Use Hercules 550 under 15 Degrees Celsius!

[Minamoto Kobayashi]

I see that the temperature range of an Hercules model start to 15 and end to 35 degrees Celsius. Yesterday I have used my Herc outside, and the temperature was about 2 degrees Celsius.
The laser started weak, then after a lot of impulse, the beam starts at full power, but the look of the beam and the dot was very ugly, as showed is those photos:



.. while in my room, at 23 degrees Celsius, it seems to be ok:



I must say that in my home I have a test corridor of 8.50 meters, while outside I have done the test in a front porch of about 30 meters, so I cannot say if also in my home, at that distance, the beam and the dot may be good or not.
Hovewer, the main question is:
an high temperature can damage the diode laser ... a low temperature can damage the diode in the same way, or show just some bad issues like oval dot or double beam?
2 Celsius degrees must be considered a dangerous temperature?

A very good Christmas to all!

Richard.

 

[Minamoto Kobayashi]

I have checked the beam at 22 Celsius degrees, and this was the results:

The first seconds after turing the Herc on the beam looks weak, instable, with some flickering issues. After about 30 seconds the beam become completely stable, but I can see a central beam, and two little weak beams on the left and on the right of the main beam. After about 1 minutes the beam goes unique, but with a little bit of divergence. After 2 minutes the divergence disappear and the beam looks thin and very bright, but appears again a secondary weak little beam, parallel to the primary one.
I'm very scared to have a faulty unit (after the optical one), because I have tested Hercules first with fresh 1.5 D-sized alkaline Duracell batteries, and then with the dedicated power supply (however much smaller, much light and much different from the Smeerwost one). Now the chances are two: batteries and power supplies do not offer enough amperes to drive the diode correctly, or I have a faulty unit. Hope that Smeerworst of Justin can read this message as soon as possible and help me in some way. I have saved money for over 1 years, I have risked customs confiscation, with the results to have a tons of problems with an unit that should be the top of the laser pointers. Very very sad, indeed !

Hope the LPF users can spend the holidays much better than the mine ...

 

[Smeerworst]

hI...

I made this video tonight to show you how mine works..


Hope it helps some...

Laserglow Hercules 650 outside LPM - YouTube
Should become in HD in a sec..

And here's Indoor..



Cheers..

 

[Minamoto Kobayashi]

Dear Smeerworst, first of all I must admit that You're really a kindly person to have realized this video for me !! Thanks A LOT, very explanatory video!
Hovewer I haven't understand how many Celsius degrees there was during Your test ...

Second, Your beam is identical to mine. Same starting, same looking. But at the end of Your video, when You have zoomed near the beam, I can see a sort of secondary beam near the main beam. Not properly another beam, but something with a different brightness. Look at this shot:



The point A indicate the most beam brightness, and the point B another beam much less bright. This is what I mean for second beam. Please note that this "second beam" appears only when the diode is warm, at a full power. It could be a focus issue due to the crystals alignment that may vary a little bit with temperature changing.
So my laser beam seems to be similar to Your. I wait the new optical set (kindly replaced by Mr. Scott with the help of Mr. Justin), and then I could be a new review

Third ... MY GOOD! 900 mW STABLE with a 650 declared laser! :drool:. I think Your laser is a little bit overspeced

Something about the batteries: I have spent a couple of nights to search around internet something explanatory about alkaline batteries vs rechargeable batteries. I have found this very very interesting:

http://www.google.it/url?sa=t&rct=j...ZA6ub6r2w&sig2=cC8gZtuSj7Z-k9lPGtPyPQ&cad=rja

In a few word, alkaline is the worst choice for a high powered equipments like Hercules. Alkaline are useful only for clocks and remote controls. About batteries, these are ther best that I have found:

Sanyo eneloop D Rechargeable R20 HR20 5700 Battery x1 | eBay

8 Tenergy Premium D-Size D NiMH Rechargeable Batteries (844949020398) | eBay

http://www.amazon.com/9500mAh-2-Pac...RQ9O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325131473&sr=8-1

and reading the recensions in the specialized forums, this is the best charger ever:

http://www.amazon.com/Ansmann-52071...sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325209496&sr=8-2-spell

Here some other infos:

The Best Rechargeable Batteries and Chargers Of 2011 >> MetaEfficient

I'm going to buy a set of Tenergy 10000 (You have the same model, right?) and the Ansmann charger.

