Brand new laser died, (532nm non-true 100mW, cheapo)

[krickit]

Ok, yes I have replaced the batteries.
Got the laser light on Saturday, after waiting about 7 weeks for delivery, it worked fine the first 20 or so hours I had it, but when I woke up the next morning, I noticed the power had gone down. So I replaced the batteries, but still no change. slowly over the day it went from me being able to see the beam to less than my 1mW. Now, it is completely dead. When I look into the diode(I know!) there's a red glow, even though it's green.
Have never modded a laser before - plus it's sealed, and my best guess is either something's burnt out or it's been water damaged.
URL to where I bought it - DealExtreme: $18.60 100mW 532nm Green Laser Pen (2*AAA)
-snip- this was a guess from other products I bought online.
EDIT: Checked under camera - still emitting uv light and possibly infra-red.

 

[mehra]

sad to see

 

[Trevor]

DO NOT LOOK INTO IT AGAIN. You may want to see an eye doctor; there's a good chance you have a retinal burn.

That red glow is infrared laser light; in green lasers, 808nm infrared is pumped into a crystal that lases at 1064nm, which is doubled to 532nm.

As for your laser, you're not really going to be able to fix it yourself. I'd consider buying something from Novalasers, Laserglow, Dragonlasers, or directly from CNI. You'll get a much higher quality, on-spec product.

-Trevor

 

[krickit]

Flashback to when he stared at the sun for two hours straight

Oh.
If it's emitting other wavelengths, is it the diode or the circuitry, because I have a few diodes lying around.

 

[Eudaimonium]

Diodes in those cheapo pointers are almost always overdriven, and in cases such as yours, severely overdriven, resulting in it's death in matter of minutes of usage.

Bad news is that your diode is most likely dead. Good news is that your eye is most likely fine since diode is emitting very low amount of IR since it's LEDed. *PROBABLY*

You should still go visit an eye doctor and have your eyes checked. As much as one can notice the lack of any practical applications, laser pointers ARE NOT TOYS!