Hmm... Possible new device for laser metering?

[Chicxulub]

I used to work in the solar industry. Part of the equipment that I acquired while doing so was a Daystar Meter for measuring solar irradiance on the arrays, to determine if the power being produced by the array is correct.

But anyway. I was sitting at my desk this afternoon, piddling around with the only two laser that I have and can presently find... my <5mw APC Leadlight 532, and my custom one off 405 Flexdrive Proof of Concept by Dr. Lava. On a random whim, I decided to put both lasers on the Daystar, and much to my surprise, it metered the lasers EXACTLY where one would expect them to be.

The APC Leadlight will spike to 6-7mW when first turned on before settling to an average of 4mW, occasionally rising to 5 and occasionally dropping to 3. In other words, exactly as expected.

The 405 Flexdrive was sold to me as being 20mW, and in testing, the range is 21-23, modally 22. Again, exactly as expected.

Unfortunately, I do not have any more lasers to proof this hypothesis at present, but I have a >50mW 637 Viper coming from CNI/Dragon as we speak. I suppose that it could provide valuable data for proofing this concept.

Does this sound legit to my fellow laser fiends?

Pics:

 

[diachi]

Hmm, I'm not so sure - it's more expensive than the LaserBee A ($158 vs $130), which goes up to two watts and uses a thermopile sensor, thus is going to be more accurate across a wider range of wavelengths. I imagine two watts in a focused beam would cook the sensor on this thing too.

Hell, the LaserBee model AX is only $2 more expensive and that goes to 3.1W.

It'd be interesting to see what results you get with an unfiltered 532nm laser (Such as one of the 303 units) - Optical LPMs tend to go a little flakey with the stray IR. Although maybe this won't. Would be worth seeing how much power it can handle and how accurate it is across multiple wavelengths.

 

[Chicxulub]

I'm mostly curious about it myself in the regard that I already happen to have it, and hopefully it'll provide accurate readings on the types of low powered lasers in which I am interested. I'm not intending to bump cheaper, more ideally suited products! lol

It is highly unlikely that I'll ever own anything over 100mW, so I'm hoping that this thing will prove ideal for me.

I'm hoping for feedback from those of you who have lots of experience with metering to confirm or deny that this might in fact suit my needs.

 

[diachi]

I'm mostly curious about it myself in the regard that I already happen to have it, and hopefully it'll provide accurate readings on the types of low powered lasers in which I am interested. I'm not intending to bump cheaper, more ideally suited products! lol

It is highly unlikely that I'll ever own anything over 100mW, so I'm hoping that this thing will prove ideal for me.

I'm hoping for feedback from those of you who have lots of experience with metering to confirm or deny that this might in fact suit my needs.

Ahh I see, I thought you were proposing it as an alternative to already available power meters! That makes sense then.

It'd be interesting to compare to the Viper you have on the way - that should come with accurate power readings right from DL I'd imagine, so that would give you something to compare to.

 

[Chicxulub]

Found my missing Aurora 473nm DPSS from many moons ago. This thing meters exactly as tested before. According to LG, this thing had a peak of 17mw with an average of 8mW. Unless it drops to tem01, This is essentially exactly what I'm seeing as well.

 

[Laser Chick]

^^ Aurora 473nm DPSS, That is a really nice laser to find

 

[Chicxulub]

I agree! Lol

I'm not really sure if it counts as 'lost' because I knew it was around here somewhere, but I haven't actually put eyes on it in about two years and wasn't sure where it had gotten off to. The only remaining lasers in my collection that are around here somewhere are my working Atlas Nova 635nm <5mW and my broken green Lyra and my broken 594nm Rigel. I'm pretty sure I know where the Rigel and Lyra are, but the AN 635 escapes me right now.

Edit- You're packing some serious wattage!

 

[Chicxulub]

Got my Dragon Lasers Viper 635nm 50mW. It tests a little higher than rated, but that's about as expected for a CNI laser.

 

[Gabe]

Very interesting....