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Green Power Safety Questions

R

robertkoa

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Sep 21, 2011
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So if you want to play around without goggles reflecting off walls etc. with a green laser- do you want to use a 5 mw or maybe 10 ?

Obviously, reflections could get dangerous at a certain point, provided there's no mirrors, what's the cutoff in milliwatts ?

Some have remarked that looking at the beam on a 30 mw gets uncomfortable, so I'm guessing for best safety it's 5mw but can this be pushed to 10 or more if there's an I(R filter and the power is verified by a pro ?

Thanks.
 
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I heard that 5mw is the limit with out goggles. I think you can use 20mw with out glasses if you treat it like a gun with the trigger taped down. I wouldn't go any higher than that.
 
Thanks for the responses- I would not be using for pets or when others are around-

But- I would be bouncing off walls and there would be reflections, no mirrors but I am experimenting with a red laser on a flashlight maybe 3- 5 mw and refracting and reflecting etc.

The Laser on the flashlight is what gave me the idea to look into getting a "real" laser.

I'm hoping to find a 5 to 10 mw in a torch larger style host ( not a pen ) with a rechargeable LIon battery- after reading your responses- leaning toward 5 mw.

I wish there was a switchable model that went from 5 mw to 20 mw, maybe with a battery switch.

It seems a little hard to find a rechargeable non pen model that's only 5 mw-

There's a few Astronomy ones- expensive and there are some made for firearm sights which are 5 or 10 mw.

From reading on here-the consensus seems to be that if you can see the beam in a lit room- you are probably at least 20 to 30 mw- and viewing the dot hurts the eyes a little. A 20 or 30 mw without goggles would be dangerous because you could easily get a 10mw reflection, right, so I can see why you suggest 5 mw.

So I may actually pay to have whatever I get checked on a meter and have an IR filter installed by a Pro from this Forum, or buy 2 inexpensive units and let the Pro keep one of them and mod/check mine once I figure out what to get.

A true 5 mw with decent lens should be pretty bright with visible beam in the dark- from what I've read- so I may take your advice on the 5 mw.

If you guys know of any 5 mw larger non pen styles, let me know- Thanks.
 
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Well i got a 50mw o-like laser pen (chromed) and i cannot see the beam on a lit room O_o. At night, however, the beam is clearly visible and i can point to stars. It does smoke those thin black plastic bags...but that could be the infra-red helping it. I doubt the module is I-R filtered :(.

On topic: It does not hurt my eyes to see the dot without my safety glassess; It's just slightly uncomfortable and i get a ghost of it if i close my eyes.
I know this is not good, as it means it leaves a mark on your retina. However, it is much the same as the mark looking at a strong LED leaves, it fades in about ten seconds.

If a pro reads this, please clarify, since i don't own nor have seen a high powered laser irl.
 
Blutquell said:
Well i got a 50mw o-like laser pen (chromed) and i cannot see the beam on a lit room O_o. At night, however, the beam is clearly visible and i can point to stars. It does smoke those thin black plastic bags...but that could be the infra-red helping it. I doubt the module is I-R filtered :(.

On topic: It does not hurt my eyes to see the dot without my safety glassess; It's just slightly uncomfortable and i get a ghost of it if i close my eyes.
I know this is not good, as it means it leaves a mark on your retina. However, it is much the same as the mark looking at a strong LED leaves, it fades in about ten seconds.

If a pro reads this, please clarify, since i don't own nor have seen a high powered laser irl.
Click to expand...

I can barely see the beam of a 500mW green laser in a well lit room... and definitely not in sunlight.

The 50mW o-likes are not IR filtered.

If you feel discomfort from looking at something... stop looking at it.

In terms of the afterimage, start worrying if it doesn't go away, or takes a long time. The afterimage is basically your eyes telling you that you've pushed them past the limit, and time is needed to recover. (Drastic oversimplification.)
 
xD yeah i avoid looking at the dot up close, and reflective surfaces.
Mmm i should get an IR filter and test it to see how many mW is actually green, maybe its 50mW green+ extra IR ;o
Thanks
 
Infinitus- could you imagine playing around with a 10mw in a fairly dark room, bouncing off white walls etc.- wouldn't the reflections be less than 5 milliwatts if you start with 10 ?

Actually the dot from the flashlight red laser ( not exactly a dot, a little more unfocused, like a thin bar ) I'm playing with goes about 300 yards at night, putting a 1 foot or 2 foot smudge on buildings- so it could actually be 5 to 10 mw, right ?
 
I play around mostly with a 65mW green that has terrible divergence all the time.

The thing is before I did play around with a 5mW greenie just to see what to expect and make sure I'm aware of all reflective surfaces. If you can't a reflection from say a regular mirror, you will be taking a hit with 90% of the original power. Of course it's impossible to judge how the beam specs would have changes. At lower powers especially, the divergence and initial beam diameter make a lot more difference.

Bottom line, until you know what you're doing stick to 5mW.

As for the red laser... power is impossible to judge like that.
 
If you are wanting a <5mw laser you can by a 30mw laser and tone it down to a tolerable level. Kind of like a reverse pot mod.
 
jeffreythe00 said:
If you are wanting a <5mw laser you can by a 30mw laser and tone it down to a tolerable level. Kind of like a reverse pot mod.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I'm thinking- get two 30 mw units and send them to a Pro on here with a meter, and have him install an IR Filter on one and dial it down to 5 mw, and he gets to keep the second one.

It would be a rechargeable unit and much more stable than a little pen type, and could be on 100% duty cycle at only 5 mw, right ?

EDIT-I think I'm going to get a 30 mw focusable green modded down to 5 mw or a little more with an IR filter- then I could unfocus it a little playing inside but if I'm outside trying to hit a low lying cloud I could tighten the beam more.
 
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