Power Level Dropping on 50mw Amazon.com laser

[UnKnown]

I recently got a 50mw laser from microfiber products through amazon. I am very pleased with the brightness, but I am noticing that the laser peaks in brightness for about 1sec after pressing the button, then quickly drops to maybe 60-75% power. It's like there is a voltage drop(maybe AAA cant put out the wattage?) Any ideas why this is happening or how I can fix it? I understand this is a cheap laser, but I haven't heard of anyone else with this laser having this problem.

BTW im using brand new energizer lithiums and have tried several sets of batteries

Thanks for the help,

Mark

 

[laserfreak3d]

could be a number of things

could be the apc (automatic pwer controll  thats keeping the power down.
Could also be the crystals cant handle the pump power.
But could also be caused by the diode and or ktp mode hopping

cant be heat related since it happens after a second or so

mostly the problem is seen with low quality pointers

 

[ElektroFreak]

All DPSS lasers (like your green one) peak immediately after powerup and then level off after a few seconds, or minutes even, depending on the laser. DPSS lasers require a warmup phase in order to allow the temperature of all internal components to stabilize. Most manufacturers recommend a 15 minute warmup for maximum stability. Most likely there is no cure for this in your case, since the only fix involves designing and constructing circuitry to compensate for this effect. This is usually only found in more expensive lasers, and except for the most expensive lasers a short warmup is still needed for total stability.

 

[UnKnown]

so does that mean if I keep it on for 15min or so that the power would come back up?

 

[Razako]

so does that mean if I keep it on for 15min or so that the power would come back up?

No. If you do that it will probably die from overheating. It means that after the laser is fully warmed up it will be much more stable. You still won't see the high starting peak though.

 

[ElektroFreak]

[quote author=UnKnown link=1232702880/0#3 date=1232735381]so does that mean if I keep it on for 15min or so that the power would come back up?

No.  If you do that it will probably die from overheating.  It means that after the laser is fully warmed up it will be much more stable.  You still won't see the high starting peak though.[/quote]

Coherent is right. I should have been a bit more specific.. With most cheap laser pointers, there isn't enough metal to provide proper heatsinking for the green module inside. Basically, this means you'll have to live with whatever instability your pointer produces.. You could try to return it if you're not happy, but there's no guarantee that a replacement would be any better and it could easily be much worse..

 

[randomlugia]

That what you get for buying a cheapo Amazon laser... Next to no stability. :'(
Don't worry, I went through a couple before relizing I would do better saving up for a high quality laser (like the Lyra) than to keep going through cheap ones. Notice the "2 broken 5mWs" in my sig. One an Ebay, one an Amazon. Even worse, the people at Amazon claimed it was 20mW, even though it was obviously 5.

Hope you learned your lesson...

As to fixing it, you could try replacing the diode with a Stonetek 200mW 808nm diode, although I hardly think it's worth the work and it might not work.

 

[tony70516]

Yo man take my advice I also bought from amazon and microfiber products. A 50mw green and I had problems with the first one thy sent me but I called them and they were very willing to help soni shipped my laser back to them and in about a week and a half they sent me a new one but they always double check them after you ship it out my second one they sent me is amazing I've had no power drops and the laser itself is amazing!