Removing 2 second delay?

[Exavior]

Greetings all!

I just purchased a 10mw green laser off of thinkgeek, and have run into a bit of a problem with it.

One of the safety features is a 2 second delay, that is proving to be a major pain.

You have to hold down the button for 2 seconds before it emits a beam, which is preventing me from using it in a project of min.

Anyone know of any ways to remove such a delay?

Thanks in advance for any help.

/Chris

 

[Daedal]

Best solution I can tell you is invest $30 over at DealExtreme and get yourself a nice 30mW laser... then proceed to use it as needed

Anything at DX up to 50mW is worth it's price better than anything else out there, hands down. They are a bit sensitive and fragile, but for normal, careful use, it is by far the best.

Hope that helps;
DDL

 

[Exavior]

Thanks for the info. I'll check that out.

I just feel bad about dropping $149.99 on this laser and having a "safety" feature basically rendering it useless, but that's my own fault.

I may just have to crack it open and see if I can come up with some type of mod to "fix" it.


I could replace the momentary switch (that is used to fire the laser) with a toggle switch, and then just add a new momentary stitch (possibly re-use the first one) down the line. Then the 2 second delay would only occur when I turn on the first switch.

Would be a bit of work... but it may be a possible solution.

I was just hoping there may be an easier fix.

On a side note, this troublesome issue did bring me to this form (which seems to be pretty cool)... so at least something positive came out of it

 

[Things]

you will find this forum has alot of good info on it, nice people too about the delay, i have no idea how it works at the moment, but do you push the button, then it takes 2 seconds to come on? there isn't really any way to remove this delay without getting into the lasers circuitry though :'(.

 

[r8nd0m]

Return it if possible, then buy a cheaper laser. $150 for 10mW is not a good price. Consult the price per mW comparison table to find the best deal .

 

[Revolvr]

You'll have to take apart your laser to get a good look at the power supply circuit board. We would need to reverse engineer enough of it to see how they implemented a 2 second delay.

Possibly you will see a capacitor and resistor. These are used to create a delay by causing a slow rise of voltage that is used with an IC forming a Schmitt trigger.

Point being that you could swap out the cap or resistor to eliminate or reduce the delay.

-- Rev

 

[Exavior]

That could work.

I just need to find a way to get this bad boy cracked open. So far, it does not look like it has any threads or screws that would make opening it easy.

Anyone here ever open this "saber" model of laser? I've searched around but I have not seen anything.

Thanks again for the help thus far.

 

[Kenom]

post pics and we can tellya!

 

[FokoF]

Post some high res pics of the circuitry, both sides, so we can see if the delay is in the circuit or if you lucky maybe the switch has a built in delay, in which case you just swop the switch. But the delay is most probably in the circuit. Good Luck

 

[Exavior]

I don't have a camera at the moment... my last one gave up the ghost.

Once I can see the circuit I may be able to come up with some possible fixes, but the big problem right now is cracking this thing open.

( Here is one image of it: www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/zoom/green_laser.jpg )

Link fixed

 

[FokoF]

Id say rap a piece of cloth around the front and use some pump pliers to turn it out. Be careful, we dont want to see another dead laser :'(

 

[SenKat]

That LOOKS like an Apha series by NOVA....or the Envee from Proctor's Lucent optics....I am nost sure how to crack that one open....sorry man

 

[timelord]

Pseudo knows how to do it as once upon a time he offered me a Lucent Envee 100mw with the delay deactivated.

 

[Exavior]

My only concern with that idea (and the only reason I have not already tried it) is because the front of the laser has an iris that opens and closes when you rotate the tip, so any attempt to twist that off may destroy the iris. Though there does appear to be a seem below that section. I'll give it a go tonight.

 

[SenKat]

Always take your time when doing mods, mate.....You can always stop if you go slow enough - sometimes there is a point that you reach that you cannot go past without doing something permanent - but most of the time if you are careful, you can undo whatever you have done

 

[FokoF]

It should all come out as a whole unit(hopefully) if you really want to remove the delay you going to have to crack that sucker open. What are you using it for that the delay has to be removed and why does it have that feature?