.[/quote]

I just put in a new CR123A (3.0V) battery, I have no idea what a 16340 (3.6V) battery is or where to find one.

 

[High_Octane]

Well I found those 3.6v Batteries. DX sells them "go figure".

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3204

 

[laserfunny]

CR123A is the same as 16340 battery.

 

[zerafiel]

Make sure you send DX a ticket about your laser dying. Dying within 3 minutes is utter crap.
They might give you a future discount if you do not want to ship it back to them.

What I think is some smart ass at DX decides to try his hand at making a laser flashlight and too the ultrafire bodies which DX probably has plenty of and got some 20mw modules from newwish or wherever and tried to mod it into the flashlight. And he did a lousy job of it probably by poor handling of the module. putting 3.6v lithium ion battery through it might be what killed it. those newwish module drivers might not be set up to take 3.6v.

You would be better off buying a good flashlight from DX and get a heat sink and mod your own module into it. $35 on a housing is not cheap IMO. Nice (ultrafire) flashlight housings with good anodizing can be gotten for ~$20 at DX. Cheaper MXDLl ones at ~$10 will do fine as well. Look at xgeek's mod. Very very pretty and cost effective.

Now if only we can get DX to sell heat sinks like those for cheap which fit so readily around laser diode modules

 

[Benm]

putting 3.6v lithium ion battery through it might be what killed it. those newwish module drivers might not be set up to take 3.6v.

I doubt it really... i have a DX20 that works fine on voltages like that - or at least doesnt die within minutes. Yours might be different, but i've heard from more people that the lower-powered DX's (20, 30) can handle a bit more voltage well.

 

[High_Octane]

Make sure you send DX a ticket about your laser dying. Dying within 3 minutes is utter crap.
They might give you a future discount if you do not want to ship it back to them.

What I think is some smart ass at DX decides to try his hand at making a laser flashlight and too the ultrafire bodies which DX probably has plenty of and got some 20mw modules from newwish or wherever and tried to mod it into the flashlight. And he did a lousy job of it probably by poor handling of the module. putting 3.6v lithium ion battery through it might be what killed it. those newwish module drivers might not be set up to take 3.6v.

You would be better off buying a good flashlight from DX and get a heat sink and mod your own module into it. $35 on a housing is not cheap IMO. Nice (ultrafire) flashlight housings with good anodizing can be gotten for ~$20 at DX. Cheaper MXDLl ones at ~$10 will do fine as well. Look at xgeek's mod. Very very pretty and cost effective.

Now if only we can get DX to sell heat sinks like those for cheap which fit so readily around laser diode modules

I sent repeated e-mails about my DX200mw laser, it would constantly fluctuate power and it always had 2 dots in the beam and was no where near the 200mw power, all they would offer me was 18.00 off my next purchase!?? Like I'm going to drop another 130.00 for another POS.

The UltraFire housing on my DX20mw is a great candidate for building my own high powered laser, I'm in the process of disassembly without damaging it right now. I have all the components to build the DDL power supply and 2 Axix focusable LD modules. I will be documenting my build and will post it if its successful.

 

[High_Octane]

putting 3.6v lithium ion battery through it might be what killed it. those newwish module drivers might not be set up to take 3.6v.

I doubt it really... i have a DX20 that works fine on voltages like that - or at least doesnt die within minutes. Yours might be different, but i've heard from more people that the lower-powered DX's (20, 30) can handle a bit more voltage well.

As I stated above, I couldn't find the 3.6v version, so I was using a 3.0v battery.
When I get it apart, I may be able to determine the failure, However pointless it may be.