What is going on?

[NightExplorer96]

IDK, Alex. I guess that 477nm laser spoiled me. I can't get excited about 20 mW of 473nm when I have 127 mW of 477nm. Sure hope to see more of those diodes. Had I known what I do now, I'd have gotten more when they were available.

Haha, don't blame ya paul

-Alex

 

[diachi]

Jumping to "crystals misaligned" without any other discussion seems a bit fast off the mark - especially with no mention of being dropped or otherwise subject to abuse.

Could be the LD, could be bad batteries, could be the driver, could be the temperature, a bad contact somewhere. Could be a whole host of things with DPSS. More troubleshooting needs to be done before writing it off as "crystals misaligned".

 

[NightExplorer96]

That's the thing, I'm not sure if I should keep it, or try to get a new unit :/

-Alex

 

[Rivem]

That's the thing, I'm not sure if I should keep it, or try to get a new unit :/

-Alex

Just keep it at least a few more months Alex! You've got to see if you can jump on the new diode bandwagon. I guess if the seller can help you, that's a different story.

As for the issue, it's probably on the electrical side due to temperatures, as I said earlier, the LBO won't be helped by being colder at start. Much easier to fix, but it's still difficult since it's a pen.

 

[NightExplorer96]

Just keep it at least a few more months Alex! You've got to see if you can jump on the new diode bandwagon. I guess if the seller can help you, that's a different story.

As for the issue, it's probably on the electrical side due to temperatures, as I said earlier, the LBO won't be helped by being colder at start. Much easier to fix, but it's still difficult since it's a pen.

Okay! Yeah, it's still a pretty nice pen, even though it only outputs 2nW's on average

What do you think? :undecided:

-Alex

 

[Encap]

Okay! Yeah, it's still a pretty nice pen, even though it only outputs 2nW's on average

-Alex

Is still a nice 2mW pen.

Could be a lot of different things causing the lower output.
Clean and the electrical contact points and and try a different new/fresh battery as well.

 

[NightExplorer96]

Is still a nice 2mW pen.

Could be a lot of different things causing the lower output.
Clean and the electrical contact points and and try a different new/fresh battery as well.

Thanks Encap!

I just tried a fresh new $6 CR2 Energizer I bought yesterday and same problem. The laser just won't put anything past 2mW's now. Like I mentioned before, I left it on my windowsill for about 2 hours and got a quick 5mW peak before it dipped back to 2mW's

-Alex

 

[CurtisOliver]

There are too many factors that could be causing your issue. Still, it is a nice laser.
Even temperature deviation of the pump diode could cause power loss in 473's so it too hard to say without any tell-tale signs.

 

[NightExplorer96]

There are too many factors that could be causing your issue. Still, it is a nice laser.
Even temperature deviation of the pump diode could cause power loss in 473's so it too hard to say without any tell-tale signs.

Hey Curtis,

Yeah. Oh well. It works as a pointer which is what I need it for, so I'm happy

-Alex

 

[CurtisOliver]

Yes it does.
Not being too high power means you can appreciate the wavelength more which is a plus.

 

[NightExplorer96]

Yes it does.
Not being too high power means you can appreciate the wavelength more which is a plus.

Yes! I've tried burning for awhile but it gets boring for me after awhile. I much rather have a rainbow across my room then a high powered beam. Unfortunately with pointers, the rainbow doesn't last very long since they are such small hosts.

-Alex

 

[CurtisOliver]

Well, you just run out of things to burn.
Yes, it seems to get that way after awhile. I used to be 'the more power the better' but now I appreciate wavelength and beam spec more. Although if a new 10W 450nm came out tomorrow i'd still get it.
Maybe you should get some pointer converted to large hosts with better cooling?

 

[NightExplorer96]

Well, you just run out of things to burn.
Yes, it seems to get that way after awhile. I used to be 'the more power the better' but now I appreciate wavelength and beam spec more. Although if a new 10W 450nm came out tomorrow i'd still get it.
Maybe you should get some pointer converted to large hosts with better cooling?

Maybe... so far these pointers suit me fine!

