# Just received the 100mW 473nm blue laser from Ebay!!!



## The_LED_Museum (Jul 31, 2006)

Just received the 100mW 473nm blue DPSS laser from Ebay.
At my mother's request, I took it outside the home to fire it up and take a power reading...I got a reading of over 120mW on a laser power meter specifically designed for that purpose.

No photogtaphs yet. I'll start my web page on it at once; go to the Review forum later on today to see when I've posted my evaluation of it.


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## allthatwhichis (Jul 31, 2006)

:rock: :goodjob: :huh: :wow:  :twothumbs   :bow:

Hurry up with the pictures...


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## The_LED_Museum (Jul 31, 2006)

The review just went up a couple of minutes ago!!! 
http://ledmuseum.candlepower.us/sixth/100bdpss.htm


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## allthatwhichis (Jul 31, 2006)

NICE! It's soooo tiny! :huh: Your web page has some meta chode at the top of your review. Have you ever though of building a nice show?


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## PhotonWrangler (Jul 31, 2006)

Yow!  :huh:


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## jkaiser3000 (Jul 31, 2006)

me wants one


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## Bionic-Badger (Aug 1, 2006)

$1,000? Too rich for my blood, but a good deal still.


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 1, 2006)

I telling ya, you gotta get this one next...


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 1, 2006)

I wish I could, but I don't have that kind of money. 

I was able to purchase this 100mW blue laser because one of the advertisers on my website paid for their banners (yes, plural) a year in advance. And that's the primary reason I allow banners on neutral parts of my website in the first place - so that every now and again I can purchase photonic products for my website that I might not otherwise be able to afford. :thumbsup:


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## mol666 (Aug 1, 2006)

The_LED_Museum said:


> Just received the 100mW 473nm blue DPSS laser from Ebay.
> At my mother's request, I took it outside the home to fire it up and take a power reading...I got a reading of over 120mW on a laser power meter specifically designed for that purpose.
> 
> No photogtaphs yet. I'll start my web page on it at once; go to the Review forum later on today to see when I've posted my evaluation of it.



Pics


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 1, 2006)

The_LED_Museum said:


> I wish I could, but I don't have that kind of money.
> 
> I was able to purchase this 100mW blue laser because one of the advertisers on my website paid for their banners (yes, plural) a year in advance. And that's the primary reason I allow banners on neutral parts of my website in the first place - so that every now and again I can purchase photonic products for my website that I might not otherwise be able to afford. :thumbsup:


 
Hmmm, that's a nice set up... I wish I lived in an area where I could get broadband. That way I could make some money from these stupid metal boxes I have lying around sucking up electricity... 

I guess you'll just have to make your own... I just ordered that 10 to 40mW adjustable. You're just too sow with your review...  I guess your's would have to arrive before you can do the review.  That's a good example of my patients when it comes to my hobbies.


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 1, 2006)

You know, I purchased one of those 10-40mW red laser modules two days ago...maybe I'll have it up on my website before you receive yours! :nana:  :nana:


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 1, 2006)

:touche:


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 5, 2006)

Since some people cannot access my website, I'll post the evaluation of this laser right here...






*WHAT IS IT?*
(In reference to the package I received from China at 2:54pm PDT on 07-31-06):
{_sung like the Foreigner song "Feels Like the First Time"_}




This is just the second blue DPSS laser I have seen. It is advertised to have an output of 100mW at 473nm in the blue region of the spectrum. It is **NOT** intended to be used as a pointer or as a cat toy; it is far, far, FAR too powerful for that.

The product consists of four components: a laser head designed to be affixed to a heatsink, the heatsink itself, a driver circuit, and a power supply that plugs into any three-slot 100 to 240 volts AC 50Hz or 60Hz power receptacle.





SIZE

*HOW TO USE IT*
To use this laser, get your hands on a standard IEC cord (this type of cord is most commonly found connecting your computer to AC power; you should be able to find them inexpensively at a computer store), and plug the female end into the switching power supply furnished with this laser. Plug the end of the thin cord from this power supply into the receptacle for it in the laser's driver circuit.

Plug the end of the AC cord into any three-slot 100 to 240 volts AC 50Hz or 60Hz power receptacle, and wait for several seconds (5.5 seconds, measured) for the laser to energize and begin producing a beam. This delay is intentional, so that the unit complies with CDRH rules for a Class IIIb device.

