Anyone Seen This Laser? Need Info Please?!?!

[joenobody]

Hello,
I am relatively new to lasers, (and new to this site) though I have a small background in electronics, (some 25 years ago) so I understand the basics. You guys seem to know alot of these lasers floating around, so have look at this one. It was purchased from Hong Kong for a total of 200 US. It is suppose to be a 200mw, and it has the 3.6 cr-123 re-charge. I love the build and feel of the barrel, but when lit up, it is only half as bright as another 200mw I have that is basically a P.O.S. as well. (I have no LPM) This new one will light a black match if done within the first few seconds, (But all IR, when filtering, it won't light sh#!) then it dies out to half power/brightness and shortly after that (10-15 seconds) it will split into 2-3-4 beams. A cooling off period only nets a few seconds again before it starts to split and dim. I looked down into the Diode and the lens appears to cut/cracked? Is this a normal process for these cheap lasers? Is this a P.O.S.??? Is this worth keeping and trying to fix somehow? Any help and direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Regards.

 

[joenobody]

Pic 2 of 3.

 

[joenobody]

Pic 3 of 3.

 

[joenobody]

Let's try that again, Pic 3 of 3.

 

[BlueFusion]

Not looking good. RMA if you can otherwise it _might_ be worth pulling it and rebuilding it as a labby or something. not that that would be easy.

 

[joenobody]

Thanks for the reply, What do think about that diode? Ever seen one look like that before? What would you suggest I replace it with? The seller offered to replace it. Knowing my luck I will end up with a worse one. Thus my problem at hand, should I risk sending it back for a replacement or refund, or should I try to keep it and fix it. Don't know which I should do. Thanks for your help.

 

[BlueFusion]

If you have the option to have it replaced I'd do so.

 

[Rhith]

Well with it in the condition that you say it's in I would say replace it if you can! This looks like it may even be from somewhere like boblasers which doesn't have the best reputation. Maybe get some pictures of the beam splitting? I have seen any good TEM pictures before besides our usual TEM00

 

[joenobody]

Hi,

Thanks for the input!
Below is a few pics of the beem splitting. (best as my malfunctioning Canon G2 can do) These were taken at approx. 15 feet from the laser. On initial start-up, it lit a match no problem, then within 15 seconds the brightness dropped to half and it split into two. It warmed up the case quite a bit just in that time. After cool down of one minute, it lights good for 2-5 seconds, then the same thing.

Is that cut lens I am seeing part of the diode they cut or a lens added over the diode?

What causes the beem to split?

I have seen this on many lasers and heard of this problem on many, is it a heat related issue or power problem? (Or a combo of both?)

The seller finally worte back after seeing the pics and offered to refund or replace, I am going to take the refund and eat the shipping.
Enough junk, I am going after the GB for the 200mw here. It appears to be ten times the laser this thing is!
Thanks Again! ;D

Regards, Joe

 

[joenobody]

Pic Two:

 

[Rhith]

Wow, crazy TEM modes. I haven't had any of my lasers do that. But I'm glad you're able to get a refund on the laser. Maybe see if you can push it to the limits until you ship it out and see what kind of fluctuations you can get out of it. Should be interesting enough.

 

[joenobody]

Here's a couple more cool pics, still out of focus, junk camera!

 

[joenobody]

Here's a pic where it split into 4! Usually only does two though. Notice how off center the beem is exitting?

 

[MarioMaster]

these would be great pics to add to the TEM modes sticky

 

[joenobody]

Done Deal! I posted them over there as well, hope I don't get yelled at for double posting??? :-/ Thanks for the direction to post them over there.

The Laser was sent back today, 12-17-07, they should get it back within one week. Hopefully they refund as Promised. If so, then I would at least put him on a trustworthy list, eventhough it was a cheapy.

His prices were good on other models he had, and quality was ???, but at least they worked good. On another I had from him for $125 for a 200mw-er, it cooked for minutes at a time w/ no problems.

Now he isn't showing anything and he said this Re-Charge version had went up to $250 US. You could have gotten it for $120 last month. If you got a good one, that was a decent buy I would have thought.

Who knows now what he will do. I will keep an eye on him and post anything accordingly.

Take care!
Joe

 

[gunsimon0077]

THAT LOOKS LIKE MINE FROM WWW.SCITEC.UK.COM