# Review of my EXTREME, 100mW and 5mW from CNI



## bg2vo (Feb 5, 2005)

Hi everyone. I'm new here and this is my first post in the forum which I am reading for sometimes. I have the same hobby as many of us here and like to share my experience. Sorry for my English because its not my mother tongue.

I got the EXTREME from Wicked Lasers a month ago and very happy with it. Here is it with my 3W LED flash.







Then I got a Changchun CNI 5mW and 100mW in a group buy. Here is my three GLPs got together for the first time. In this hand held shot with normal room light, the beam from CNI 100mW(left) and the EXTREME(right) is clearly visible. However, you can barely see the 5mW's. 





I measure the output with my own Power meter. By adding a diffuser/absorber to a digital lux meter sensor, it read quite linearly with input laser power. I calibrate it by assuming that the EXTREME is 42mW. I also checked this with my best Green LED power meter which agree with the "1mw per 2.8uA" formula well. Actually the reading is 0.048mW per lux.






I hooked up my lux/power meter to my HP34401(6.5 digits multimeter) and it in turn connected to my Notebook thru RS232 to get the result against time with 1 second sample interval. 





For my poor 5mW(before replacement), here is the graph. All you can expect is way below its specified power and very heat sensitive.





For the EXTREME, I regarded it as very stable.






For the 100mW, it is not stable at all. The curve is also different each time I measure it.






This is the 'dot' from 100mW in 1.22km. It's less than 1.5m in diameter and is beam divergence is therfore under 1.3mrad(=1.5/1.22), matching the specified <1.2 mrad well.
(pic deleted)


I had the 5mW replaced and soon the new one arrived. I measured it by similar way and comes out very nicely: the reading reached 7.2mW in 5 second and increasing all the time(within 2min). It's a good sign that this GLP "likes" hot environment and withstand large current. Here is one of my recent measure:






After several days of play, I decided to modified them. Modification for the 5mW is straight forward. The most difficult part is to open the case. After the board and the pod is exposed, I tried different current and finally settled to 394mA. Things to notice: the pod locate differently than pictures I saw here(from other threads) and turn the pod clockwise will increase the current.


























After the mod, the current is 394mA, the power is over 40mW and show no sign of decreasing after 70 second!






Now this little 5mW can cut thin black trashbag and penetrate 16 layers in 5 seconds. It also smoke black plastic easily.


When I open the EXTREME, the pod is already at its maximum current position. I located the current-sense resistor(0.5 ohm), parallel it with a 1 ohm, and turn the pod to a position which I believe the output is good and fairly stable.






The power is now over 60mW at 33 degree Celsius(91F) and increased to over 80mW when I chilled it to 22 degree(72F).









Now this EXTREME can cut thin black trashbag 1 meter away and penetrate 16 layers in 2 seconds. It also slowly cut black tape (0.13mm thick).

Both of these can now burn wood with proper lens added(I use 35mm DC lens). Top left is the trace from the 5mW, bottom right is the EXTREME.






A few days ago, one of my other friend brought a 10mW at CNI and I modified it for him as well. The result is a stable 53mW with 362mA current.

There is no good news for the 100mW. Increasing the current barely change the output and power become even more unstable.

All this is summarized in the table below.






This is another measurement describe how the power is vary with current for CNI 5mW. Firstly, threshold is 116mA and there is nothing below this current. Secondly, There is a point where the output does not increase with current increase and even decrease! Thirdly, the output is going up rapidly after 330mA and still going strong at 390mA. Lastly, this modified GLP works well at voltage as low as 2.22V. Therefore, two rechargeable AAA will give out 80% of their energy before starting to dim.





-lymex zhang


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## StevieRay (Feb 5, 2005)

Nice review.

Where can I get the CNI 5mw pointer?


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## Bengal (Feb 5, 2005)

Very good post!
Reviews like this get rid of personal bias. 
Unarguable evidence of performance.
I would look forward to your reviews of other lasers if you can put them to the test
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif


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## CliffS (Feb 5, 2005)

Wow, awesome review.


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## Kiessling (Feb 5, 2005)

bg2vo ... very nice review and welcome to CPF ! 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif 

However, as there are regulations in the USA forbidding the use of a >5mW laser outside in absence of a proper license, I ask you to remove your (beautiful) pic of the beam at 1.22km, sorry. CPF is a US-based forum and given the current events with lasers we have to protect ourselves and should prevent dumb people from doing stupid thnigs with lasers, for example shining them around in town and claiming they saw this here.

bernhard


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## LaserMod (Feb 5, 2005)

bg2vo, welcome to CPF!

