o-like 400mW without the lens vs. with lens

[Bluefan]

So the lens has about an 8.16% loss.
Hmm not amazing but not super bad.
Well i got some coated lenses around here i will give it a try and see if we cant find something under 3% loss

That indeed looks like the loss from an uncoated lens. Coated lenses can have below 1% loss, easy way of improving a laser.

 

[Joe Mo]

That indeed looks like the loss from an uncoated lens. Coated lenses can have below 1% loss, easy way of improving a laser.

yeah, its totally flat, I'm going to remove mine sometime today and post some pics.

thanks guys! :wave::wave::wave::wave:

 

[Solonar]

Is there an IR filter in the lense housing, if so that may be the reason for the power difference.

 

[Joe Mo]

Is there an IR filter in the lense housing, if so that may be the reason for the power difference.

90% sure the lens I removed is not an IR filter

 

[tsteele93]

I really don't think the bump in power was due to the lens though. I want to test the lens separately...

Like I said, this laser has me really confused. The previous peak was about 2 minutes in... if it wasn't getting to the "too hot" stage I would LOVE to run it for longer:undecided:

Btw, any of you guys with the diffraction tips from lazerer rifles... they also fit on this laser.

Mine is nothing like that, at about 30-40 seconds it hits a peak and then starts falling off fast. I'm starting to think I got a bum laser. Still, it is the highest mW green I own right now and it doesn't SUCK, it just doesn't do what it is supposed to do. I'm just going to have fun with it and use it for optics experiments, etc...

I have a 500mW on order, which seems silly considering this - but you guys all have over spec 400's that you love, so I'll give Susie one more try and roast them if they don't come through. I even put a note in the order sheet telling her I had an underspec 400 and I would appreciate it if they came through for me on the 500 with a good one.

I shoulda just bought an RPL and spent more $ and not worried about it. I do have an RPL-165 @ 178mW, but that isn't 500mW!

Now, back to the topic: I hit 312mW today, without that piece of glass. I was previously at 296mW with that piece of glass in place.

That would indicate that the glass isn't coting you much in the way of mW

It works out to ~6% which is actually within the margin of error for the meter.

I would say don't remove the glass unless you think it will improve your beam specs or dot specs - which it very well may.

I am going to try an IR filter in that spot and see what I get.