Red 200mw 650nm not doing much... am I just being stupid?

[paul666]

OK perhaps I was rash. In a pitch black room there is a faint beam, just not as impressive as I'd hoped. I think I got mixed up thinking 200mw was sufficient for a red laser - seems a higher wattage needed for a better beam comparable to the greens/violets.

Still no ability to test burning but I assume if I can find some of the right kind of paper it will probably work.

Time to invest in something a little cooler I reckon



Aha, righto not sure if I can order from there to the UK but I'll have a look for some reputable 18650 suppliers here. Didn't realise they'd ship shitty batteries but good to know!

TRY HERE this is UK

https://www.batterystation.co.uk/re...7TNgOXMA3WnGigXmVUYmb2wKoUaDY23xoCOVIQAvD_BwE

 

[smallfreak]

You should think about how you are seeing ANYTHING. It‘s all about getting some light entering your eye. You can‘t see any ligt passing by, only light that hits your eye. So in case you want to see „the beam“ you need something within this beam that deflects a tiny ammount of that light into your direction, so it may enter your eyes.

These things can be dust particles that „glitter“ in the beam or tiny droplets i.e. fog that get iluminated by the beam and thus get visible along that path.

In a dark room crowded by smokers, even a 1mW red pointer makes a visible ray, as there are plenty of dust particles available and the contrast to the dark background is strong. In outer space, future spaceships that throw gigawatt lasers onto their enemies in a space fight will show NO TRACE AT ALL. The ray is simply invisible, as there is no „thing“ along the light path that might get ilumniated and thus show the „ray“, until the laser hits the target. Star Wars does not produce „rays“ in reality.

As said before, the amount of stray light fog or dust produces is not uniform in all direction. Most of the stray light is within a few degrees of the direction of the Laser beam. So when some DrEvil points his target Laser right on your nose (don‘t do this!), you will certainly see the beam cearly. The next best vision is from directly behind the beam. Any position to the side will hardly get any deflected light, so a passing beam is essentially invisible, even at high power.

Thats why Laser shows have to get the air volume fogged to make the beams visible.

So regarding to your question about being stupid, I would say no. Stupid is the inability to learn something. You just did not have the necessary knowledge to align your desire with the necessary physics. And maybe you forgot about the fact that advertizing often means bluntly lying at unaware customers. If the imaged beam does not seem impressive enough, you still have Photoshop to enhance the impression.

And with your desire to burn something, well this is quite similar. Luckily it is NOT possible to buy a device that instantly sets a house on fire from a distance for 50 Bucks. And not for 50.000 either. 200mW is really a lot of power, even if some of the guys are of different opinion. While you may have a hard time punching razor blades with it, you can burn anything that is dark enough to absorb most of the light instead of reflect it, and that does not dissipate the generated heat quickly. Focus the lens of your pointer and keep it focused on your target. The magic formula is Power/Area. What you might miss on the power side can equally being matched by reducing the focused area. I.e. try to make a super small dot.

... and get some safety goggles soon. While 200mW might seem low to burn a piece of white paper, it is more than enough to fry your eye in no time, if you get the beam into it, most likely being reflected off a shiny surface. The eye lens does exactly that. Focusing the energy onto a tiny spot on the delicate tissue of your retina. Pooof..

Ah, yes.. RED is a very bad color when you want the most impression per Watt, as is Blue. 200mW of green look about ten times as bright as 200mW of red or blue, as the eye is much more sensitive to green light. And if you ask yourself why all these freaks here go for blue lasers, than the answer is simply: they are available in higher powers and at 7W it doesn‘t make any difference anymore. These ARE visible (in the dark). And they burn a hole into your oposite wall (and your wallet) if you don‘t take care.

 

[paul666]

You should think about how you are seeing ANYTHING. It‘s all about getting some light entering your eye. You can‘t see any ligt passing by, only light that hits your eye. So in case you want to see „the beam“ you need something within this beam that deflects a tiny ammount of that light into your direction, so it may enter your eyes.

These things can be dust particles that „glitter“ in the beam or tiny droplets i.e. fog that get iluminated by the beam and thus get visible along that path.

In a dark room crowded by smokers, even a 1mW red pointer makes a visible ray, as there are plenty of dust particles available and the contrast to the dark background is strong. In outer space, future spaceships that throw gigawatt lasers onto their enemies in a space fight will show NO TRACE AT ALL. The ray is simply invisible, as there is no „thing“ along the light path that might get ilumniated and thus show the „ray“, until the laser hits the target. Star Wars does not produce „rays“ in reality.

As said before, the amount of stray light fog or dust produces is not uniform in all direction. Most of the stray light is within a few degrees of the direction of the Laser beam. So when some DrEvil points his target Laser right on your nose (don‘t do this!), you will certainly see the beam cearly. The next best vision is from directly behind the beam. Any position to the side will hardly get any deflected light, so a passing beam is essentially invisible, even at high power.

Thats why Laser shows have to get the air volume fogged to make the beams visible.

So regarding to your question about being stupid, I would say no. Stupid is the inability to learn something. You just did not have the necessary knowledge to align your desire with the necessary physics. And maybe you forgot about the fact that advertizing often means bluntly lying at unaware customers. If the imaged beam does not seem impressive enough, you still have Photoshop to enhance the impression.

And with your desire to burn something, well this is quite similar. Luckily it is NOT possible to buy a device that instantly sets a house on fire from a distance for 50 Bucks. And not for 50.000 either. 200mW is really a lot of power, even if some of the guys are of different opinion. While you may have a hard time punching razor blades with ist, you can burn anything that is dark enough to absorb most of the light instead of reflect it, and that does not dissipate the generated heat quickly. Focus the lens of your pointer and keep it focused on your target. The magic formula is Power/Area. What you might miss on the power side can equally being matched by reducing the focused area. I.e. try to make a super small dot.

