Actual Strength of Laser?

[Sprawl2]

Hi,

I just received a violet (405nm) laser from ebay. I've really been enjoying it so far :yh:. It was about $5. It was advertised as 5mw, however, the warning label on the laser itself stated a power of <50mw.

Here are a few of the characteristics:

The beam can be seen faintly at night.
It can be seen fairly clearly out windows, on trees across the street at night.
When I shine it on my upper lip, I can feel some heat.

What is the most likely "actual" power of this laser?

 

[Blord]

Welcome to the LPF forum.

Don't ever shine a laser in your face. That is a very bad thing.
All 405nm pen lasers on Ebay are overspec. The regulations won't allow them to sell anything above 5mW. The laser are mostly close to 50mW in power.
Becareful with that.

 

[Lase]

I just received a violet (405nm) laser from ebay.
When I shine it on my upper lip, I can feel some heat.

This has to be one of the stupidest things I have heard today.

Due to the fact that 405 is near-UV I would assume there is some likelyhood of it having harmful effects on you (please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)

Your laser is most likely overspec and can have a varying power anywhere from 5-100mW. You should get safety glasses to protect your eyes.

Lase

 

[benmwv]

This has to be one of the stupidest things I have heard today.

Due to the fact that 405 is near-UV I would assume there is some likelyhood of it having harmful effects on you (please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)

Your laser is most likely overspec and can have a varying power anywhere from 5-100mW. You should get safety glasses to protect your eyes.

Lase

I would imagine its no worse than standing in the sun, especially with only ~50mw.

Have you never shined one on your upper lip before, or on your skin at all? I have many times...

 

[Lase]

I would imagine its no worse than standing in the sun, especially with only ~50mw.

Have you never shined one on your upper lip before, or on your skin at all? I have many times...

I would have thought it worse because it's focused to a single point whereas ther suns rays are diffused.

No I have never shined a laser at my skin, other than the <1mW lasers sold in Australia, by the time I got my first >50mW laser I had joined this forum and learned a lot about laser safety. I have no need to see if it's powerful enough to burn my skin, that's not why I enjoy lasers.

Lase

 

[Fretwrecker94]

It's probably anywhere beteween 25-55mW. Mine peaks at 59mW. The other two I have are around 30 and 35 respectively. So Probably something around those powers.

 

[benmwv]

I would have thought it worse because it's focused to a single point whereas ther suns rays are diffused.

No I have never shined a laser at my skin, other than the <1mW lasers sold in Australia, by the time I got my first >50mW laser I had joined this forum and learned a lot about laser safety. I have no need to see if it's powerful enough to burn my skin, that's not why I enjoy lasers.

Lase

I don't burn myself! lol But I have shined lasers on my skin before and felt the warmth from them.

Yes, the suns rays aren't focused, but the sun emits a very large spectrum of UV light. I don't think 405nm is actually considered to be UV and I'm pretty sure the harmful UV is in the lower range of the UV spectrum anyways.

Its definitely not helpful to your body to shine a 405nm laser on your skin but I don't believe it is harmful either, especially at such low power and for such short periods of time. (Just imagine how much more dangerous it is when people use tanning beds! Much lower wavelengths, more power, longer periods of time, across the whole body)

 

[Sigurthr]

I wouldn't worry about short duration occaisional skin exposure to 405nm. Tanning beds are far, far, far worse and all over with much higher intensities and energy densities.

 

[lasersbee]

It is a bad idea to shine ANY Laser in the 20mW to 60mw range
discussed here in the direction of your face without Laser Safety
Goggles/Glasses on... That is just irresponsible...

But then again they are not my eyes.....


Jerry

 

[magmabeam]

easily above 5mw if you can see beam & feel heat with that wavelength

NOT eye safe

 

[electron]

Welcome Aboard! Don't forget to get some Laser Safety Glasses, and the search function here can be your best friend; don't forget to read the Stickies.

Be careful you only get one set of eyes....Why not purchase an LPM, you can find some cheap ones right on this forum.

Stay safe.