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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

How to make your way overspec $5 pen focusable + new bonus section added

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Aug 22, 2013
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Pman,

Did you buy the $12.80 set or the $13.80 set?

I bought the $13.80 last week and they should be here today so I'll be able to open one up and report back.

Also I opened up one of my original greens an it was focusable but like you said there's no real point. I just wanted to mess around with the crystals and IR :)
 





Pman

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I bought the same set as you. Mine will also likely be here today and I planned on reporting immediately.

Haven't measured output yet but they are the wrong units:(
Only thing to try is ordering the other ones. These came already assembled and the good ones don't.
 
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Apr 24, 2013
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Don't put Li-Ion batteries in the wrong ones they cant take it. My 168mw 650nm is now 2mw.
 
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Don't put Li-Ion batteries in the wrong ones they cant take it. My 168mw 650nm is now 2mw.

RIP. Was it a single Li-Ion? I've been running my green module off an 18650. (How do you say this out loud? Is it Eighteen-Six-Fifty?) And it's been doing alright so far. Also I'm running two of the red drivers in parallel off of a 26650 and they are still going strong. How long did you run it?

Also, I got my shipment in and this is confusing. First I opened it up and it didn't have the second bag with chinese writing on it like the last package did. Then I held the red (just the first I opened) and thought man these feel cheap. I asked my girlfriend if I was just getting snooty with my lasers (laughing and just being silly)

Then I opened it.
DSC03985_zpsbc1431ed.jpg


Aluminum.:wtf: It's not a brass module like the other ones but it is focusable by the looks of things.
 
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Just one 10440 and maybe seven minutes total run time, no longer than 60 sec at a time.
I hate to say it but it looks like we now have a third type by the looks of your pic.
Try to unscrew the lens till it will focus at about 5 or 6 inches.
I tried with one of the ones I have and I ran out of threads.
I noticed that the greens get hot when I ran them with the 10440.
At this point I don't know what to think.
 
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Aug 22, 2013
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That was more of a PITA than I'd like to admit. I don't have a proper screwdriver. And since the round nosed pliers I had wouldn't fit all the way down I had to pull the module which I've done without issue before.

... Long story short the host is trash, the aluminum module is isolated by masking tape, the driver is a single resistor, and the button fell off...

Pics:
What the unit would look like if the button stayed on
DSC03986_zpsf4f1bf57.jpg


Buttonless, next to one of the drivers from my other reds
DSC03991_zps9de6ccc0.jpg


The aluminum module with masking tape next to the other brass module with a plactic sleeve
DSC03994_zpsb8ca3d01.jpg


I tried to focus it out to six inches but the best I could get was about 2.5 and then the lens fell off, not enough threads
DSC03996_zpsed3a549d.jpg


At least there's a spring in this one. That makes one useful part.

No power meter but it will smoke black only, doesn't sting skin. I'm not too happy about this one.
 

Tmack

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Lol just ripped one apart too, but it was the good kind. Host is also trashed . Oops. Break and learn!
 
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I opened the 650nm that died and it's basically the same construction. No driver, just a resistor with the pos lead glued to the housing. Mine is brass with a plastic sleeve. Must be the seller is getting the cheapest units he can find or the manufacturer has changed what they put out. wish I had known about the no driver thing, I could still get 85mw with two NiMH AAA batteries, but it's just dead now.
 
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Aug 22, 2013
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What really sucks is I'd like to write a bad review but it was a $4 laser that was advertised as 5mW... It's just not as good as it was before. If anything he's (she's) more accurate in their description.

CONS:
I can't use the drivers, I can't use the diodes, can't use the host,

PROS:
the button did manage to fall off so that was convenient, there was a spring behind the lens that could be useful in something
 

Pman

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Well, these are the units that he his supplier had switched over to months back and I contacted him about and he resent some from China which only took about 2 months:( but were the correct ones.
I shouldn't be spending a nickle right now but orderred the other set he sells that are about a $1 less to see what they are. Would expect them by Monday since I'm in upstate N.Y.
Would be great if they actually were different suppliers and the cheaper ones are the correct ones.
Did any of yours come with both halves screwed together? Everytime I had gotten the good ones they came in 2 pieces.
These cheaper ones may be labelled as powerful by the seller but they tend to have less output. Mine tested at 46mw (532nm), 40mw (405nm) and 116mw (650nm). The green and red are about normal but the 405nm usually comes in at around 75-90mw.
At 40mw it is really just good at lighting up GITD stuff while the 650 is plenty strong but is essentially a fixed focus unit (as in you could set it to focus to burn at a point but I wouldn't bother with trying to ake it fully adjustable. The green is what it is. Stong enough to easily still see the beam at night and a giveaway item if you allready have plenty of them.

Pete
 

Pman

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Not holding too much hope for the Amazon ones but you never know. They have to be over spec though or you would barely see any star effect. If they turn out to be correct they can easily be modified to focus. I've made several focusable that has the star cap option. The only issue is the focus may spin when you put the star cap back on.
The estimated delivery for the set I ordered is Saturday so I may get them by then.
 

Pman

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I received the 3 color set of the pens that were a $1 cheaper than the other ones that we were buying from that ebay vendor and unfortunately they look exactly line the other ones.
The 532nm was a very steady 57mw (unusual that it was very steady), the 405nm was 64mw and the 650nm is a bit of a mystery at the moment because it initially looked like it was going to hit over a 100mw (they do almost every time) but then it suddenly dropped off to no more than 1mw and it's not really a dot anymore. Going to dissect it as I could at least save the host stuff.
So, we've pretty much figured out that this isn't the vendor to buy from anymore. His stuff is no longer what we are looking for and the outputs aren't consistent as the ones he used to sell

Oh well, someone sells the right ones somewhere. We'll figure it out. At least they were only about $4 each and the 405 can be used for GITD and 532nm for stars or as a giveaway plus I'll have an empty host for a better module.
 

Pman

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Discovered something interesting.
Took apart a 650nm of one of the pens that aren't the correct ones and although it's nore of a pain, you can make them focus. What stinks is that you need to remove the module (can push it out) to unscrew the lens as the whole module will spin inside the host if you don't. Once you get it unscrewed you need to clean any of the glue that is on the female threads so it can spin.
The bigger thing that I found though was that you can replace the lens with an inexpensive one and likely get more output.
I had purchased a bunch of lenses from O-Like over 6 months ago just in case I needed a replacement while messing with units. These lenses are plastic and have the correct threads. I was very surprised when I was messing around testing the lens that the output jumped up significantly. I went from 116mw to 156mw by putting the O-Like lens in.
Anyways, just thought I would share this info.
Also, while testing the module with my variable DC power supply I found that the max output before starting to drop was just over 180mw at 3.6V:)
Pretty positive the lens I used were
http://www.o-like.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=55&products_id=117

dr2g.jpg


31e5.jpg


jcm9.jpg
 
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Pman

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Thanks LZB:)
With that lens you can focus it to wherever you want.
 




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