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- Jun 12, 2015
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Very nice! I've always been a fan of those built-in charger circuit handhelds, though I've only seen those in flashlights, never in a pointer. I bought one a while back ago just to see how they're doing it and it looks like from what I've seen on the net different manufacturers use different designs. The one I had got used a rectangular PCB, output of that in parallel with the battery, and the battery in series with the load.
Like Paul said I guess in time the battery would crap out and wouldn't be worth replacing, but I think it's a pretty handy idea to not need a chunky li-ion charger to get a quick charge. Wouldn't mind implementing something like that in a more high-end ("americanized" as Rich calls it!) build, but with a removable battery. Sounds good in theory but it might be a PITA to wire and design around it.
Glad to hear it. It is one of the reasons why I chose to test this. It is handy as I don't have to bring along a clunky battery charger with me. I can just plug it straight into my laptop.
Worth a shot with a more 'americanized' build.
Yes probably will be a pain, but could be good to see. :beer:No problem, thanks Vetttech. I knew built-in batteries wouldn't be for everyone and understandable as well. I think this only works effectively, because of its cheapness. Higher end models would need to have the battery replaceable IMO.
I'm curious to it's actual output power, if it's something like 40 mW it'd be a pretty good deal really, though not a safe presentation pointer.
No, not a safe presentation pointer at all. Definitely over 5mW for sure. I can't be 100% sure about the power as of yet, but based on its brightness and the beam it is brighter than my 35mW eBay pointer.
As for the built-in battery: that doesn't have to be a bad thing really. If it has proper charge and over-discharge protection in place (which it seems to have) it's very safe. Downside is obviously that you must wait for it to recharge and cannot just swap batteries.
Then again these things are $12, so if they have good quality output beams and power stability just buy 2 of them if you need one ready to fire at all times.
Very true. I mean it doesn't make too much difference considering as you don't always have spare batteries charged. Well, not in my case anyway.Also a valid point about getting two, but then again do you really want to get two for this purpose alone? It essentially like buying a $12 battery.
Also, they may be able to run from usb power while charging - i can't really tell, but if this is the case you could just power it from a usb powerbank for longer runtime, provided it doesnt overheat.
I haven't tested this and I'm not too sure if I should.
The latter i'm not that sure off, it seems awfully tiny for a dpss, surface area available for cooling is limited and no effort seems to have been made to make good use of the area that is available. Reasonable for a 5 mW laser with a 100 mW or lower pump diode, but no good if it's actually 40 mW or so with a 250/500 mW pump.
Yes, I was concerned about the possible cooling as well, but when you think about it, it isn't a real problem as my eBay pointer is essentially the same size when you remove the 2 AAA batteries.