-Alex

 

[Ivansuper]

Hello, Hap!
I had a very similar issue with my PGL-III-C@561nm. After a few weeks it dimmed a lot. Well, as a bad solution I tried to knock it a few times, so then I received a 0.01mW pointer.
I don't know the exact reason of this happening, but there was a misalignment. A temperature change was causing it to mode hop more frequently, maybe because the crystals were changing its position a bit when I was cooling laser's radiator/head with water.
So I had it reassembled and realligned and now it works. But now I cannot use it because I am unable to align the resonator in a way so it would lase straight through the apperture's hole. In other words, the axis is broken and it lases "into itself" (the output cap s blocking the beam).
That is, you probably have the similar issue. The bigger problem is that PGL-III-C are far more easy to disassemble with a set of screws and minimal amoung of glue used.
Another problem might be in the diode. These modules are using multimode diodes as far as I know and I saw some visible multimodes not lasing "at full power" for some reason missing some of ther modes.
Yet, if you would like I can send you my spartan 473 because now I got another 473nm laser and I don't need this spartan anymore. I will do this for free because I had it disassembled, but it still lases and you can use it to try to align a 473nm laser and experiment with it, don't know... :yh:

Ivan.

 

[Rivem]

Hello, Hap!
I had a very similar issue with my PGL-III-C@561nm. After a few weeks it dimmed a lot. Well, as a bad solution I tried to knock it a few times, so then I received a 0.01mW pointer.
I don't know the exact reason of this happening, but there was a misalignment. A temperature change was causing it to mode hop more frequently, maybe because the crystals were changing its position a bit when I was cooling laser's radiator/head with water.
So I had it reassembled and realligned and now it works. But now I cannot use it because I am unable to align the resonator in a way so it would lase straight through the apperture's hole. In other words, the axis is broken and it lases "into itself" (the output cap s blocking the beam).
That is, you probably have the similar issue. The bigger problem is that PGL-III-C are far more easy to disassemble with a set of screws and minimal amoung of glue used.
Another problem might be in the diode. These modules are using multimode diodes as far as I know and I saw some visible multimodes not lasing "at full power" for some reason missing some of ther modes.
Yet, if you would like I can send you my spartan 473 because now I got another 473nm laser and I don't need this spartan anymore. I will do this for free because I had it disassembled, but it still lases and you can use it to try to align a 473nm laser and experiment with it, don't know... :yh:

Ivan.

Great to hear from somebody that's actually dealt with these issues! That's pretty cool of you to offer a practice laser! +rep

Also, why don't you post some photos of that awesome collection in the "member collections" section?

If Hap doesn't want to try aligning the Spartan, I'd like to give it a go.

 

[NightExplorer96]

Hello, Hap!
I had a very similar issue with my PGL-III-C@561nm. After a few weeks it dimmed a lot. Well, as a bad solution I tried to knock it a few times, so then I received a 0.01mW pointer.
I don't know the exact reason of this happening, but there was a misalignment. A temperature change was causing it to mode hop more frequently, maybe because the crystals were changing its position a bit when I was cooling laser's radiator/head with water.
So I had it reassembled and realligned and now it works. But now I cannot use it because I am unable to align the resonator in a way so it would lase straight through the apperture's hole. In other words, the axis is broken and it lases "into itself" (the output cap s blocking the beam).
That is, you probably have the similar issue. The bigger problem is that PGL-III-C are far more easy to disassemble with a set of screws and minimal amoung of glue used.
Another problem might be in the diode. These modules are using multimode diodes as far as I know and I saw some visible multimodes not lasing "at full power" for some reason missing some of ther modes.
Yet, if you would like I can send you my spartan 473 because now I got another 473nm laser and I don't need this spartan anymore. I will do this for free because I had it disassembled, but it still lases and you can use it to try to align a 473nm laser and experiment with it, don't know... :yh:

Ivan.

Thanks for your input Ivan! Yeah, these more exotic wavelengths are a real pain to get working if they aren't in a proper lab unit setting. They would work somewhat in a PGL host I assume, but in pointers it's just luck due to no TEC or cooling whatsoever.

I would gladly take your Spartan, but I'd have absolutely no clue on how to re-align that bad boy. I've never even tried to realign a 532, so 473 would be like learning physics for me

Great to hear from somebody that's actually dealt with these issues! That's pretty cool of you to offer a practice laser! +rep

Also, why don't you post some photos of that awesome collection in the "member collections" section?

If Hap doesn't want to try aligning the Spartan, I'd like to give it a go.

You can have it Rivem if you'd like, I don't think I'd be able to do any re-aligning. I'd like to see photos however

-Alex