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FrozenGate by Avery

SDLaser 301 broken?

M

maxupp

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Nov 30, 2010
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hi, i have had the 301 for quite some time now.
about a month ago, i accidentally let it on overnight, resulting in a dead battery the next morning. i ordered 2 new batteries from DX which came today (Ultrafire XSL 18650 2600mAh 3.7V).
when i put one in, the laser didnt work at first, so i thought, i had to charge it first. after putting the other one in, it briefly worked, giving me the really bright dot i was used to. moments later it seemed like this battery was dead too.

i don't get a dot at all, but when i look into the lense (with sunglasses of course - you never know ^^) i can see a light red glow and some green, too.

i'm an electronics student, but i really can't imagine whats going on with my beloved laser :(

greetings, Max
 





Please dont look directly into your laser! That red light you see is IR light. It can be enough to damage your eyes even though it looks dim. IR light is "VERY" dangerous. So please for the sake of your eyes dont do it... secondly theres various things that could have gone wrong with your laser. I'm not much of a laser expert so i cant really tell you whats wrong. Perhaps someone else can. You might have fried the crystals or the driver or even the diode. I wish you good luck on your laser. I know how it feels to have a nice laser die...
 
maxupp said:
.... but when i look into the lense (with sunglasses of course - you never know ^^)...
Click to expand...
Don't do that! Sunglasses don't block lasers at all, in fact your pupils
were probably dilated due to it being darker, thus letting MORE light in!

I suggest you spend a few hours reading this forum, especially about safety before you touch
that laser again.

That being said, "some red and little green" could easily mean simply a weak battery.
Did you recharge them at all? I don't read you mentioning that.

Than again it could also mean misaligned/damaged crystals, maybe you cooked them when you left it on for the night.
 
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I'm sorry for the misunderstanding due to my poor english. i meant "IR safety goggles" ^^ I'm aware of the difference betweens IR and UV and what my laser emits.
No, i did not charge those batteries, because i got that fullpower beam for a few seconds at one time. this makes me think the problem is in the laser, not the batteries.

One other thing:
Now, the next morning, the battery that stayed in the laser over night at least gives a light dot.
so i tested with the other, but no beam at all, and after s witching again the first doesn't work any more neither.
 
Fully charge the batteries before you try them again.

Peace,
dave
 
which leads me to 2 second question ^^
i'm gonna get a multimeter and an alround charger from a friend today, since i don't have a genuine 18650 loader.
I guess 4,2V and 450mA should be alright for charging? (i honestly expected the batteries to be shippped at least half loaded by DX)
 
this isn't a money issue, i simply don't want to wait another month until my charger arrives ^^
already waited 4 weeks for the batteries...

by the way, i'm an electronics engineer, so i do know how to charge a battery properly.
 
i simply don't want to wait another month until my charger arrives
Click to expand...
Well If you are impatient like a little child, then I guess you shoulda ordered everthing
within the same week!

by the way, i'm an electronics engineer, so i do know how to charge a battery properly.
Click to expand...
Oooooh, then why do you have to ask how to do it on an internet forum!?
Some engineer you are... :rolleyes:
Apparently you don't even have a DMM to read the voltage off those batteries of yours.
 
@ anselm: it's true that i'm kinda impatient, that may be a result of my young age (21).
relating to your comments on my qualification: you would be surprised how little actual electronics there is in an Electronics Bachelor/Master. In 4 years, we didn't even solder anything. Besides this, i do have some good equipment at my family's home, but not here in my apartment.
A friend of mine happens to live 20m away from me, and he has his stuff here, so ... ^^

I suggest you stop being so agressive to someone you don't even know.
anyways your rather helpful posts are appreciated ;)
 
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maxupp said:
relating to your comments on my qualification: you would be surprised how little actual electronics there is in an Electronics Bachelor/Master.
Click to expand...
I'm not surprised at all. I know Academia and it's world sometimes
disconnected from the real one.
Just holding a degree doesn't mean much, it only means that you know
"where to look it up" :D
In the end it's the experience that counts, which you seem to lack.
But that's OK your still young.

maxupp said:
I suggest you stop being so agressive to someone you don't even know.
Click to expand...
Am I being aggressive? Didn't mean to. If you make cocky remarks
like "I'm an engineer and know how to do this" right after asking us for
help, well then you should brace yourself for a sarcastic remark ;)
 
Sorry for refloating this post, but I have the same problem than the author of this post.

