Lazerer lzsk 532nm 400mw issues

[PolarAZ]

Hello LPF! Believe it or not this is my 3rd lazerer 400mw "stick" laser I've owned. I've bought and sold 2 and kept this one for the long haul because It was such a well made unit to me. I bought this laser back when lazerer was the #1 reccomended company on this forum. Some 5 years ago. Long story short this one failed on me. It's not a battery issue or a tail cap issue. Either the driver or the diode called it quits. My question is; Do these lasers have an expected time where they are expected to fail? Is 5 years a respectable time for one of these high powered handheld lasers to last? And last, should I try to salvage this laser or, count my blessings a Chinese laser made it this long?

Thanks in advance!

 

[lmg]

IMO 5 years is a quite good result. The MTTF (Mean Time To Failure) for new laser diodes ranges from 10,000h to 40,000h, depending on the manufacturer.
So it all depends on the diode and how intensively you used this laser.

 

[GSS]

Polar, probably count your blessings How much did you pay for it if you don't mind?
I really don't see it being 400mw in that host, did you ever have it metered?
In 5 years these 532's have come down alot and even a top notch Jetlaser is around $179 for 200 to 300mw
I would try to make something in the mean time in that dead host, if I think its like my "Laserlands" unit..

Img, who are you as I see you registered 4 years ago? and it would be nice to make a welcome post..

 

[Richie89]

Polar, probably count your blessings How much did you pay for it if you don't mind?
I really don't see it being 400mw in that host, did you ever have it metered?
In 5 years these 532's have come down alot and even a top notch Jetlaser is around $179 for 200 to 300mw
I would try to make something in the mean time in that dead host, if I think its like my "Laserlands" unit..

Img, who are you as I see you registered 4 years ago? and it would be nice to make a welcome post..

yeah building a new laser out of that host would be fun
I was wondering the same about this mysterious Img. lol!

 

[Gazen]

5 years is pretty good for a chinese laser. Have you tested the current draw? That could show you if its a dead driver or diode.

Edit: Oh, it's a 532nm. In that case, I would just find a new one to put in, it's not easy to replace the pump diode with those chinese modules.

 

[PolarAZ]

This is all super helpful! Thanks everybody. I ordered a jetlasers 520nm 1W pl-e mini the day this went down. Getting back into the hobby after 4-5 years has been REALLY sweet. Everything is cheaper and much more powerful. This was metered right around 440mw on my buddies lpm. I paid in the ballpark of $350 for this laser. Laserer.com doesn't appear to be in business any more, but all 3 units I bought from them were slightly overspec.

 

[Gazen]

This is all super helpful! Thanks everybody. I ordered a jetlasers 520nm 1W pl-e mini the day this went down. Getting back into the hobby after 4-5 years has been REALLY sweet. Everything is cheaper and much more powerful. This was metered right around 440mw on my buddies lpm. I paid in the ballpark of $350 for this laser. Laserer.com doesn't appear to be in business any more, but all 3 units I bought from them were slightly overspec.

Jetlasers is a great choice, the 1W will be a monster. I have a 465nm and the built quality and focus are awesome.

I'll be waiting for a review with lots of beam pics

 

[Encap]

This is all super helpful! Thanks everybody. I ordered a jetlasers 520nm 1W pl-e mini the day this went down. Getting back into the hobby after 4-5 years has been REALLY sweet. Everything is cheaper and much more powerful. This was metered right around 440mw on my buddies lpm. I paid in the ballpark of $350 for this laser. Laserer.com doesn't appear to be in business any more, but all 3 units I bought from them were slightly overspec.

Great choice the PL-E Mini----great high quality laser.

yeah building a new laser out of that host would be fun
I was wondering the same about this mysterious Img. lol!

That's because Img only posts once every 4 years on Feb 29/Leap Year in the alternate universe he is from. lol

Img:
Would be a good idea to do a Welcome post in the Welcome sub-forum telling something about yourself and why you decided to first post after 4 years as GSS mentioned. In any case Welcome and enjoy the forum.

 

[PolarAZ]

I'll do a welcome post later today. I'll put together some good reviews as soon as I get my new goodies! I should be getting my sanwu 5w 470nm spiker next week! It's going to be an exciting month.

 

[GSS]

Ditto on the nice score on the PL-E mini
Pretty nice though that the old one metered at over 400mw.. It looks just like the same host that Laserland sells with a 520nm at 5mw for $22. Does it put out any weak IR red dot or is it completely dead? Either way keep it and since you got the laser bug back you should try to build something with it..

 

[BowtieGuy]

Welcome back to LPF, Polar. :yh:
As has been previously mentioned, good choice on going with the J/L 520nm PL-E Mini!

 

[PolarAZ]

It's a little hard to explain but I'll try my best. If it sits all day and I insert a battery, then click the tailcap, It fires up for about half a second. After it shuts off on it's own, it wont fire back up again for several hours, and when it does, it's very briefly. Output seems to be 100% but I don't have a way to measure it any more.

 

[deadshadow]

my opinion is to send it to someone to check it out,a 400mw 532 pen is a very decent laser to just throw it away,if only the driver or diode failed a fix will not be that expensive,a fix could be worth it and don't compare it to the 520nm 1w laser you bought as its different wavelength and 532will look a lot of yellow compared to 520

 

[GSS]

my opinion is to send it to someone to check it out,a 400mw 532 pen is a very decent laser to just throw it away,if only the driver or diode failed a fix will not be that expensive,a fix could be worth it and don't compare it to the 520nm 1w laser you bought as its different wavelength and 532will look a lot of yellow compared to 520

^^This^^
Member Paul hopefuly will chime in. Sounds like its getting hot quickly internaly??
First signs of diode degrading??

 

[paul1598419]

I, too, am curious if this was actually a 400 mW 532nm laser or just some more Chinese playing with output powers. Five years ago, a real 400 mW laser in this wavelength would have been quite expensive. Do you recall how much you paid for it?

 

[PolarAZ]

Somewhere between $300 and $400.