Newish Laser from DX arrived weak

[TiCPU]

I just bought a laser from DealExtreme because I wanted a powerful laser with a big heatsink so it could stay on for a long time.
Got the package, unpacked it, plugged it on my 5 volts power supply, turned it on to get a somewhat weak beam for a 150mW laser (is it?). I tried raising the voltage in the ~9 volts range for a not so good power increase, so I though maybe one of the pot on the board was set incorrectly. I tried turning them a bit, one at a time, just to put them back in place. I couldn't get anything looking like 150mW, even a laser from a DVD burner I had was stronger.

Here are some pictures I sent DX about the laser, I guess it could have been broken in shipping:
ww w.ticpu.ne t/~jerome/pics/?path=./laser-10095

Here is a video of what it looks like:
ww w.ticpu.ne t/~jerome/pics/laser-10095/mvi_2667.avi

The DX product: ww w.dealextreme.co m/details.dx/sku.10095

Could anyone tell me how the 2 pots function exactly? Can I try something else? DX is slow to answer for now.

Sorry, first post, I can't post links it seems.

Thank you!

EDIT: Fixed a broken link.

 

[john_lawson]

Re: Wish Laser from DX arrived weak

its a newish not wish lol but for 30 bucks they're pretty descent i would be carefull on turning any pots on it though

 

[lasersbee]

Re: Wish Laser from DX arrived weak

I just bought a laser from DealExtreme because I wanted a powerful laser with a big heatsink so it could stay on for a long time.
Got the package, unpacked it, plugged it on my 5 volts power supply, turned it on to get a somewhat weak beam for a 150mW laser (is it?). I tried raising the voltage in the ~9 volts range for a not so good power increase, so I though maybe one of the pot on the board was set incorrectly. I tried turning them a bit, one at a time, just to put them back in place. I couldn't get anything looking like 150mW, even a laser from a DVD burner I had was stronger.

Here are some pictures I sent DX about the laser, I guess it could have been broken in shipping:
ww w.ticpu.ne t/~jerome/pics/?path=./Flaser-10095

Here is a video of what it looks like:
ww w.ticpu.ne t/~jerome/pics/laser-10095/mvi_2667.avi

The DX product: ww w.dealextreme.co m/details.dx/sku.10095

Could anyone tell me how the 2 pots function exactly? Can I try something else? DX is slow to answer for now.

Sorry, first post, I can't post links it seems.

Thank you!

Ohh..... Hi.... I see you're new here....  :-/

Its NOT a 150mW it is a 100mW Red that is supposed to put
out 90-100mW by the reviews I read... :

 

[TiCPU]

Re: Wish Laser from DX arrived weak

Even the laser from a DVD burner was more powerful than that, that can't be it!?
My camera is sensible to IR FWI.

See the DVD laser: ww w.ticpu.net/~jerome/pics/?path=./Laser

 

[potatorage]

Re: Wish Laser from DX arrived weak

http://5c0f91f4.urlpulse.net
http://a16305c7.urlpulse.net
A dvd burner laser should be more powerful than that,this should be 100mW max, you should not expect too much from it. DX is currently doing chinese new year break, so that's ~1 week of downtime

 

[TiCPU]

]5c0f91f4.urlpulse.net
a16305c7.urlpulse.net

Thanks for the links, I had a broken link in there (typo), I fixed it in the top post and symlinked a link to my broken one.

]DX is currently doing chinese new year break, so that's ~1 week of downtime

That's great news, I was wondering why I had no answer in about a week and half, let's see monday!

]A dvd burner laser should be more powerful than that,this should be 100mW max, you should not expect too much from it.

So you mean my little diode used for DVD burner is more powerful than the Newish with a complete driver and heatsink? I was just applying 2-4 volts to the DVD diode without any driver, it was powerful, but this one I read you're supposed to see a faint beam at least, but this one is as powerful as a normal laser pen, maybe less, won't burn anything with it.

 

[potatorage]

Re: Wish Laser from DX arrived weak

Maybe you need to turn up the pot, it might increase output a bit but you risk blowing the thing. A dvd burner is typically ~150-200mW depending on the current. Sometimes the beam is a bit hard to see, but if you use a beam stopper (black material to stop the beam and absorb excess light) it is easier to see. The heatsink will not make the lser more powerful, it will simply make it able to be pushed harder, but if the driver is not set to a high enough current, there may be less output than wanted.

 

[TiCPU]

Well, then I prefer to wait for DX answer as I played a bit with the pots, tried both of them from one side to the other, one or both, but I didn't gain anything useful by turning them. It's really weak. It's nothing greater than 5mW certainly.
I just wanted to ask here before sending another mail to DX (at least I learned they were having a break )

Thanks for your answer.

 

[potatorage]

hmmm, try measuring the current with your multimeter and play with the pots to see if you can get it higher
it's better to fix it yourself than to deal with the troubles with DX, but it is easy to deal with them

 

[TiCPU]

Technically, what is the job of the driver if I already have a steady 5volts power supply?
What are the 2 pots doing?
I read everywhere on the forum that you need a driver to operate the laser, that the laser will die without it, but never seen what is the job of the driver.

 

[potatorage]

the driver limits the current use by the diode. You may want to up the voltage, because that may be insufficient to let the driver regulate. You don't need one, it just makes the diode less likely to die.

 

[TiCPU]

Finally, they will refund me 15$ on my purchase, so I was wondering if it was possible to use that driver/heatsink for other purposes, did anyone try to use this heatsink before? It looks like the diode module is pressed inside.
For the heatsink, if it's not to get a more powerful laser, is it to get more running time from the diode then? I was considering trying to use another DVD burner diode in this, but they are really small to fit this.
Before I try anything, I didn't get an answer to why there is 2 pots and not just one, any idea?

Thanks

 

[rog8811]

The pots on those drivers are dire, I purchased 2 of these units, blew both the LD's trying to adjust them. I replaced the LD's with SenKat 16X reds, they work fine and have a pretty good beam.

Regards rog8811