Is this up to spec?

[Hazard]

I bought this laser from rayfoss a while ago and it just came: www.rayfoss.com

When I got it, I tested it and it seems pretty good but the thing is, it can't light matches. I'm wondering if it's up to spec and if anyone else has bought this laser and had problems with it. I appreciate all the help :yh:

 

[kiyoukan]

try cleaning the lens if it looks a bit dirty but truth be know its hard to tell without a lpm maybe try other colored matches.

 

[jeffreythe00]

First off make sure your lens is clean. If you see speckling around your dot then its most likely dirty. Mark your matches with a sharpie and hold the laser very steady. If it still does not light after about 60 seconds use a convex lens (magnifying glass will work too) and put the smallest part of the beam onto the sharpied match. If it only smokes try new matches because sometime old matches get moist (or what i like to call stale) and they wont light properly. I always use brand new matches. Lastly if you cant even get smoke especially on dark surfaces your laser is probably underpowered/broken.

Let me know if any of that helped.

 

[Gryphon]

I have always found that little paper booklet matches light way quicker than wooden strike on box matches, plus you get 1000 for a buck

 

[Hazard]

Thanks for the help so far but I'm just wondering if it's underspec... I don't really mind if it can light matches unless it's supposed to be able to. I'm able to burn through black paper bags though

 

[jeffreythe00]

My nexus has a hard time with matches. Just try some of the suggested things. YES it should light matches @ 100mw. People have done it with less. I also failed to mention that fresh battery's will make a huge difference. Try to use name brand lithiums or some other name brand. Try to avoid alkaline battery's. They die really fast. I used energizer rechargables in that video. They are 1.2v each.

Here's a video I made. Your results may vary due to IR. Nonetheless you can still light matches.

http://m.youtube.com/index?desktop_uri=/&gl=US#/watch?xl=xl_blazer&v=CChHo21iVEk

 

[Hazard]

Hmm lithium huh? Is it only because they last longer or because they're stronger too?

EDIT: Whoops I've been showing you the wrong laser, http://rayfoss.com/productn.asp?ArticleID=6 that's the one I bought, it's not different from the other laser except that it's 150mW

 

[jeffreythe00]

Regular battery's especially alkalines drop below 1.5v pretty fast. Name brand battery's don't but after a while of lasing you will begin to notice a difference in power. Lithium battery's however will stay @ 1.5v untilled they are almost dead thus offering longer and better lasing. They are more expensive but I was able to get about a week out of energizer advanced 4x.

Edit. I got a weeks worth of lasing off two battery's

 

[Eudaimonium]

Edit. I got a weeks worth of lasing off two battery's

Sorry for bustin' chops but , "Batteries" is correct, what you wrote is same as "battery is" , shortened.

Anywhooo

OP, in pen style lasers it's hard to achieve great powers.
Two problems:
Batteries - AAAs can rarely supply the power needed for 150mW unit,
Second is heatsinking - 150mW module would produce aproximately 1.4 W of heat. 0.7 W of heat from the diode alone. Quite a lot.

You see, when green modules are not sufficiently heatsinked, they tend to drop in power real fast.

In order to do the matches tricks, make sure of the following :
Use the laser from cold start. It must not be warm otherwise full power will not be achieved.
Use fresh batteries. Any batts will drop their voltage with usage, hence dropping the laser's power.

Hold the laser REALLY steady. Moving it rapidly makes it impossible to light a match unless it's above 0.5W laser or something , focused to pinpoint.

And be safe with lasers!