A beam emission indicator LED in the driver assembly comes on after this delay to let you know that the laser is operating.

When you're finished using it, unplug the power supply from the wall.

If you intend to use this laser for more than several minutes at a time, it is recommended you affix the included heat sink to the bottom of the laser head using screws that you furnish yourself. I do not know the shaft diameter or thread pitch of the screws; and judging by the size of the cutouts in the laser head for them, you'll very probably need washers too.

From an email I received from the seller: _"The screws are metric m3 type screws"_.


*FEEDING TIME*
Because this product is designed to be line-powered, this section can and will be skipped.

Current consumption is not yet known; I'd rather not cut up a *$1,000.00* device I paid perfectly good money for until *AFTER* the warranty period has expired.






*THE PUNISHMENT ZONE!*
This is a laser, not a flashlight. So I won't whack it against a steel rod or against the concrete floor of an outdoor patio, run over it with a 450lb electric wheelchair, try to drown it in the toliet bowl or the cistern, throw it, let my housemate's kitties go #1 on it, stomp on it, or subject it to other abuses that a flashlight might have to endure.

Blue diode lasers are a lot different than those common red lasers you see all the time.

In a 640nm red laser pointer, there's a red-emitting diode and a lens to collimate (focus) the beam.

In a 473nm blue DPSS laser, there's a BIG infrared laser diode that generates laser light at 808nm, this is fired into a crystal called Nd:YVO4 (containing neodymium yttrium vanadium oxide) that lases at 946nm; this laser radiation is finally fired into a crystal called LBO (containing lanthanum boron oxide) that doubles the frequency to 473nm - the bright blue color you see. This light is then collimated (focused) by a lens and emerges out the laser's "business end". Just before the lens, there's a filter that removes any stray IR (infrared) radiation from the pump diode & Nd:YVO4 crystal.
You don't want that stuff in your blue beam, trust me.





This is why blue diode lasers are so much more expensive than red ones. Lots of itty bitty parts, and they all need to be aligned by hand. If the polarisation is "off", one of the crystals needs to be turned. With red diode lasers, you just slap in the diode and slap a lens in front of it. 

*VERY IMPORTANT!!!* This laser is *NOT* a toy, and you *MUST NOT* shine it into your eyes, other people's eyes, pets' eyes, for that matter, the eyes of any person or animal you encounter.



Eye damage can occur faster than the blink reflex can protect them, regardless of what species' eyes you irradiate with this laser. So just don't do it.




And for heaven sakes (and for Pete sakes and for your sakes too) do not shine this laser at any vehicle, whether ground-based like a car or truck, or air-based like a helicopter, airplane, or jet. And if you shoot it at a person in the dark and he turns out to be a police officer, he may think he's being targeted, pull his gun, and hose you down with it.
This is a CDRH Class IIIb laser device. Treat it with respect, and it'll treat you with respect.

This laser is not water-resistant, so please be extra careful when using it around sinks, tubs, toliets, fishtanks, pet water bowls, or other places where water or water-like liquids might be found. And you'll probably want to cover it up or otherwise get rid of it (such as by putting it in a box or bag) if you need to carry it to some destination or other in rainy or snowy weather.

This laser is TE (thermoelectric) cooled; so it will be perfectly normal for the heatsink it is mounted on to become rather warm.

The driver circuit has an over-temperature auto-shutdown. When the temperature inside the laser gets higher than a set temperature (which I don't know), the driver circuit will turn off the laser. A red LED turns on to show that the protection is working. You should turn off the power and add a heat sink to the laser. It's purpose is to help save the laser's life



, please do not attempt to defeat it.

This laser appears to operate in CW (continuous wave) mode, not pulsed - unless the pulse repetition rate is too rapid to be detectable by visual means. And the closest mode I can identify that this laser appears to operate as is TEM00 (Transverse Electromagnetic Mode 00) - that is, the beam emerges mainly as a single spot with a gaussian power distribution.








Beam photograph at 12".
Beam image bloomed *SUBSTANTIALLY*; it is not white in the center.
Measures *over 120mW* on a laser power specifically intended for that purpose.







Beam photograph at ~10'.
Beam image also bloomed *SUBSTANTIALLY*; it is not white in the center.

