Laser Pointer power

[scoff]

Hey I Have laser pointer with max output 10mW
it can not burn anything but, I was playing with the screw inside the laser
to try add more light/power
Now the laser burn Trash bag
but can't light a match
So what is the average power to burn trash bag in mW. and the average mW to light a match, thx.

 

[ARG]

Depends on the wavelength, depends on the trash bag, depends on how large your dot was.

Impossible to estimate with reasonable accuracy, sorry.

 

[scoff]

Depends on the wavelength, depends on the trash bag, depends on how large your dot was.

Impossible to estimate with reasonable accuracy, sorry.

532NM dot is good strong. simply black trash bag.

 

[ARG]

That's not the point I was trying to get across.

http://laserpointerforums.com/f70/what-if-i-don-t-have-lpm-82018.html#post1178471

 

[Aleksa]

You cant assume the power of a laser diode without using a LPM.

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

You are lucky doing a pot mod
anymore. I used to keep driver current
no more than 280 mA.
HMike

 

[The Lightning Stalker]

It depends on the pump diode. With some simple math, there is a large resistor on the driver board that
will give you the actual current through the diode to within 2-10% depending on the tolerance of the
resistor and your multimeter. There are a couple different diodes. Some will only do up to 300mA and
others maybe 500-600mA. More current means shorter runtime. Pay attention to heat. Pot modding
can be done, successfully, but usually there is very little gain and a risk of burning out the module.