A very good post and some really interesting info /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/clap.gif

But yeah the first thing I thought when I saw the PGL-III flying off into the sky... eeek /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif not the best pic to post. A good example of how lasers will pinpoint your exact location though... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

For the rest of them /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/kewlpics.gif


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## wolfensteinx (Feb 5, 2005)

So you can burn wood with a 5mW green laser?


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## liteglow (Feb 5, 2005)

*wow*

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/goodjob.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bowdown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/kewlpics.gif

This was a great post /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
About that picture of laser into the sky, u can clearly se that the laser is pointing at a hill where the picture is taken (u can se the trees there) and at the next pic u can se the DOT hitting a wall (not a plane) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
(ok, that was only me trying to explane for people so stupid thinking that he was shooting a laser up in the air DAA) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif


Anyway... great that u did share all this to all the other here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif how did u modify the 100mW laser ??? 

Thanx


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## senecaripple (Feb 5, 2005)

*Re: wow*

well illustrated, in laymen's term, sorry i missed the some of the pix, it's understandable to err on the cautious side.


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## bg2vo (Feb 5, 2005)

Thank you all for the compliment! I feel quite honoured. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

I've edited my first post to removed the outside pic(as soon as I saw the feadback from Moderator) and also correct some phrases. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif

StevieRay, I got my CNI 5mW at here: http://www.cnilaser.com/_private/ep_pointer.htm
Although they guarantee 5mW output, I doubted that all their GLPs are well tested and classified. As a matter of fact, 2 out of 6 of this group-buy 5mW were far under 5mW by my measurement and had them replaced. The replaced two are all above 7mW.

Bengal and liteglow, thanks, I'll add some information regarding my unsuccessful 100mW modification this evening(my time). 

wolfensteinx, yes but difficult. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif


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## drpepper1024 (Feb 5, 2005)

How much did the CNI 100mW cost and where did you get it?


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## bg2vo (Feb 6, 2005)

drpepper1024, the price for 100mW is xxxxRMB(plus p&p, 'cos both CNI and I are in China), which is 500US$. This is a group-buy price. I'm in Dalian, China and we receive the goods by a domestic mail.


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## Bond007 (Feb 6, 2005)

Dalian? You've heard of Dong Fangzhou then /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif


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## bg2vo (Feb 6, 2005)

Dong Fangzhou? Sounds unfamiliar, neither my wife.


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## bg2vo (Feb 6, 2005)

Modification of the 100mW.
1, disasemble: take out the batteries, unscrew the head, unscrew the screw on the back, take out the blue button, press the button to 'on' position, take out the head unit, tear it apart.





2, pod modify. by connecting an external power(I use CC-CV power suply), carefully adjust the pod while monitoring the current and the output until satisfied.





3, assemble it.


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## liteglow (Feb 6, 2005)

pot mod on my laser did not work.. been there done that /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif


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## bootleg2go (Feb 6, 2005)

Hi bg2vo,
What do you mean by "pod modify"? did you mean "pot modify"?
Were you just adjusting the pot? You said you monitored the current and output, was there a specific current you were adjusting to or not wanting to exceed? or did you just adjust the pot for maximum output power?
Sorry for all the questions, I'm just trying to better understand how you tweaked your laser.
In the end, what kind of output power increase did you get?

Thanks
Jack


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## bg2vo (Feb 7, 2005)

bootleg2go, Sorry for the typing mistake, it should be pot mod.
I guess this 100mW uses 0.5W pumping diode. By looking to the specification of Sony SDL322V(also 0.5W 808nm), the operating current is 0.75A typical, 1.2A max. Therefore I don't want the current exceed 1A. From the experience I learned by adjusting my 5mW and 45mW, small percent increase in current will result in large percent of output increase. It's different for this 100mW. The output power does not increase very much with current. Also, the output is changing all the time. I believe that the conversion crystal is not very good. At the end I just stopped at 960mA and for one time it read 115mW after turn on for 5 second. Pls refer to the last chart in my first post.


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## sharkeeper (Feb 7, 2005)

Your observations match the *3* CNI products that I have had pass through my hands...

The first sample (all which were toted as >50mW devices by CNI) measured 138 mW but that laser should have been named "Seabiscuit" as it was all over the place. It would swing wildly from 35 mW to over 200 mW and finally stabilise at around 92 mW if left on. It lasted about a week and stopped producing green. 

It was sent back to CNI and repaired. It came back doing 85-95 mW; slightly more stable but producing a strange beam. It also dropped in output power to under 30 mW in a few days! Again, it was sent back (each time to send back to Changchun costs $65!) and they had it for nearly 1 month. They apparently had a mixup and forgot about it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

After exchanging a few emails, the THIRD unit (this one with a different SN) was on the way and arrived. This one did nearly 50 mW but was not stable after a few minutes and the power went into a tailspin. The beam is also elliptical indicating poor alignment of the Vanadate / KTP /OC mirror components. The divergence is higher than it should be too. This could be a misadjustment of the focal length between the beam expander and collimator, however.

My Jasper at 7.7 mW has a higher power density on a target 20 feet away than this CNI PGL-III currently! I don't even want to waste any more money sending it back to them. I think it's time to scrap this POS. Perhaps Leadlight will be making some portable units? I don't know. I'll stick with flashlights. At least they last longer.

Modifying these units is just plain crazy. The purpose of buying a higher powered unit is so you would not have to modify it! 

Personally, the laser that has the best wow factor IMO is the Jasper. The beam divergence is superior, it 's compact and you can run it continuously without fear of burning something out. The unit appears much brighter than most lasers pointers I've used including modified ones from Chris. 

Here is a comparison of beams; Jasper vs. PGL-III. Remember the PGL is defective and doing about 22 mW in this picture.






In case you have a hard time distinguishing, the PGL is on the upper right an Jasper lower left. 

I cannot recommend this product at this time due to my experience.

I will add that the first laser I received was the best - until it broke. If you have a PGL-III and it works well, be careful with it! If you have it repaired, you probably won't be happy! I realise that the original order was >50mW units and they all were doing over 100, one doing almost 200! I guess CNI has fixed their power meter and learned how to bin them. Now they just need to learn how to fix their damn lasers! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif (The only colour I can see right now is 694 nM from thinking about this!)

Cheers!


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## bg2vo (Feb 7, 2005)

Thank you sharkeeper for all the information. We bought two of these PGL-IIIs and the other one is better than mine with higher power(150mW) and better stability. Here is my PGL-III at its worst(sampling rate is 1 second):





There is one thing I don't understand. My 100mW PLG-III can light up a match in less than 1 second but the modified EXTREME(now >80mW) cannot do that at all in 10 seconds time. I've just tried this once more.


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## sharkeeper (Feb 7, 2005)

Measure the beam diameter of your lasers at the point of contact with the match head. This is important!

Also, most homemade solutions of beam power measurement based on the photovoltaic principle are VERY sensitive to beam size! Try expanding the beam and see if the reading goes higher. If this is the case you need to make adjustments for linearity.

Cheers!


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## bg2vo (Feb 7, 2005)

The diameter of my 45mW and 100mW are almost the same. I ware two pair of dark sun glasses and shine the laser at a dark colored surface to take the reading. they are all 1.3mm +-0.15mm.

My power meter is based on lux meter which based on photocurrent principle. If expanding the beam will make the reading higher, it saturated I guess.


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## liteglow (Feb 7, 2005)

bg2vo : Check your PM (the little letter on the left top) (blinking) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


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## bootleg2go (Feb 7, 2005)

Hi Again bg2vo,
when you said you set the current to not exceed 1A, was that as measured from the power source or were you measuring the current right at the input to the diode?

Thanks
Jack


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## bg2vo (Feb 7, 2005)

Hi bootleg2go, I actually measured by my digital-reading bench power supply. I think they are quite the same 'cos circuits other than the diode consume very little current(say <0.02A).


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## intro74 (Feb 8, 2005)

Pot mod on my PGL-III 150mW did not work.. been there done that ??


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## liteglow (Feb 8, 2005)

[ QUOTE ]
*intro74 said:*
Pot mod on my PGL-III 150mW did not work.. been there done that ?? 

[/ QUOTE ]

Try swap a resistor ?
If u notice the resistors on ga2 100mW laser , and my 158mW laser .
you can se the 2 resistor on each side of the POT is not the same !! 

What resistor value do u got on your laser ?

