Is this laser from eBay plug and play, or does it require a driver?

[greenhouse]

Being the cheapskate that I am, I found this laser that's for an engraving machine that's seems like a pretty good deal. It's 1000mW, 405nm and says the input voltage is 4.5-5v.

LINK:
1000mW 405nm Engraving Machine Cutter Engraver Laser Head With Violet Light US | eBay

Does this likely come with driver and everything necessary to hook up to a power source?

This is a quote from the listing:

"Professional laser head with high speed, high precision and high stability"

My thought is that because it says "high stability" it might have the driver? But then again, it doesn't seem like there would be room for one in there.

I asked the seller and they didn't know, seems pretty common on eBay these days.

 

[NightExplorer96]

I wouldn't expect such a module, for that price, to be anywhere near 1W of 405. Unless im mistaken, 1W of 405 is quite pricey. CivilLasers has them listed at $45, for just the diode.

-Alex

 

[diachi]

Looks to me like it needs a driver. A driver can fit inside of the module, but just going off of the voltage rating listed on the item description, I'd say that's just the diode. Usually the modules intended for CNC have larger drivers that run off of 12V and have options for modulating the lasers output.

1W would be pushing it for a 405nm diode too, assuming it's a BDR-209 800-900mW is more reasonable. Hap makes a good point, that's very cheap for a 405nm diode that powerful. DTR sells just the bare diode for $25.

 

[paul1598419]

I would not buy from this seller. He puts the working temperature at 500 degrees C, which is preposterous. There are many inconsistencies in this profile. It is only pressed into a nickel plated brass module, which is not sufficient for engraving.

 

[Encap]

What is it you actually want to do? That module by itself isn't of any use except as a component part of something it would be used in + it probably is misrepresented as other have mentioned.

Build and engraving machine or a hand held laser?

If you want a visible laser 445nm blue is 10X more visible than 405nm and 532nm green is 100X more visible than a 405nm of same output power

 

[greenhouse]

What is it you actually want to do? That module by itself isn't of any use except as a component part of something it would be used in + it probably is misrepresented as other have mentioned.

Build and engraving machine or a hand held laser?

If you want a visible laser 445nm blue is 10X more visible than 405nm and 532nm green is 100X more visible than a 405nm of same output power

I am actually trying to use it to kill weeds. Not sure what will work better, 405 vs 445 etc. Although I suspect something lowish in the spectrum will yield best results, may have to try multiple different ones.


So none of you like this one much? Do you have any recommendations?
The idea laser would be something fairly high power that also won't break the bank.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Rivem]

I am actually trying to use it to kill weeds. Not sure what will work better, 405 vs 445 etc. Although I suspect something lowish in the spectrum will yield best results, may have to try multiple different ones.


So none of you like this one much? Do you have any recommendations?
The idea laser would be something fairly high power that also won't break the bank.

Thanks for the feedback!

If you want to kill weeds, they'll have to be really tiny, or you'll spend more time shining the laser onto them than it would take to pull them. That's unless you get something on the order of several/tens of watts.

 

[Lifetime17]

Being the cheapskate that I am, I found this laser that's for an engraving machine that's seems like a pretty good deal. It's 1000mW, 405nm and says the input voltage is 4.5-5v.

LINK:
1000mW 405nm Engraving Machine Cutter Engraver Laser Head With Violet Light US | eBay

Does this likely come with driver and everything necessary to hook up to a power source?

This is a quote from the listing:

"Professional laser head with high speed, high precision and high stability"

My thought is that because it says "high stability" it might have the driver? But then again, it doesn't seem like there would be room for one in there.

I asked the seller and they didn't know, seems pretty common on eBay these days.

Hi,
I have a 405nm diode in a full copper custom sink and focus adapter for sale. It takes 1-18650 lithium ion battery. G2 lens and at over 900+ mW's . If thats the way you want to go for a hand held unit . All are top quality components. Check out my sales tread for info.

Rich

 

[WizardG]

Plants tend to be green. A red laser might be better than violet. But if you wanna try violet get one of those from Lifetime'. They are touchy diodes and will last a LOT longer with one of his beautiful copper hosts as a heat sink.

If you decide to try red there are red diodes that will put out a lot more optical power than the violet diode. They have really crappy beam specs but they might do for killing weeds.

All that being said it would probably be faster to use one of those little torch style lighters to burn the weeds.

 

[paul1598419]

My experience with weeds is if you don't kill the roots, it will just come back in a couple of days. There are better ways to get rid of weeds than a laser.

 

[WizardG]

Perhaps the OP simply wants to burn one particular type of weed

 

[NightExplorer96]

Perhaps the OP simply wants to burn one particular type of weed

Haha. :crackup:

-Alex

 

[greenhouse]

Y'all are right, there are better ways to kill weeds. Most herbicides kill the root and all the first go around. The problem is for the organic folks, which is where crazy ideas like laser weeding come from

And killing just the foliage on a strong weed will not completely kill it. However 2 or more go arounds will usually do it.

One thing that I'm counting on is the fact that one need not turn the plant into a smoldering pile of char, all that is necessary is to wilt them and they will die (at least with flames.)

So, I was thinking it might not take much with a laser to do the same, but I don't know. Or even how much power would be needed for practicality.

 

[Encap]

I am actually trying to use it to kill weeds. Not sure what will work better, 405 vs 445 etc. Although I suspect something lowish in the spectrum will yield best results, may have to try multiple different ones.


So none of you like this one much? Do you have any recommendations?
The idea laser would be something fairly high power that also won't break the bank.

Thanks for the feedback!

What duty cycle meaning time on and time off do you expect ?

High power, long runtime and cheap don't go together.

You are much better off with weed killer from the garden store

Google " killing weeds with lasers" to get a idea of the reality of the idea.

There are real reasons in the real world lasers are not used for weed control---any of them that are effective are also very expensive.

 

[Lifetime17]

Hi,
Maybe a nice 6800 to 7 W laser build talk about power to kill weeds .

 

[Alaskan]

Maybe better to work on an automated mosquito zapper instead?