Thanks again and a very happy new Year!

Richard.

 

[Smeerworst]

Dear Smeerworst, first of all I must admit that You're really a kindly person to have realized this video for me !! Thanks A LOT, very explanatory video!
Hovewer I haven't understand how many Celsius degrees there was during Your test ...

Hi Minamoto,
In the video i said the temperature is about 3 to 4 degrees celcius.
And your welcome on the video. Let's not talk about how it went on my work the other day :beer: it was late.

Second, Your beam is identical to mine. Same starting, same looking. But at the end of Your video, when You have zoomed near the beam, I can see a sort of secondary beam near the main beam. Not properly another beam, but something with a different brightness.

The point A indicate the most beam brightness, and the point B another beam much less bright. This is what I mean for second beam. Please note that this "second beam" appears only when the diode is warm, at a full power. It could be a focus issue due to the crystals alignment that may vary a little bit with temperature changing.
So my laser beam seems to be similar to Your. I wait the new optical set (kindly replaced by Mr. Scott with the help of Mr. Justin), and then I could be a new review

I think your beam is more like what i had with my Hulk ultra from Dragolasers....
wich looked like this... (pure a guess sinds you say you also have it once it's warmed up)

Hulk ultra

Hulk ultra

Now the funny thing is that you say that what it looks like from your photo's and my second photo above this is happening when the device is warm.

On the other hand, my Hercules only get's better when it get's warm and looks like this

Beam (DOT) profile. (Hercules Laser) once warm

Third ... MY GOOD! 900 mW STABLE with a 650 declared laser! :drool:. I think Your laser is a little bit overspeced

Yes i was shocked myself when i saw it happening.
It is the first time i brought my LPM outside to only show you that it starts low and climbs up once it's heating up. But yeah 900mW of green is very nice for a H-650

Something about the batteries: I have spent a couple of nights to search around internet something explanatory about alkaline batteries vs rechargeable batteries. I have found this very very interesting:

http://www.google.it/url?sa=t&rct=j...ZA6ub6r2w&sig2=cC8gZtuSj7Z-k9lPGtPyPQ&cad=rja

In a few word, alkaline is the worst choice for a high powered equipments like Hercules. Alkaline are useful only for clocks and remote controls. About batteries, these are ther best that I have found:

Sanyo eneloop D Rechargeable R20 HR20 5700 Battery x1 | eBay

8 Tenergy Premium D-Size D NiMH Rechargeable Batteries (844949020398) | eBay

Amazon.com: 9500mAh 2-Pack D IMEDION "Ready When You Are!" Rechargeable Batteries: Electronics

and reading the recensions in the specialized forums, this is the best charger ever:

Amazon.com: Ansmann 5207123 Energy 16 Charger: Camera & Photo

Here some other infos:

The Best Rechargeable Batteries and Chargers Of 2011 >> MetaEfficient

I'm going to buy a set of Tenergy 10000 (You have the same model, right?) and the Ansmann charger.

Im using these battery's.

Tenergy NiMH D battery 10000 mAh

Tech.. specs
■Voltage: 1,2 V
■Standard charge: 15 hours 800 mA
■quick charge: 3 hours 4000 mA

My charger is the..