When i use a power supply my laser got the current at 1.0A


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## intro74 (Feb 8, 2005)

I would control these resistances tomorrow, My laser consumes 720mA (mesured on my CC/CV Alim)
for 160mW output ?
I suppose that my crystal conversion is very good


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## Raccoon (Feb 8, 2005)

What did you pay for the 5mW CNI pointers? You said you bought a lot of 5, did this include any discount?

I'm interested in comparing CNI's against Leadlight's design, and perhaps others here are thinking the same. Perhaps we should do a group buy?

Also... anyone happen to know what happened to that *noah* guy from Bigha (Jasper pointer)? It'll be nice if he keeps us to date on their product line. He mentioned something about a new design a few weeks ago, so I'm interested in seeing it next to a Leadlight and a CNI.

BTW, kudos on the graphs, bg2vo. Very nicely done.


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## senecaripple (Feb 8, 2005)

[ QUOTE ]
*Raccoon said:*
What did you pay for the 5mW CNI pointers? You said you bought a lot of 5, did this include any discount?

I'm interested in comparing CNI's against Leadlight's design, and perhaps others here are thinking the same. Perhaps we should do a group buy?

Also... anyone happen to know what happened to that *noah* guy from Bigha (Jasper pointer)? It'll be nice if he keeps us to date on their product line. He mentioned something about a new design a few weeks ago, so I'm interested in seeing it next to a Leadlight and a CNI.

BTW, kudos on the graphs, bg2vo. Very nicely done. 

[/ QUOTE ]


i'd be interested in a group buy for the >150mw pglll, if anybody's interested.


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## bootleg2go (Feb 8, 2005)

[ QUOTE ]
*liteglow said:*
[ QUOTE ]
*intro74 said:*
Pot mod on my PGL-III 150mW did not work.. been there done that ?? 

[/ QUOTE ]

Try swap a resistor ?
If u notice the resistors on ga2 100mW laser , and my 158mW laser .
you can se the 2 resistor on each side of the POT is not the same !! 

What resistor value do u got on your laser ?

When i use a power supply my laser got the current at 1.0A 

[/ QUOTE ]
Did you mod your PGL-3? if so, did that include changing the value of these resistors? Can you point me the the direction of a post that documents this mod?

Thanks
Jack


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## bg2vo (Feb 9, 2005)

Thanks Raccoon. Here is the opening scene of our group buy, six 5mW and two 100mW.






The price we pay for each 5mW is 450RMB(54US$). We had a friend in Changchun who went to CNI to negotiate about.


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## SuperBert (Feb 9, 2005)

[ QUOTE ]
*senecaripple said:*
[ QUOTE ]
*Raccoon said:*
What did you pay for the 5mW CNI pointers? You said you bought a lot of 5, did this include any discount?

I'm interested in comparing CNI's against Leadlight's design, and perhaps others here are thinking the same. Perhaps we should do a group buy?

Also... anyone happen to know what happened to that *noah* guy from Bigha (Jasper pointer)? It'll be nice if he keeps us to date on their product line. He mentioned something about a new design a few weeks ago, so I'm interested in seeing it next to a Leadlight and a CNI.

BTW, kudos on the graphs, bg2vo. Very nicely done. 

[/ QUOTE ]


i'd be interested in a group buy for the >150mw pglll, if anybody's interested. 

[/ QUOTE ]



i will be starting one this weekend in the group buy forum... ill pm you when its all ready


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## senecaripple (Feb 9, 2005)

[ QUOTE ]
*SuperBert said:*
[ QUOTE ]
*senecaripple said:*
[ QUOTE ]
*Raccoon said:*
What did you pay for the 5mW CNI pointers? You said you bought a lot of 5, did this include any discount?

I'm interested in comparing CNI's against Leadlight's design, and perhaps others here are thinking the same. Perhaps we should do a group buy?

Also... anyone happen to know what happened to that *noah* guy from Bigha (Jasper pointer)? It'll be nice if he keeps us to date on their product line. He mentioned something about a new design a few weeks ago, so I'm interested in seeing it next to a Leadlight and a CNI.

BTW, kudos on the graphs, bg2vo. Very nicely done. 

[/ QUOTE ]


i'd be interested in a group buy for the >150mw pglll, if anybody's interested. 

[/ QUOTE ]



i will be starting one this weekend in the group buy forum... ill pm you when its all ready 

[/ QUOTE ]

good, will be looking for it.


