Green laser only giving off IR?

[Yan]

Hey guys, I'm new to this forum and I'm a laser noob so please bear with me.

I have two green lasers, a 5MW fixed focus pointer (~$5) and a variable focus laser (~$25) which I do not know the MW to as the seller listed it as 2mw but on the laser it says 3000mw -_-

The thing is, both the lasers are very shoddy. When I bought them they worked fine for a few minutes but then after then green light from them became very dim and flickery, usually darker right when they are switched on and suddenly become dim and flicker. Sometimes no green is visible at all.

At night, I saw a faint red coming from the lasers. I foolishly looked into the lasers and saw a faint red glow. Later I found out that this was IR (and why my eyesight suddenly turned terrible).

I verified that it was IR by using my iPhone camera. I was able to tell that it was pretty bright. Through the camera the IR dot looked as bright as a 1MW red laser.

What is wrong with the lasers? Battery? Diode? Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. I am also looking for a fix if there is one, as I just spent a lot of my money on these lasers and I really want them to work :undecided:

Thanks in advance.

 

[Livinloud]

If you just bought them then contact the seller and request replacements. At first I thought the crystal shifted inside the laser but then read it starts off green. Could be your batteries, could be the driver over heating. Without a means of testing it, then its hard for us to tell. Replacement is your best bet

 

[Smeerworst]

Hey guys, I'm new to this forum and I'm a laser noob so please bear with me.

I have two green lasers, a 5MW fixed focus pointer (~$5) and a variable focus laser (~$25) which I do not know the MW to as the seller listed it as 2mw but on the laser it says 3000mw -_-

The thing is, both the lasers are very shoddy. When I bought them they worked fine for a few minutes but then after then green light from them became very dim and flickery, usually darker right when they are switched on and suddenly become dim and flicker. Sometimes no green is visible at all.

At night, I saw a faint red coming from the lasers. I foolishly looked into the lasers and saw a faint red glow. Later I found out that this was IR (and why my eyesight suddenly turned terrible).

I verified that it was IR by using my iPhone camera. I was able to tell that it was pretty bright. Through the camera the IR dot looked as bright as a 1MW red laser.

What is wrong with the lasers? Battery? Diode? Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. I am also looking for a fix if there is one, as I just spent a lot of my money on these lasers and I really want them to work :undecided:

Thanks in advance.

I wouldn't worry about your $30 lasers.

I would be more worried about your eye's :S

 

[Deleted member 17304]

I'd ask for a refund in your case-- you can get better ones anywhere these days.

 

[Livinloud]

yes as stated before, go get your eyes checked out. even if there is no "visible" damage right now, you could have seriously messed them up and in the future it will show up

 

[ApexProxy]

I would also suggest getting your eyes looked at after that. You could have done serious damage.

For the most part if you want a descent laser $30 is not going to get you there. Unfortunately lasers are not a cheap hobby.