DC lasers?

[DrZoidberg]

I am looking for some 5mw lasers that can be run on DC. I am messing around with trying to combine a violet, green, and red laser and then shine that onto a set of mirrors to make a cheap spirograph, does anyone know of any sites that would have any available?

 

[grainde]

DC?? Most of them run on DC...did you mean AC? :thinking:

 

[DrZoidberg]

I probably sound like an idiot as I am still learning, but I mean the kind that you plug into a power supply, I can't remember if it is AC or DC, but they look like a tube with a wire running out the back that you plug into a power supply that is then plugged into the wall. I saw them before on a site but I can not recall where it was. Sorry for a jumbled mess of confusing text, but it is hard to describe something specific when you don't fully know what you are talking about

 

[DrZoidberg]

Something like this but it only needs to make a dot and does not need to be 100mw.
3 in 1 100mW 650nm red laser module/dot ,line,cross [OL-3RED-100] - $19.99 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce

 

[grainde]

Yeah its AC from the mains. The laser you showed though runs on 5 V DC. Youll need a power supply that converts 120 V AC to 5 V DC. USB chargers run at 5 V (as do some phone chargers) and a few hundred milliamps to an amp or so. The driver in the module or laser will regulate the current. So depending on the laser or module you are using, and its max driver potential (V), you could just wire up a phone charger or similar to run your standard battery operated laser from the mains. Make sure the potential of the charger isnt too high though!:beer: