Okay, I did it. *I modded it*

So here's what I did - I took it apart, moved the little turny thing until it was really bright and then it turned off, so I turned it back a little. *that was fine*

But then I noticed that it got REALLY REALLY bright when I touched the metal peice that I was using to turn the pot to the outer case.

So I ran a wire from the little pot to the casing. *I set it up to make sure it doens't move around and short something out* and also moved the little diode *loosened it and then "aligned" it and made a little mark to make sure it was aligned properly* and when I turned it on... WOW.

I can't leave it on for more than 30 seconds, it starts to get warm, but it's VERY bright. Bright enough that when I shine it at a white wall less than 5 feet away, it is very hard for me to look at it without at least looking away or something.

I wish I had a little meter to sort of scale HOW much output it is, but I don't have a multimeter to be able to tell what the Draw is from the diode or whatever you'd measure... but I saw those little things you shoot your laser into and it tells you what the MW rating is and I was thinking that'd be neat to get.

Anyway, I guess based on pics that I've seen that it's probably around 20-30 mw, (and I did NOT touch the IRfilter - that was staying on) but I'm interested if there's any real low-tech ways basically of telling or if there's any methods anyone knows of that I'd be able to check out?

Anyway - Just wanted to say "I'm a hypocrite" for saying that I wouldn't mod it and then I do a two-stage mod on it lol. And to see if there are maybe some comparison shots that I'd be able to say "yeah, my laser looks like that one" for output to get an idea of what I'm playing with here.

Anyway, that's my little story /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Oh yeah, thanks to LaserModifier for the awesome walkthrough on how to do it safely - I wouldn't have been able to do it successfully without that /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

your laser is going to die pretty quick with the "shorting the pot mod". Just remember that heat is the worst enemy of the diode.

Okay, is there a better way to do it? I didn't realise that I was shorting the pot by going directly to the shell...That and as soon as I feel any heat at all, I turn it off - I don't abuse it, just use it mostly for short bursts to show people *Wow I have a green laser, look how bright it is!* /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Bigger diode, with a custom casing with heat sinks.

well, I ment is there a better way to get a similar output with the same diode/heatsink and what is the life expectancy of the diode currently if I leave it as a pot shortout? (previously 4-5000 hours, "Sony 5995" diode?) I don't know if that makes any difference at all anyway.

Well, not really. Yes thats the way to get the most power, but seriously shortens the life. the only other way is to start changing resistors instead of shorting the pot, which is more or less the same, just feeding the diode more current. But, if you use resistors you can set the current so it isn't quite as high as shorting the pot, giving you a bit more life and still having a seriously bright laser

Ahhh I see. Sounds silly, but what about putting a resistor between the diode short and the casing? Would that work? And what resistance ohms would/should I use? I'm really bad at soldering and the last thing I need to do is make it NOT work at all.
*I'm also getting another Leadlight 4.99mw in about 3 days so I'll either only pot mod that one or leave it as factory*

Thanks for all your help by the way /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

beamshots?

"I'm also getting another Leadlight 4.99mw in about 3 days"

where did you buy / order it, and how much for it ?

[ QUOTE ]
thesurefire said:
beamshots?

[/ QUOTE ]

Sadly, I don't have a digital cam to take shots with... Perhaps a webcam pic is in order? It'll suck but be better than nothing I guess /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


[ QUOTE ]
TTaz said:
"I'm also getting another Leadlight 4.99mw in about 3 days"

where did you buy / order it, and how much for it ?

[/ QUOTE ]

Wickedlasers.com, 79$
Is that bad, because I heard that's one of the better ones with the same Leadlight manafacurer product or something. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Okay, here's a crappy webcam pic at roughly 6 feet away.



I don't have enough humidity nor is the camera sensitive enough to pick up the beam but it's definitely there /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Wow. That is very cool. I think I'll do the same mod /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Re: Okay, I did it. *I modded it* RE: Enigmahack

Laser Power Meter /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Here is a simple way of determing the power, instead of an ammeter - do you have a digital voltmeter?

If so, hook a green LED (not the crystal type) to the two terminals and set to mesure mV. You'll notice the display changing if you move your hand across the LED - it is measuring light. Now (in a darkened room to make it a fair test) shine your mod laser directly down the LED by placing it on the front of the aperture.

A wicked extreme 40mw gives out 1763mV.

Hope this helps... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Oh, and a note about shorting to the case I have done a test and it seems by doing this the only limitation to the power is the batteries itself - don't put new batteries in or you may blow it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Check ma bad laser cha'mone! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Re: Okay, I did it. *I modded it* RE: Enigmahack

[ QUOTE ]
LaserModifier said:
Laser Power Meter /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Here is a simple way of determing the power, instead of an ammeter - do you have a digital voltmeter?

If so, hook a green LED (not the crystal type) to the two terminals and set to mesure mV. You'll notice the display changing if you move your hand across the LED - it is measuring light.

[/ QUOTE ]

NICE!! That's awesome - So just a regular led will work? Awesome - thanks for the tip /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

so... 1763 mv = 40mw, so were's looking at roughly 44.075 mv/mw then, so... Okay. Cool.

Thanks so much for the tip man. Appreciated /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Re: Okay, I did it. *I modded it* RE: Enigmahack

Hmmm, where did you get 44.075 from?

The meter I have suggested cannot work out the actual optical output in 'mW' of your laser because there is a difference between mV (milliVolts) and mW (milliWatts) and not just a straight forward calculation (unless anyone knows of any?).

However, if you use an ammeter instead of a voltmeter to the LED, we can then work out an estimate from the following formula (it won't work with the voltage on the multimeter - something to do with the way the LED works):

Power (mW) = Current (from ammeter mA) x Voltage (batteries in mV)

NB: Be sure all values are in 'milli' first.
There are 1000 milli-units to every full unit.

So to work out the voltage from the batteries (3volts but average is 2.8v) is 2800mV.


That gives us:

Power (mW) = Current (from ammeter mA) x 2800


If you don't have an ammeter, measuring the power in mV can be used as a reference as I think most people are likely to have a voltmeter lying around yet ammeters are not as common. The wicked extreme laser I have has been verified by them to be around 40mW (at least that was written on the envelope). So with the meter showing 1763 with this laser, I think its safe to assume that this can be used as a unit of measure when checking other laser pointers.

My modified laser gives out 1812mV, so as a rough estimate - hmmm higher than 40mW anyway even though I cannot see any visual difference in the brightness. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Hope this helps...

Re: Okay, I did it. *I modded it* RE: Enigmahack

"Power (mW) = Current (from ammeter mA) x Voltage (batteries in mV)"

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif

----> arf.... I don't know if the Power you talk about is the optical output power, but ... you CAN'T calculate this by multiplying the batteries's voltage by the measure of the current flowing through a LED placed "in" the beam....

----> consumed power (about 300mA for 3V) ~= 900 mW has nothing to do with optical output power.... there's a notion of efficiency... in this particular example : 40mW / 900mW ~= 4.4 %

Re: Okay, I did it. *I modded it* RE: Enigmahack

Well, I was thinking: 1763 mv = 40 mw. 1763/40 = 44.075mv per mw. I didn't even consider this not being accurate so much as I don't know the relationship between a mv and mw
*For god sakes Jim, I'm a musician, not an engineer*

Anyway, that being said, I was a rather simplistic calculation however it seemed to work for me lol. In any case, it doesn't matter - I don't have a digimeter or green LED handy to use /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Not YET anyway!