5mW green, possibly unfiltered. Safety advice?

[JaiNobeZ]

TL;DR: Buying some 5mW green lasers w/o laser goggles, unsure if they're filtered because everyone says different stuff. How worried should i be about IR?

Hi all
This is my first post and i always feel a little awkward, while you don't have to give me a welcome pack or whatever, if i type a little nerd-ishly using long words & such, that's why. Just thought i'd let you all know...

Now onto the good stuff.
I'm shortly going to place an order for 5 DX greenies. "True" 5mW.
DealExtreme: $10.43 True Green Laser Pen 5mW
And I have a bunch of people who haven't had any experience into lasers other than trying out my old "50mW" portable FP greenie (peice of crap, broke after 2 weeks, but 2 weeks was enough for me to be hooked). While legally i'm covered even if the lasers get taken by customs or they stare into the beam for an hour or two and make themselves blind (i make everyone that receives anything from me sign a contract saying that they won't put batteries in and as soon as they do what happens is their responsibility) i'm a little worried about what i've read about IR.

I read in another thread here that someone had a 5mW laser that output 20mW IR. If this is true, that has me a bit worried. As it is, i'm not making a great deal of profit from this buy (it's basically just a way of getting myself a laser cheaply) and if i buy a filter for each of the 5 lasers i'll be actually losing money.

Does my worrying have a sound basis? If so, any advice as to what i should do?

 

[rockz]

TL;DR: Buying some 5mW green lasers w/o laser goggles, unsure if they're filtered because everyone says different stuff. How worried should i be about IR?

Hi all
This is my first post and i always feel a little awkward, while you don't have to give me a welcome pack or whatever, if i type a little nerd-ishly using long words & such, that's why. Just thought i'd let you all know...

Now onto the good stuff.
I'm shortly going to place an order for 5 DX greenies. "True" 5mW.
DealExtreme: $10.43 True Green Laser Pen 5mW
And I have a bunch of people who haven't had any experience into lasers other than trying out my old "50mW" portable FP greenie (peice of crap, broke after 2 weeks, but 2 weeks was enough for me to be hooked). While legally i'm covered even if the lasers get taken by customs or they stare into the beam for an hour or two and make themselves blind (i make everyone that receives anything from me sign a contract saying that they won't put batteries in and as soon as they do what happens is their responsibility) i'm a little worried about what i've read about IR.

I read in another thread here that someone had a 5mW laser that output 20mW IR. If this is true, that has me a bit worried. As it is, i'm not making a great deal of profit from this buy (it's basically just a way of getting myself a laser cheaply) and if i buy a filter for each of the 5 lasers i'll be actually losing money.

Does my worrying have a sound basis? If so, any advice as to what i should do?

Don't point it in your face and you'll be fine. The IR is still somewhat collaminated, and with 5mw, its not a huge deal.

 

[Bluefan]

I have a super cheap 5mW green pointer I took appart. Everything stil works, but I'm not sure at which current it originally worked. When the diode runs at a higher current, the green gets lower, probably the diode heating up and shifting in wavelength past the absorbtion peak of the YAG. I get 1.5mW of IR at what I think would be the normal current, 6mW at what I think would be too high. this assuming the IR is of 808nm, or it could be somewhat lower. But any pointer may be different.

 

[JaiNobeZ]

Ok. Thanks. But isn't there risk (however small) that it'll produce a lot of IR? I read a post on here that someon had a 5mW that output 20mW of IR. That... would be bad... wouldn't it? And how can i tell w/o an LPM whether it's putting out a dangerous amount of IR?

 

[Bluefan]

The risk is indeed there, but without a power meter, it's very hard to know how much it is, you can only see if there's IR, not really how much.

 

[JaiNobeZ]

Ok...

So what should i do now?
Lol... is there anything i can do?

 

[Bluefan]

A: buy an IR filter
B: buy goggles covering IR
C: buy an LPM, and then know if A or B is neccesary

A is the cheapest I think.

 

[JaiNobeZ]

This is for 5 lasers btw, 4 of which i'm giving away. To buy IR filters for all 5 would mean overall i'd be losing money.

Know of any REALLY cheap solutions? lol...

 

[JaiNobeZ]

Oh yeah, also, there's some suggestions on DX that the "True" lasers (apparently genuine NewWish) have filters already. Can anyone comfirm that?

 

[swimminsurfer256]

Oh yeah, also, there's some suggestions on DX that the "True" lasers (apparently genuine NewWish) have filters already. Can anyone comfirm that?

I think if you're just looking at like 15mW and under lasers there really is nothing to worry about IR-wise. Like people said ^^^ just don't point it in your face and you'll be fine. Common sense really. Just like you don't look at the sun.

The qualm most people have with IR in 5mW is that sellers will claim the 5mW power rating when only a fraction of it is actually green light which gives the laser a really really weak appearance. No good.

 

[Jaseth]

First of all IR is only a problem with such low powered lasers if the crystals are misaligned.. if the laser works properly the IR leakage will be tiny and you should be more worried about the green output.
Secondly, and VERY importantly - the 5mW green lasers from DX are often much more powerful than 5mW and unless the laser is metered, you should be extremely cautious. People have received "5mW" models with peaks of over 55mW! I have one myself that averages 32mW. While most cheap lasers are advertised at a higher power than they actually are, the opposite is the case for cheap 5mW lasers. I believe this is because all the Newwish that are named from 5mW to 50mW are essentially the same lasers produced so cheaply that they just sell the good ones for more and the bad ones for less. Good ones often end in the 5mW section however, because they want to sell them to the USA.

Seb

 

[JaiNobeZ]

Alright. Thanks all. New issue though, i've fixed my FocalPrice "<50mW" laser. Can anyone tell me what the IR filter in a webcam looks like so i can shred it out?

 

[Bluefan]

Depends, I have one with a blue/green looking filter, but it's an old camera. A webcam I had only had a tiny IR filter, it was a coated piece of glass about 2mm in diameter. Some have them squared a few mm's but this filter but only absorbs 85% of the IR, so using 2 may be better.