... and get some safety goggles soon. While 200mW might seem low to burn a piece of white paper, it is more than enough to fry your eye in no time, if you get the beam into it, most likely being reflected off a shiny surface. The eye lens does exactly that. Focusing the energy onto a tiny spot on the delicate tissue of your retina. Pooof..

Ah, yes.. RED is a very bad color when you want the most impression per Watt, as is Blue. 200mW of green look ten thimes as bright as 200mW of red or blue, as the eye is much more sensitive to green light. And if you ask yourself why all these freaks here go for blue lasers, than the answer is simply: they are available in higher powers and at 7W it doesn‘t make any difference anymore. These ARE visible. And they burn a hole into your oposite wall (and your wallet) if you don‘t take care.

i totally agree with above.

 

[Frozenferrari]

Perhaps we are very spoiled with todays available technology, but that doesnt change my opinion of sub class 4 beams. Theyre visible, sure you can definitely see them, but they dont even come close to the brilliance and amazement offered at 1+W, especially in clean air. Fog makes a huge difference!
Be safe, glasses when needed, beware of reflective surfaces, and they wont be dangerous. I use mine indoors quite often.
Here’s another 1W vs 100mw green photo for comparison.


On batteries : Im not at all trying to argue with the concept that better batteries=better choice- But just food for thought, the UltraFire 16340s supplied with my Sage 3Ws match the brightness of my Orbtronic or A/C powered 3.5W 465 ple. Ive also tried Tenergy 16340s and noticed zero difference.

 

[YurokLatoniah]

Thanks all, very insightful!

 

[paul1598419]

Perhaps we are very spoiled with todays available technology, but that doesnt change my opinion of sub class 4 beams. Theyre visible, sure you can definitely see them, but they dont even come close to the brilliance and amazement offered at 1+W, especially in clean air. Fog makes a huge difference!
Be safe, glasses when needed, beware of reflective surfaces, and they wont be dangerous. I use mine indoors quite often.
Here’s another 1W vs 100mw green photo for comparison.


On batteries : Im not at all trying to argue with the concept that better batteries=better choice- But just food for thought, the UltraFire 16340s supplied with my Sage 3Ws match the brightness of my Orbtronic or A/C powered 3.5W 465 ple. Ive also tried Tenergy 16340s and noticed zero difference.

You may notice a difference between fully charged Ultafire batteries and better, Panasonic for instance, batteries, but if you tried using them for extended periods of time you would. The batteries I have bought from liionwholesales.com do measure to be the capacity that they claim on the the side of the battery while the Ultrafires never have. Also, if you needed a high current drain battery as needed with the 7+ watt lasers you might find the Ultrafires not up to the challenge.

 

[paul666]

just dont buy from eBay
plus you have always got to ask WHY do they give me a free charger and batteries?

if it seems too good to be true scenario..........................

i even got a free laser pointer once from ebay long long time back when i bought a charger and battery lol a <5mw 650nm
laser i still got , the charger broke in 16 weeks and the battery died in 12 weeks .

im waiting for the 200mw 650nm
and the 100mw 405nm from sanwu

i will let you know what they are like when i get them.

SAFETY WISE ALWAYS WEAR GLASSES

 

[YurokLatoniah]

Don't worry - I've heard the glasses point loud and clear! I have a pair incoming.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd find an *active* forum of laser enthusiasts. The wonders of the internet...

im waiting for the 200mw 650nm
and the 100mw 405nm from sanwu

i will let you know what they are like when i get them.

Yes, would be interesting to compare.

 

[paul1598419]

Why not buy from eBay? I got my best deals for cheap laser pointers there. You will pay twice to three times as much for the exact same pointer going through Sanwu.

 

[YurokLatoniah]

Why not buy from eBay? I got my best deals for cheap laser pointers there. You will pay twice to three times as much for the exact same pointer going through Sanwu.

Two questions: 1) any reliable sellers you know of? and 2) what use do you have for a 1W infrared laser?! Just curious about the practicality of a laser pointer you can't see!

 

[kecked]

oh dear....please don't play with invisible beams. You will eventually do something you regret and there is no do over.
May I suggest a nice smoke ring launcher. Much fun and safe too.

 

[paul1598419]

Two questions: 1) any reliable sellers you know of? and 2) what use do you have for a 1W infrared laser?! Just curious about the practicality of a laser pointer you can't see!

Yes. I purchased two 650nm lasers from shadowlasers on eBay for $9.95 each and both were good. My 1+ watt 808nm laser is not a pointer. I also use a cmos camera to "see" the beam and to focus the laser, Though, the dot is a bit visible as a very dark red.

 

[paul666]

Why not buy from eBay? I got my best deals for cheap laser pointers there. You will pay twice to three times as much for the exact same pointer going through Sanwu.

Sanwu know what they are doing they are reputable dealers
, and they tell you what POWER the lasers are. ebay lasers 99% out of 100 are NOT what they seem , thts all bud.just my opinion

plus
i was talking about buying batteries/chargers from eBay.. no lasers
they always been cheap rubbish in my opinion
however.....as far as lasers are concerned i bought what they said was a <5mw laser for £2 and it turned out to be a 100mw back in 2008
bit dangerous wouldnt you agree?

 

[paul1598419]

Most of us here expect eBay lasers to be over-spec, so getting a 100 mW one would be a real score. They usually come in well below that.

 

[lasersbee]

Didn't know you were in the UK. We used to have locations under our avitars, but no longer. You might want to find someone there that can deliver top quality batteries to you.

Hovering your mouse pointer over a member's
Avatar will bring up a window that shows the
member's location if he added it in his Profile.

Jerry