Yesterday arrives me the SDLaser 301 from Dealextreme, with the blue Ultrafire battery and 2 green Ultrafire batteries (Ultrafire XSL 18650 2600mAh 3.7V) that I ordered at the same time.

Firstly, I tried the laser and it works perfectly yesterday, but this morning I have the idea to try to put the green Ultrafire battery on it, and after that the laser doesn't turn on, and I can't seen the "red glow and some green" light :\

I'm so sad about this, because I wait for this laser 2 months, and when it arrives, it happens to me this :(

To the author of this post: did you solved the problem? Or the laser was broken permanently? Anyone with the same problem? :(

I hate this, I wait so long to use this laser, and when arrives me, it happens me this. Fuck :(

Thank you and sorry for my english.
 
ped said:
Have you tried the other battery back in it?
Click to expand...

Yes, I tried to put again the initial battery, the other batteries again, to charge completely both batteries... And it doesn't turn on :(

I think that maybe the diode died when I put the green battery (theres only one difference between the batteries, the blue battery is LC 2400 mAh and the green is XSL 2600 mAh.

I'm so sad about this, I want see my laser working again :(:(:(
 
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Ok, look.

You guys REALLY need to stop "seeing the red glow".
Whatever you're doing to "see it", it's dangerous, bad, and you need to stop.

-If you have "IR goggles" on and can "see the red glow" through them, then your "IR goggles" are not blocking the right IR. If you can see the glow, even if it looks dim, you are possibly **blasting 50-200mW of IR into your eyes**.

-If you are looking down the barrel of the laser and the "red glow" seems dim, harmless, barely there, it's because it's outside of your visible spectrum -- it is IR. Half a watt of 808nm looks like NOTHING, but it can etch wood.

If you are seeing it, then you are not blocking or filtering the 'red glow'.

If you are seeing it then you are exposing yourself to hazardous laser radiation. Hell, you can't see the IR from a CO2 laser at ALL, and if you look down the barrel of that, you'll likely have your eyeball running down your face.

Catch my drift?

Sorry to be too "strong" about this, but this has got to be the 10th or so post I've seen on LPF in my time of people with a broken DPSS laser "seeing a dim red glow".

For the uninitiated:

-Green 532nm lasers use an infrared "pump" laser diode to create a second lasing action in a crystal to create green. It's only maybe 20-30% efficient, so if you have, say, a 100mW 532nm green laser, the IR diode 'behind' it is easily in the neighborhood of 300mW.

-300mW of IR "looks" really dim, but can damage your eyes JUST AS EASILY and JUST AS PERMANENTLY and JUST AS QUICKLY as 300mW of green, blue, red, or periwinkle.

-Just because the crystal "532nm green section" of your laser has gone out, it does NOT mean that your 300mW pump diode isn't chugging away happily (and nearly invisibly) behind that crystal set and shinin' on right into your retina, registering to you as a "dim red glow". But that 'dim looking' 300mW can cook whatever meat you wish to put in front of it just the same.

I know Jeffreythe00 warned that "it's dangerous"; and good on him, but I don't think this is fully registering with people.

If you see the 'dim red glow', you are doing it wrong, and you must IMMEDIATELY discontinue whatever you are doing, until the 'dim red glow' is no longer seen.

No "But I was wearing wayfarers!" or "I squinted at it!" or "I'm so sciency I sleep in a lab coat!". No. DPSS? IF YES, then RED? IF YES, then STOP.

Sorry to soapbox on it. I can only read it so many times without trying to drive the point home. Sometimes saying "it's dangerous" isn't enough, the reason why has to be explained or people will continue to fail to understand. Yes, the rant probably annoyed some people but if it can keep one person from staring down the barrel of a ""dead"" DPSS laser, well...
 
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When I was a teen, I experimented a lot with weird electronics... one time I built what was more-or-less a homemade low powered carbon arc welder. I IGNORED the warnings about using a safety lens.

The day AFTER I messed with it the first time; I spent 2-3 days in bed, BARELY able to see, COULD NOT open my eyes for long, my eyes looked like rolled up balls of raw bacon. I didn't fully recover for at least a week.

The doctor told me that I was lucky I didn't blind myself from UV exposure.

aryntha's warning should be seriously considered.
 
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