Those rectangular graphic things at the upper left are marquees from:
Midway ''Omega Race''
Sega ''Star Trek''
Williams ''Joust''
Venture Line ''Looping'
Universal ''Mr. Do!'s Castle''
Jaleco ''Exerion''
Gremlin/Sega ''Astro Blaster''
Atari ''Tempest''
upright coin-op arcade video games from the 1980s.

And that red star thing on the marquees is from an American DJ Laser Widow.







Beam itself, using the spray from an aerosol bomb to make the beam visible.






Beam itself, just shining in a room in somewhat subdued light.






Beam on a ceiling, using a strong magnifying optic to show the beam shape.
**** VERY IMPORTANT *** !!!*
The dark spots do not actually exist in the beam!!!
They are from the lens assembly, not the laser!!!!!






Beam itself outdoors, using smoke to make the beam visible.






Beam itself outdoors; no smoke at all was used.





Beam itself indoors; the new camera was used.
This is a tobacco-free home, so no smoke was used.





Beam spot on a structure ~200 feet away in full daylight (4:28pm PST 11-29-06).
Telephoto (9x) was used.





Spectrometer plot of this laser.
Ocean Optics USB2000 Spectrometer on loan from [email protected].







And here's a photograph of an Exveemon plush with this laser. Exveemon is blue, and has a weapon called a "Vee Laser".
Veemon, digivolve to...EXVEEMON!!!<BR>
{shouting} *VEEEEEE LASERRRRRRRRR!!!!!!*

The Vee Laser isn't blue, but Exveemon himself is, so I believed it appropriate for this web page.







Quicktime movie (.mov extension) showing the laser lighting a wooden match.
Laser safety goggles were placed in front of the camera lens, which is why no blue is visible.
It is approximately 4.1 megabytes (4,252,136 bytes); dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than twenty minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.


Quicktime movie (.mov extension) showing the laser trying to light a wooden match.
It is approximately 4.5 megabytes (4,864,928 bytes); dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than twenty five minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.
I cannot provide them in other formats, so please do not ask.


Quicktime movie (.mov extension) showing the laser popping a red party "ballon" (yes, it's spelled that way on the package they came in).
It is approximately 0.7 megabytes (796,692 bytes); dial-up users please be aware.
It will take no less than five minutes to load at 48.0Kbps.



*TEST NOTES*:
Test unit was purchased on Ebay on 07-14-06, and was received at 2:54pm PDT on 07-31-06.








*PROS*:
Unique, attention-getting color that's radiant and unusual for a small laser
Beam is "clean", with no visible speckling or artifacts around it
Unique, attention-getting color...o wait I said that already.






*CONS*
Fragile interior construction - like all DPSS lasers. Will not figure into my rating
Not water-resistant - but most other DPSS lasers aren't either. Will not figure into my rating
CDRH warning label is not on the laser or its driver.



*PRODUCT RATING:*









*The highest rating I can award to a DPSS laser is
4 1/2 stars, so this is as good as it gets!!!*


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 5, 2006)

Definatly a "dark" movie... I don't think you'll with a cinimatography awards... My 100mW green will not light a match...  It should... shouldn't it?


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 5, 2006)

The movie is dark because I used a pair of blue-blocking argon laser safety goggles in front of the camera; the yellow spot visible is intentional so the user can see where the beam terminus is. The instructional material furnished with the goggles states they attenuate all radiation below 515nm by 100,000X.

Had I not used the goggles in the movie, the image would have bloomed drastically, and the match igniting might not even be visible.

100mW of laser radiation at any visible or near-visible wavelength should light a match if the beam diameter is small enough.


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## PhotonWrangler (Aug 6, 2006)

One word of advice if you're anywhere near Craig's backyard... *DUCK!!!*  :laughing:


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 8, 2006)

allthatwhichis said:


> ...I just ordered that 10 to 40mW adjustable. You're just too sow with your review...  I guess your's would have to arrive before you can do the review.


As of 2:29pm PDT today, it came!!! 
Now I'll go away and hide...er...uh..._start working on its web page_. :thumbsup:


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 8, 2006)

The_LED_Museum said:


> As of 2:29pm PDT today, it came!!!
> Now I'll go away and hide...er...uh..._start working on its web page_. :thumbsup:


 
Cool! I just sent an email after mine. It was supposed to be 2 to 3 day shipping... At least it arrived. Quick... measure it...


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 8, 2006)

Measures 174.0µW on low and 41.6mW on high.


