Wickedlasers power drop

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badhorsey

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Jun 15, 2004
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I've just got a 40mw Wicked laser from a chap on eBay. It doesn't output 40mw though; apparently the power dropped to around 5mw two months after he bought it.

I'm wondering if the crystal alignment / pot setting has gone out of goose. Theories welcome!

If not - has anyone disassembled a Wicked yet? If I have to lead the way I'll document it for everyone.
 
I would guess laser diode degradation - and that we are going to see a lot of that in the coming weeks and months on these selected/modded higher-power units.

What is the operating current of the pointer? Can you measure it using a ammeter and report? If it is below 350mA there is no way it can be making 40mW... If it is around 350mA it should be making much more than 5mW.

cheers
 
I don't know - I haven't tried taking it to bits yet. Wicked Lasers use more powerful pump diodes I believe? It was certainly outputting 40mw before - it could burn through bags.
 
Green lasers (not necessarily Wicked's in particular) are known for this sort of problem:

http://www.photonics.com/spectra/research/XQ/ASP/preaid.164/QX/read.htm

It is quite difficult to make a shock and temperature stable "frequency doubled" laser. (Solid state green lasers use frequency doubler techology consisting of a 1064 nm laser diode and an "optical resonant cavity" frequency multiplier to get 532 nm light.)
 
Hello,:awman:

I had a 70mw Wicked do almost the same thing. After a few hours of use (total accumulated - not at once) mine dropped from 65-70 down to 30mw. I always used a max 50% duty cycle never on >60sec at once. Handled with kid gloves. It would spike to full power for an instant then quickly fade. Measured 540mA of current draw - regardless of optical output (high or low). I was too leery of destroying the finish dismantling it. Its quite different than the garden 105. Wicked does use upgraded 500mw IR pump diodes (compared to the 105's 350). The cause here is accumulated damage to the pump diode - thermal stress. Only thing you could try is readjusting the pot. I went in through the button and tried for the pot - no luck there. Like trying to drive a car faster with a flat tire. From the looks of the case the front section may detatch from the case but I dont know if it is press fitted or threaded (i wish). Contacted Wicked they said "out of warranty, send it in throw us $150 and we'll send you a Nexus". Not bad, but not what I wanted. I'd wind up with a $500 Nexus and maybe the same problem again. I've been waiting for someone to post something about a Wicked "autopsy" with pictures. Mines just been gathering dust. Its a pretty looking 30mw pointer now. Best bet is try disassembling it and swap a new module into the case, or replace the pump diode on the existing board. I was planning on just fitting it with a new complete module myself. I have a 105 that is a consistent 55mW that would be the donor. I've been reluctant to damage the Wicked's case. Go for it and post the pics! Or try contacting Wicked they would probably offer you the same trade in deal. Good luck with it in any case.



:candle:
 
Your best bet is to turn DOWN the LD current, now that it has degraded. At least it will remain useful longer. 540mA is WAY too high for a 30mW output of course, and will only accelerate the death of that diode.

The diode may be rated at 500mW output, and you may have babied it, but the fact is that the pointer's thermal system is not capable of conducting the heat out of the diode to the air. There are after all NO heatsink fins and the surface area of a pointer is just not large enough to effectively dissipate the >1 watt that diode and drive circuit evolve. So the diode gets toasted over time, several classic semiconductor failure modes combine to reduce the lifetime of a laser diode...

I've seen pointer specs claiming 3000-5000 hour lifetimes of the LD, this is likely taken from Sanyo or Sony's diode spec sheet, and these figures are for a properly heatsinked (or actively TEC cooled) assembly, not a cheap screwed together brass optics/barrel assembly press fit into a skinny tube with no thermal compound.

It's a shame really
 
Re: Wickedlasers power drop? Mine went "UP"!

I bought what supposed to be a 5mw GREEN laser pointer from "On PointLasers, Inc" (formerly known as De Harpporte Trading Co. since 1992). Bought mine from ole Dean himself and from what I know green lasers work different than the conventional red laser pointers. Some start out with a bright light and go down to a weak beam or like mine, the beam starts out same brightness as a 3mw red laser, but gets brighter and MUCH BRIGHTER to where it is "hard on the EYES to look at" YOUCH! I will never point it at the wall or on the side of the house no more!!! I bought mine in 2001 and it still works! I had a friend tested it out with a meter and says it goes from 5mw up to 40mw. It goes from bright to VERY VERY bright. Why, i dunno (?)

From what i was told, i had to keep it in my shirt pocket against my chest where it is warm, or hold between both hands and rub or put under my arm pit for a minute to "warm it up" then, turn it on.. that'll make the beam come on good and strong right away, instead of waiting.. I can put in fresh AAA alkaline batteries in it and it still starts with a dim light unless i "WARM IT UP A BIT". I suggest to you all NEVER PUT A LASER POINTER OVER A FIRE OR VERY HOT AREA CAUSE THE HEAT CAN RUIN IT!!! Use yer body heat to warm it up... That's all i hafta say for now. Robt...
 
Righty, the laser is here! This is my first encounter with a Wicked. It's a nice bit of kit and nicely packaged in a wooden box.

In operation - well, it is very bright indeed and a very tightly focussed spot with no artifacts. Getting a reading is going to be fun though. Looking into the barrel I can see a threaded conduit, with the laser head about 1.5cm behind the aperture! I'm going to have a look see if I've got any smaller green diode, but will need to adjust the uw/2.8 formula accordingly I think.

Even though it's not outputting 40mw (I reckon around 14-8mw by the brightness of the beam), it's still a very nice laser.

But that's not going to stop me dismantling it...
 
Spot-On, Corona! [sorry I couldnt resist]

Excellently put, and I concur strongly with your statements. I agree the strict limitation of heat dissapation inherent in the pen-style designs is their Achille's heel. My Wicked pointer was the learning tool for that. Ultimately, because I really wanted unlimited duty cycle and overbuilt, understressed components I migrated to a pair of Optotronics most excellent PPL 200+ mW modules [2x C-cell]. Now all the worry factor is absent. They are built with the integrity matching the original Hummer design to off-road-duty. With the 9-position power selector I can range from 30mW to 220mW in fairly linear steps. Best of all, leave 'em on till the batteries die. The manufacturer does a 40 hour continuous burn it before shipping. They are built with a huge safety window for thermal dissipation.. You are right it is kind of sad. Most all the mega mods for Leadlights are really just trying to force enough electricity through the IR pump to get 40W from a 10W bulb so to speak. Degradation and attrition are imminent.

Well, Badhorsey, I see you've decided to operate! Good luck my friend and PLEEEASE take detailed pics and describe the gory details. I'l get mine off the shelf and be right behind ya! I dont have the cojones to be the trailblazer (guinea pig?) here. I would really appreciate it!

:thanks:
 
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