WL nano, mysterious glow...

[Alec]

Okay, so I wake up this morning and get a fresh batch of batteries I slide them into my 405nm Nano and I can see the diode glowing, and I haven't turned it on... I can usually see a faint glow when it has sunlight down the barrel but it is really bright now! :O (not laser bright but )

Anyone have ANY idea what is going on?

 

[bloompyle]

Loose connection to the switch perhaps. Though that is strange.

 

[Things]

yup, you can do the same thing by using your finger as a connection between the battery and barrel.

 

[SKeeZ]

ahhh yes, i had this problem one time when i droped a flashlight to the bottom of a lake. the water made a weak connection in the switch, similar to putting a high resistance resistor across the switch. i couldn't figure it out, i just thought it was remarkable it still worked. so yeah, check if there is some weakly conductive substance/material bridging your switch. The other option is that since these are new batteries, the wraping may be damaged thus letting current leak from just one battery to the driver circut. this could also cause a low glow.

 

[djQUAN]

IIRC the nano is a pen style pointer? if so the switch is on the side. It might be that moisture got into the switch making enough of a connection to make it glow but not fully turn it on.

 

[Alec]

Yeah it is probably bad batteries
I'll get a new pair later
And if it breaks, I'll try put a 450nm diode it in!!

 

[Speedy78]

I was going to say to lay of the drugs but there seems to be a legit reason this would happen. Learn something new everyday.

Though I cant seem to replicate it on any of mine with my finger as a bridge.

 

[Alec]

It does go away when you pull the batteries out, and you can see the laser dot when you hold the laser close to things, so it is getting power...

 

[Blaster]

Would have to.indicate not enough current is getting to the diode, i tried on my power supply and a 405nm little while ago and when the current was down to 15 ma from around 110ma at full power it was a very dim spot,just turning up the current up a little bit and brightness jumped up quite a bit but, remember violet lasers are hard to see at the best of times especially around 5mw level

 

[Smeerworst]

The driver used in the Nano's eat current when it's off.
It is the IC Chip waiting for the single or double click on the button.

Store the nano with battery's removed when not using it.

Cheers, Sm.

 

[SKeeZ]

Get you finger damp. It has to phisically bridge the switch, this may be difficult to replicate though