Voltcraft Charge Manager 2020

Conrad Voltcraft Charge Manager 2020

http://www2.produktinfo.conrad.com/...01-en-AKKULADESTATION_CHARGE_MANAGER_2020.pdf (specs)

Conrad Voltcraft Charge Manager 2020

Supported batteries:
1-8x AAA/AA, 1-8x C/D (or 1-4x in power-charge mode), 1-2x 9V

Operation modes:
Charge
Discharge
Check (discharge,charge)
Cycle (charge/discharge/charge)
Alive (charge/discharge/charge/discharge/charge)

Charge currents:
C/D - 8x 2000/4000mA
AA - 8x 1000/2000mA
AAA - 8x 350/700mA
9V - 2x 21mA

Additional functions:
Built-in fans
Memory backup of current status up to 2 days in case of power failure with automatic resume

It can charge up to the 4000mA for D-cells (wich results in 3 hours charge time)

It also has some programs build in to get the best out of your battery's.
All wich can be monitored live.

Thanks again and a very happy new Year!

Richard.

Happy new Year to you too, and safe lasering.

Cheers, Sm

 

[Minamoto Kobayashi]

Wow ... Your battery charger seems a laptop computer!! :san:
Where can I buy this beast?

Regarding the double beam .. very funny (and sad), indeed. But Dragon laser is much more cheaper that the Hercules one. I do not understand similar issue from a so expensive laser. Your Herc is near to the perfection. Hope that Mr. Justin read this thread and explain me why my Herc has a double beam like Your Dragon Laser ...

Richard.

 

[Minamoto Kobayashi]

Update:

I have closely looked at Your video. I have grabbed this image:



The beam looks identical to the beam of my Herc.
In this snap You can see clearly a sort of second beam (a big beam and a very thin second beam). And this appear only at a warm device, like mine. I do not understand why this happen.
I also have some pointers built with the cheap-but-good o-like 100 green modules, but this do not happen.
This issue probably happens only with high powered DPSS green lasers.
I think that the x10 expander can significantly reduce the problem!
If You have time and strenght, You can make another video with Your Herc with the beam expander in action! :beer:

Hovewer, this is a little miracle:



Really, a portable green laser to mention in the book guinness records!

.. and a nice video with another Hercules 650 in action:

Cheers.

Richard.

 

[Smeerworst]

Hi there.. Minamoto

That's a nice video... Don't know if you know but that video is from me also ^^

EUhmm i have maybe a nice video for you with the hercules in some outside usage..

The video is from a timeline in the video... maybe you wanne see the whole video, i dunno ^^

But it starts here..

Polarion PH40 and o'light SR90 - YouTube


This is still a video without the beam expander as you can see.
With the beam expander however it looks like :lasergun:

I promise you.

.....................................

best wishes and safe lasering.

SM..

P.s. I'm glad things worked out for you with the beam expander not being right. (See topic here : http://laserpointerforums.com/f45/l...but-big-problems-beam-expander-10x-69905.html)
You were right.....

Also from me ''Thnx Mr. Justin and Mr. Scott for the support.'' for another hercules laser owner from Laserglow.

Don't you like yours aswell... I do.

Support is Great!

Cheers to all included in his problem and for the service.

-And in the in the meantime ''keep'' shooting some nice video's or photo's from it...
SM..

Gold plated Hercules, who knows.

 

[Minamoto Kobayashi]

Hello again! :wave:
Yesterday I have received 8 Tenergy premium 10.000 mAh and a great Ansmann energy8 plus charger, but I have some kind of troubles.
The first time that I have inserted the batteries, the charging time was not 15 hours or so, but much less.
And when I have reiserted the batteries in the charger, the charging starts again for another 2 hours. And the third time, about an hours. Now about 30 minutes.
Is this normal?
It seems that the batteries cannot reach the max of the storage during the first charging.
I hope do not have faulty charger or faulty batteries!

P.S. Tenergy can be recharged up to 1000 times. If I reinsert the batteries more times to reach the full capacity, I shorten the recharging life of the batteries, also without using they?

Richard.