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 9, 2006)

The_LED_Museum said:


> µW


Excuse me, I'm an ignorant ******* sometimes...  is that? 

And come one, where're the pictures. It's almost been 12 hours. You could have slept in that amount of time. I did...


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## jkaiser3000 (Aug 9, 2006)

174 μw=0.174mw 

μw is one thousandth of a mw, or one millionth of a watt, that is, very little power :lolsign:


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 9, 2006)

174μw is just a hair under 0.2mW; low power, yes, but some users may desire this reduced power level, which is a good thing.


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 9, 2006)

O, I C... Good for aligning...


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 12, 2006)

*BTTT* (*B*ash *T*oliet *T*oliet *T*oliet).
Added second movie clip to the evaluation.


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 12, 2006)

Is it supposed to light, or did you stop the clip just before ao the viewers would be blinded?

I still can't get my green to light a match... :scowl:

And what's that text under... *Feels like a flaaaaaash-liiiight...feels like a FLAAAA-aaaash-liiiight!!!
Feels like a flaaaaaash-liiiight...feels like a FL*[font=Verdana, Arial] 
[/font]


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 12, 2006)

It should read:

(In reference to the package I received from China at 2:54pm PDT on 07-31-06):
{_sung like the Foreigner song "Feels Like the First Time"_}
*Feels like a flaaaaaash-liiiight...feels like a FLAAAA-aaaash-liiiight!!!
Feels like a flaaaaaash-liiiight...feels like a FL* 

BREAK IN 32769
READY.
CONT

?OUT OF DATA ERROR IN 49152
READY.

Let's try that again...as soon as I saw the address on the package, I *knew* it wasn't a flashlight... 

CONT

?CAN'T CONTINUE ERROR
READY.
LIST 

10 POKE53280,15OKE53281,15OKE646,2RINT CHR$(147);
32767 READ A$
32768 PRINT A$
32769 PRINT A$
40960 END
49152 DATA "{b}Feels like a flaaaaaash-liiiight...feels like a {i}FLAAAA-aaaash-{/i}liiiight!!!{/b}"

READY.
49152 DTTA "{b}Feels like a laaaaaa-sssser...feels like a {i}LAAAAA-aaaaa-{/i}ssser!!!{/b}"
RUN

?SYNTAX ERROR IN 49152
READY.
49152 DATA "{b}Feels like a laaaaaa-sssser...feels like a {i}LAAAAA-aaaaa-{/i}ssser!!!{/b}"
RUN 

*Feels like a laaaaaa-sssser...feels like a LAAAAA-aaaaa-ssser!!!
Feels like a laaaaaa-sssser...feels like a LAAAAA-aaaaa-ssser!!!*

READY.


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 12, 2006)

O, it does, but is it supposed to?


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 12, 2006)

Yes, that was done intentionally.
I used to write programs on the Commodore 64 computer, and this attempts to duplicate some of the error messages you receive if you screw up.


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 12, 2006)

Ah... I though it looked like code... or as my old C++ teacher says chode.


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 17, 2006)

*BTTT* (*B*ash *T*oliet *T*oliet *T*oliet).
Added third movie clip to the evaluation.


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 18, 2006)

*BTTT* (*B*ash *T*oliet *T*oliet *T*oliet).
Added another beam photograph.


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## The_LED_Museum (Aug 31, 2006)

*BTTT* (*B*ash *T*oliet *T*oliet *T*oliet).
Added another beam photograph, using my backup camera since my primary camera is on the fritz..


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## allthatwhichis (Aug 31, 2006)

Nice beam shot man... You need to throw that beast into the widow!!!


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## The_LED_Museum (Sep 12, 2006)

*BTTT* (*B*ash *T*oliet *T*oliet *T*oliet).
Added another beam photograph.


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## flashfan (Sep 12, 2006)

Wow! Very, very cool.

Now if they could only evolve into a penlight and cost less than $50.00...I love to dream...on.


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## The_LED_Museum (Oct 14, 2006)

BTTT (*B*ash *T*urnip *T*urnip *T*urnip)
o wait, that might offend vegetarians...
(*B*eat *T*amale *T*amale *T*amale)
o wait, now that might offend those who like Mexican food...

(*B*eat *T*able *T*able *T*able)
New beam photograph added.


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## The_LED_Museum (Nov 30, 2006)

*BTTT* (*B*ash *T*able *T*able *T*able)
New beam photograph added.


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