Spyder III Pro Arctic - Questions Answered

[misterr]

Hi all,

I just received my G2 and have two questions:

- Does the charger work with UK current or will I have to get an actual transformator to change the UK 220v to US 130v?
- The laser works fine in all modes except continues high power, it just switches off after 2 sec. everytime I switch it into constant high power. What could cause this?

Thanks for any help!

 

[jbtm]

Can't help with the last part, but read the back of the charger. I think it says it can do 120-240V 50/60hz. If the back says it can do 240, then sure as he'll it can!

As for the last part, I don't own a G2. Can't help

 

[ZapU]

I updated the picture to point out the glue just so everyone can see it. I appreciate the chloroform offer. I think I just might try soaking it in goo-gone over night and see what happens and post back with the results.

WD-40 is a very good adhesive remover. If that doesn't work, then maybe acetone.

 

[r8nd0m]

I got my G2 yesterday and saw the training lens was epoxied in as well. So I just hammered a nail through it, and put a focusing lens on the front of the lens cap. Somewhat of a crude process, but it fits quite well, and looks/functions fine.

I decided to light a candle and burn some white paper to test it out.


Note: I wouldn't recommend using the included battery, I used it for a bit while having my Sanyo's charge and there appear to be some electrical burn marks on the positive end. This may have come from when I charged it briefly, but it seems like a bad sign.

 

[WLHostage]

I got my G2 yesterday and saw the training lens was epoxied in as well. So I just hammered a nail through it, and put a focusing lens on the front of the lens cap. Somewhat of a crude process, but it fits quite well, and looks/functions fine.

I decided to light a candle and burn some white paper to test it out.


Note: I wouldn't recommend using the included battery, I used it for a bit while having my Sanyo's charge and there appear to be some electrical burn marks on the positive end. This may have come from when I charged it briefly, but it seems like a bad sign.

There has been at least one report of a battery that exploded. So yours is just another confirmation that you should use these stock batteries with care (or possibly not use them at all lol).

 

[Ash]

- The laser works fine in all modes except continues high power, it just switches off after 2 sec. everytime I switch it into constant high power. What could cause this?

Thanks for any help!

Your battery is low.
I had the same problem with the G2 I received yesterday. I could cycle through all the modes, but when I switched to CW-High, it would always turn off after 3-8 seconds. I popped in a freshly charged 18650 and now the laser remains on in high-power (CW) mode for as long as I need. (So far I haven't kept it on High for longer than 20 minutes at a time, and it still doesn't get hot, just warm.)

Oh, and to answer your first question last:

I believe (from looking at the specs on the charger page), that it will work with just a simple adaptor.
Usable worldwide: 100-240V input.

 

[electron]

Note: I wouldn't recommend using the included battery, I used it for a bit while having my Sanyo's charge and there appear to be some electrical burn marks on the positive end. This may have come from when I charged it briefly, but it seems like a bad sign.

My battery exploded literally and yours already shows signs of trouble, please be safe and don't use it anymore.

http://laserpointerforums.com/f53/beware-arctic-battery-explosion-54974.html

 

[viperx1101]

I recieved my G2 yesterday (finally:yabbem, and last night while I was outside testing it out, I got the laser turned around in my hand and it being dark I tried to push the end button. But I instead pushed the normal glass lens and I popped it out. It might be a fluke, but perhaps with some equal pressure on the glass others might be able to remove the normal glass lens if they want to and replace it with something else.

And to confirm someones earlier postulation, if you soak the normal lens housing (with the normal lens removed) in Goo Gone, for about 20 minutes, then you can use a q-tip to remove most of the white glue. And if any is left over, then re-soak it for another 20 minutes and a second q-tip should remove the rest of the white glue.

I am not sure what Goo Gone would do to the glass lens so no garentees there.

Speaking of, does anyone know if the normal lens is just normal glass without a AR coating, or does it have any type of AR coating that shouldn't be touched with chemicals?

 

[LaserRX]

It doesn't seem to have an AR coating. I have a 473nm Spyder III @ aprox 80mW and the glass is AR coated which you can tell by the oily appearance.

I'll be uploading a full review on both G1 G2 and compare with the 473nm (much more expensive laser). Also I'll note certain easy things that can be done to improve their performance, there's a few easy to do things I've noted down already (one being swapping out the stock glass with an AR coated one).

