Ok, it's been a while since member "Foodson" sent me his DIY LPM for the price of shipping from the UK.
I promised to give a honest review, "really more of a opinion as I don't have the knowledge and also can't post a video"
Brought it back to this thread as all the internals, spec's, and pieces are mentioned here from knowledge LPM makers and owner's.
Most important thing to mention is that this meter has been in the same room with a stable temp and the lasers used focused wide, but not wide enough to hit the heatsink that the sensor is on, about 3 to 8 inches away. Plenty of cool down time in between any unit regardless output of high or low.
I wish I could give a good first impression but I can't.. It's kinda a crap shoot to what it would do every time when first turned on.
Ok, right of from the first start when receiving it I noticed the 10 turn Offset knob didn't do anything. The meter stood at 0.000 and wouldn't go into the negative nor positive.. Switching the LPM between on and off somewhat repeated I did and could get the Offset to work but only to the positive.
In between these turn off and on attempt's when it was on every now and then the meter would just randomly throw out numbers from 5mw to 500mw and never stabilize to 0.000 even after 5 or 10 minutes.
My first try was a 1.1W 520 that I received the same day from Lifetime. It metered at 2W at one point on this LPM but didn't stabilize and fluxuated at least + or - 200mw's.
Switched to a blue 445 M140 at 1.6A and 3 element lens and it metered at 2.8W and same fluxuation.
It would not meter or register a reading on lasers at under 200mw after these above^^^ tests after even a significant 30 minute cool down.
Other days it would register a low power green or red pen at times. Since the Offset did nothing the majority of the times, I would turn it all the way back and turn it clockwise 5 times as it's a 10 turn pot "hoping" it was somewhat "centered"??
One example was using a red pointer from Pman that he metered at 110mw, I would turn the Offset back till the this red laser finally registerd and it would hit around 180mw. Turning the offset back I could get this pen to read 110mw, "trying" maby to calibrate this lpm but it still after this it would read very high on higher powered lasers..
I knew all along this is not a way to calibrate a meter but at this point it was just a playing game.
It has a calibration pot which I haven't touched and "Foodson" "did really' try to walk me through it but in all honesty I can't understand or read schematics and circuit numbers at this point. A DIY electronic knowledged person might be able to set it and work with it but not me as I was hoping a more plug in and play LPM.
The first 3 pic's are just showing it randomly flashing numbers at one of the first turn on.
The 3rd and 4th is turning the Offset and trying to register,
Then showing a 1.1W 520 and a 1.5W reading high and still climbing.
Then a few inners..
Now if i'm doing something wrong I need to know..
I'm not here to knock Foodson
and feel like it just might work. There were a few exposed wires and felt it could of been a bit cleaner wire wise and soldering inside.
