Dragon Lasers 1W Spartan

[LaserLight]

Is it focusable ?

Hi Dr Sid,

Unfortunately no it is not focusable. I am hoping Dragon Lasers will bring out a compatible beam expander to fit this laser which will enable us to be able to do this. In the mean time I am using a magnifying lens to good effect.

I have some more positive news on the batteries. I was right!

I went out and brought some brand new non-rechargeable CR123s (Standard Lithium Piles)
I have metered this laser for 10 minutes now and the readings go like this.

A peak of 1080mW within the first few seconds then a dip to about 700mW in about 1:00min to 1:30min. Then a gradual recovery in the next 4-5 minutes to 1030mW-1050mW where this laser will comfortably sit for the rest of the 10minute period and beyond. I am still gently breaking this laser in and don't want to run it for more than 10minutes at the moment. This has totally made my day as I have no concerns at all with this laser now

This Laser is a real CR123 battery muncher, you chuck the best CR123s you can find at it to which it replies "That was lovely, your going to need some more of them!" I will get a battery runtime into the review at some point.

This heating issue is also resolved and the laser runs a lot cooler now and in answer to DJNY it takes about 4minutes to get warm to the touch now, I will get you an actual time tomorrow.

It turns out the batteries I was running are re-chargeable CR123s which are Li-Ion that run at 3.7volts but have a regulator on them to force them down to 3volt to match standard CR123 Lithiums that aren't rechargeable which this laser is designed to run on.

Well at the current this laser draws it was frying the re-chargeable batteries I was using. They couldn't keep up with the current demand and simply generated a lot of heat and starved the driver of voltage and current causing the power to be less than what it should be. I have now binned these batteries in favour of the non-rechargeable CR123s which run fine in this laser.

I now have to find some suitable rechargeable CR123s that can handle the current drain as this thing is going to cost me a bomb in non-rechargeable CR123s.

The first type I will be testing are the Tenergy 900mah CR123s which should be here Tuesday.

Stay Tuned

Laser Light

 

[zMd113]

I'll be buying one next week because of this awesome review! Thanks for taking the time to type about it.

 

[ICU]

Great review!!!

Looking forward to your update on battery findings.


:thanks:

 

[Asherz]

Looks like a really cool laser, I kind of like the simplistic host as well.

 

[redwoodempire]

Awesome review LaserLight thank you very much.

 

[LaserLight]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your kind words.

First of all

@ DJNY I finally manged to time how long it takes the body of the spartan to get warm at 3 minutes 30seconds it is warm to the touch around where the diode and driver sit. Then at 6 minutes the whole length of the host is warm to the touch. Hope this helps.

I have also managed to get a crude graph together. I ran a stopwatch and took the power readings off my meter at 30second intervals to produce it. This graph can be seen in the first post.

A note: The laser overflowed the meter between 4minutes to 5minutes 30seconds so the output power between these times was over 1050mW but under the peak of 1084mW. For the purpose of the graph I put the power at these times at its lowest possible (1050mW).

Please see the table I used to create this graph below:

0:30-1084mW
1:00-950mW
1:30-907mW
2:00-969mW
2:30-1013mW
3:00-1041mW
3:30-1050mW
4:00-OVERFLOW
4:30-OVERFLOW
5:00-OVERFLOW
5:30-OVERFLOW
6:00-1050mW
6:30-1050mW
7:00-1043mW
7:30-1039mW
8:00-1033mW
8:30-1031mW
9:00-1042mW
9:30-1034mW
10:00-1028mW

Batteries will not sustain this high output after 15-20minutes, I have found it varies and this is with the standard non-rechargeable CR123s. After this time the batteries can only support an output power of 600-750mW depending on how flat they are. Putting new batteries in after this while the laser is still warm results in an instant return to the power levels you can see in the graph.

This laser really likes eating through these batteries.

 

[aryntha]

That initial dip in power and then recovery is really interesting. I wonder if that's an initial heating in the diode before the heat dissipates out through the heatsink. A 10 minute duty cycle is kind of nuts for a laser of this power, but looks like they can do it.

 

[LaserLight]

That initial dip in power and then recovery is really interesting. I wonder if that's an initial heating in the diode before the heat dissipates out through the heatsink. A 10 minute duty cycle is kind of nuts for a laser of this power, but looks like they can do it.