All edge emitting laser diodes suffer from the rectangular/wedge shaped dot profile. To correct it you could use anamorphic prisms to correct astigmatism. I've done this with mains powered units, but it should be possible in larger portables. There is a large power loss however. Other then that you can clip the beam (lame way), or use fiber optic. A link below if anyone is interested in more info.

http://www.coherent.com/downloads/LaserDiodeTechNote1.pdf

 

[ZapU]

It doesn't seem to have an AR coating. I have a 473nm Spyder III @ aprox 80mW and the glass is AR coated which you can tell by the oily appearance.

I'll be uploading a full review on both G1 G2 and compare with the 473nm (much more expensive laser). Also I'll note certain easy things that can be done to improve their performance, there's a few easy to do things I've noted down already (one being swapping out the stock glass with an AR coated one).

All edge emitting laser diodes suffer from the rectangular/wedge shaped dot profile. To correct it you could use anamorphic prisms to correct astigmatism. I've done this with mains powered units, but it should be possible in larger portables. There is a large power loss however. Other then that you can clip the beam (lame way), or use fiber optic. A link below if anyone is interested in more info.

http://www.coherent.com/downloads/LaserDiodeTechNote1.pdf

Very informative technical guide. :thanks:

But since the active layer of gain-guided laser
diodes can be fabricated to widths of hundreds of microns
such diodes can generate powers up to 1 Watt or more, and
they are used in applications where beam power is more
important than modal quality. In this review we will not
further consider gain-guided lasers.

I assume from this description that the Casio diode powered lasers are gain-guided?

 

[LaserRX]

Most likely they are gain-guided, as this is the easiest and cheapest way to make a laser diode. They support multiple modes, the result of which is multiple spectral lines and astigmatism. To correct the astigmatism, one of the methods mentioned in the link posted will work.

As most laser builds just focus on collimating the beam, we can compensate for astigmatism by using a long focal length lens, then by using a collimating lens we end up with a beam that has little divergence in both axes. However you will still have an eliptical/wedge or rectangular beam. To fix this we can use an anamorphic prism pair, where either the major axis is compressed or the minor axis is expanded.

Other methods exist, as shown in the article, but are either more costly or have a greater power loss.

 

[Markus Unread]

I didn't want to post at all on this question, but the Arctic hatefest has mentioned spikes coming out of the power supply. Has anyone run across any scope pics of the output from the Arctic G1 or G2 power supplies? If it were easier to get to, I'd do it myself.

 

[Markus Unread]

One more thing. There have also been comments from people about the non-training lens (window) reflecting too much power back at the diode. I unscrewed my Arctic's front lens, held it away from the unit and tilted it slightly. This allowed me to observe the reflected power projected back from the lens. It looks, roughly, like about 1% of the forward power but I don't have access to an LPM. If anyone out there has an Arctic G1 or G2, and an LPM. Try measuring the output and reflection from the front lens.
Real data goes a lot farther than FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt).

 

[Trevor]

It looks, roughly, like about 1% of the forward power but I don't have access to an LPM. If anyone out there has an Arctic G1 or G2, and an LPM. Try measuring the output and reflection from the front lens.
Real data goes a lot farther than FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt).

People with LPM's have already tested with and without the lens.

-Trevor

 

[Markus Unread]

People with LPM's have already tested with and without the lens.

-Trevor

Yes, but that doesn't differentiate between absorbed and reflected.

 

[Kevlar]

One more thing. There have also been comments from people about the non-training lens (window) reflecting too much power back at the diode. I unscrewed my Arctic's front lens, held it away from the unit and tilted it slightly. This allowed me to observe the reflected power projected back from the lens. It looks, roughly, like about 1% of the forward power but I don't have access to an LPM. If anyone out there has an Arctic G1 or G2, and an LPM. Try measuring the output and reflection from the front lens.
Real data goes a lot farther than FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt).

Wow!! You can roughly GUESS that 1% of the forward power is being reflected back by the non-training lens?? Those are some good eyes!!!

Yes, but that doesn't differentiate between absorbed and reflected.

It doesn't. If someone with a LPM measures the power with and without the lens, isn't the difference of the two measurements the reflected power projected back from the lens? :thinking: