Hello to all, new to the forum. I had seen a thread similar to this, but the search feature won't work for me. Maybe it's my browser , I dunno. So I'm sorry for creating a new thread.
I have bought, so far, 2 cheap green pointers on eBay. I want a 5mW pointer! Which is why I purchased THESE. Upon powering either one up, which were from two different shops, they are obviously way beyond 5mW. Mmaybe 10's of milliwatts.
I know the dangers of lasers, I do have a cheapo pair of safety goggles effective for filtering green. The problem is ,they filter nearly ALL of it. These pointers are the new lm358 based drivers without an adjustable potentiometer. Does anyone know anything about these drivers and which resistor controls diode current? If I destroy it, I really don't care. It cost nothing and ,being a ham radio operator who builds his own equipment, I have plenty of parts to spare.
I thought about trying an lm317 based regulator because I have like 50 of them. I'm just not sure that is appropriate for this type of laser. I just thought I would ask the laser guys before I began tinkering myself.
Like I said, I want an eye safe 5mW and I already put an IR filter in that I removed from an old camera. High powered greenies are beautiful, but I'm just too clumsy; and I'm very nervous wielding that much power! Thanks to anyone who is kind enough to provide any suggestions.
I have bought, so far, 2 cheap green pointers on eBay. I want a 5mW pointer! Which is why I purchased THESE. Upon powering either one up, which were from two different shops, they are obviously way beyond 5mW. Mmaybe 10's of milliwatts.
I know the dangers of lasers, I do have a cheapo pair of safety goggles effective for filtering green. The problem is ,they filter nearly ALL of it. These pointers are the new lm358 based drivers without an adjustable potentiometer. Does anyone know anything about these drivers and which resistor controls diode current? If I destroy it, I really don't care. It cost nothing and ,being a ham radio operator who builds his own equipment, I have plenty of parts to spare.
I thought about trying an lm317 based regulator because I have like 50 of them. I'm just not sure that is appropriate for this type of laser. I just thought I would ask the laser guys before I began tinkering myself.
Like I said, I want an eye safe 5mW and I already put an IR filter in that I removed from an old camera. High powered greenies are beautiful, but I'm just too clumsy; and I'm very nervous wielding that much power! Thanks to anyone who is kind enough to provide any suggestions.