It is odd, but I cant help but wonder if its something to do with the batteries given my previous issues with CR123 cells that weren't up to the job. I wonder if its because they are adapting to the high curent drain and then stabilise? I think the CR123s I have are right on the limit of being able to supply sufficient power.

As I say I have some Tenergys on order and have also seen that AW offer a safe chemistry CR123 cell that sustains a high discharge of 4.4amps! So they are next on my list to try if the Tenergys aren't upto the job.

LaserLight

 

[apex007]

Hi LaserLight,

Do you know if rechargeable Li Ion 3.7v RCR123A batteries are ok for use in the Spartan? Or does it have to be 3.0v?

I have the 400mw Spartan on it's way to me and don't want to fry the electronics or diode. All I have on hand are 3.7v rechargeables.

Thanks

 

[LaserLight]

Hi apex007,

Over the last two days I have been doing a lot of research into CR123 batteries. I have discovered there are alsorts of different types.

There are:

Primary Lithium Cells rated at 3.0V

Li-Ion Rechargeable cells rated at 3.7V

LiCo Rechargeable cells that are 3.7v volts but have a diode regulator to bring them down to 3.0V but can peak at 3.7v as it takes 12ms for regulation to kick in

LiFePo4 rechargeable cells that are 3.2Volts which is the same as a fully charged primary cell.

All the above have various capacities. The Li-Ions at 3.7 volts have the best capacity but since this laser takes 2 CR123 batteries you can risk over volting this laser to 7.4v and if these cells are fully charged at 4.2V you can over volt to 8.4V.

I spoke to Dragon Lasers who were unsure about the use of Li-Ion 3.7 cells and whether this Lasers driver would handle it, they advise NOT TO use them.

I also spoke to CNI directly who spoke to their engineers and they said NOT TO use 3.7v Li-ION cells in their 447nm diode lasers.

So I will say this again just to be sure DO NOT USE 3.7 LI-ION CR123 CELLS IN THIS LASER, YOU WILL DAMAGE IT. If in doubt stick to primary CR123 cells.

I have some LiFePo4 rechargeable CR123s that look safe voltage wise that I will be testing. I'll be sure to post the results here.

 

[LaserLight]

Hi again everyone,

I have updated my original post to include battery testing with this laser.

Enjoy

LaserLight

 

[romogracie]

Thanks for the very informative review.

I almost bought the the wrong Tenergy batteries, but I'm glad I waited for your updated battery info.

Hopefully my 1W Spartan arrives this week!

 

[apex007]

Thanks for looking into this LaserLight, much appreciated!

I ordered the same 3.0v 900ma Tenergy CR123As and will just use them rather than the 3.7v Ultrafires I use in my flashlights.

Thanks!

 

[LaserLight]

Apex,

Please be careful here. There were two types of Tenergy batteries I reviewed.

The 3.2v 750mah LiFePo4s which were rated best and the 3.0v LiCo 900mah Tenergys that came in worst due to their poor voltage regulators.

Can you confirm which ones you got coming? If they are indeed the 3.0V LiCo voltage regulated cells at 900mah that are blue and green in colour they should be kept away from this laser as they overheat.

The ones you need are silver and yellow in colour and say LiFePo4 on them around the top.

LaserLight

 

[kcorbhv]

hi guys , im about to order either the 1w or the 400mw blue spartan from DL, i cant decide which one because of the beam being round on the 400 and it being ablob or something on the 1w, if i was to point both of these lasers at a wall 100 meters away would both the dots look pretty much the same and how much brighter would the 1watt one be?
thanks.
why wouold anyone buy the 400mw if its almost the same price as the 1watt?

also which beam would travel further just looking with your naked eye?

much appreciated.

OMgoodness. also why is this laser Spartan Series 30mW Blue Handheld Laser $699 and the Spartan Series 1W Blue Handheld Laser, Rectangle Beam is $239?? is this because its a different shade of blue?

 

[LaserLight]

Hi kcorbhv,

Unfortunately I can't comment on the 400mW version as I don't have it, but from what I have heard the beam on it has been corrected so that it looks more like a round (circular) dot that you get with most other laser pointers.

Because this laser has had its beam corrected to be circular it is only 400mW and not 1W.

To some people beam characteristics are more important than power so they would choose the 400mW version over the 1W version.

As I understand it 400mW wouldn't look all that much more dimmer than the 1W version, it would just be a tiny bit slower at burning than the 1W version.

It all comes down to what you want, do you look for power in a laser or do you look for a circular beam? (I know, it would be nice to have both )

Hope this helps