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## liteglow (Feb 9, 2005)

oooo i LOVE the picture of the box with all the lasers /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif 

bootleg2go: No i have not tryed to swapp any resistors on my laser !!
I jsut notice on the pictures of mine, and the other laser that the resistor value is not the same (and power output is not the same)

I`m not expert on electronic, so i will let somebody else try to figure out if it`s possible to swap resistors...
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


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## bg2vo (Feb 25, 2005)

My PLG-III can burn through 4 layers of trash bag and light up a match in less than a second. Here is the video:
http://www.dl-car.com/~2038/PLGIIIBURN.MOV

I suppose any 100mW GLP can do the same thing if properly adjusted.


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## liteglow (Feb 25, 2005)

bg2vo : have you tryed to swap any resistors ? to get more output ??
And do i know if it`s possible to do blanking with the PGL3 ??

I hope you got some answers, i belive YOU are the only one in here that got the skillz for tuning a PGL3 /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


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## bg2vo (Feb 25, 2005)

Thanks liteglow. I didn't swap any resistor. Just the pot mod. I would replace the current-sense resistor(which is the dark-purple faced labeled as R47 -- 0.47ohm) or paralleled it with another one. This resistor will drop 0.4v at 830mA working current which is a waste. By adding another 0.47ohm (and adjust the pot accordingly), the 'waste' will be halfed making it possible to operate on two Ni-MH rechargeable. 

I'm not quite sure what u mean by 'blanking'. I made a circle double-sided PCB and solded two wires, put it on the hole of the end cap. This is used as a remote switch(to avoid shake etc.) and to controll the power output by adding different resistors.


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## Raccoon (Feb 25, 2005)

Are you refering to the 5mW CNI pointer? Or the 100mW handheld PGL?

It would be nice if someone designed a tailcap for a pointer (such as the Leadlight or CNI pen models) with a rheostat dial on it. Then you can adjust the resistance without swapping resistors.


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## bg2vo (Feb 26, 2005)

Good idea to have a adjustable power on tail! 
We are refering to the PGL-III but it will be nice to have adjustable power on pen-sized as well.


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## Raccoon (Feb 26, 2005)

bg2vo, your pictures in this post have disappeared. Would you mind reposting?

Also, I cannot find this group-buy you mentioned on the 8th.


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## liteglow (Feb 26, 2005)

bg2vo: About blanking, i talk about ON\OFF like 100 times pr second !! 
Will that break the pump diode ?

I was thinking that i coud solder off one wire from the pump diode and put a relay between the wire !

Then the driver board will stay ON all the time !


possible you think ? ?


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## liteglow (Feb 26, 2005)

i did recive e-mail from CNI today (i was asking about blanking with the PGL3) 
From CNI:

Dear Mr.Olsen,
1.It may cause the laser defective if you open the laser and change the components and we will not assume warranty service for the defective.
2.If you need large quantity of PGL-III with TTL modulation, we will design and manufacture for you specially. Please let us know the quantity you need.
Best regards,
M.Ding


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## bg2vo (Feb 27, 2005)

Thank you Raccoon for reminding me that. I have repost most of the pics except the group-buy pic which was taken by someone else. This is what I took for this group buy






liteglow, thanks for the information. About blanking, I think the diode itself is Ok for the fast on/off, but the circuit will not allow it because there are some capacitors/logic to delay/smooth the current. Also, you cannot just add a relay to switch the current of the diode on/off because this will probably introduce dangerous 'sparks'.


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## liteglow (Feb 27, 2005)

bg2vo: 
This is what i was thinking about (se image) :





Then the driver board will be On all the time, and the relay will not give any sparks ... i think ? 

info about the relay i got : http://www.elfa.se/elfa-bin/setpage.pl?http://www.elfa.se/elfa-bin/dyndok.pl?dok=128501.htm


I do use this relay today for blanking with my leadlight /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif and there is no problem with that... i just dont know if the PGL can do it becose of the "unstable" chrystal ...


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## bg2vo (Feb 27, 2005)

Is this site dutch languange liteglow?
Any way, this is the reed relay which can operate at very fast speed than normal relays and also consume little current. Some concerns about the reed relay blanking:
1. Relative small contact current. Perhapes 0.5A max while the PGL-III need 0.85A.
2. Contact spikes(not sparks ;o). May avoid by mercury-wetted type. Or can be reduced by adding a capacitor(say 20uF) + a resistor(say 50 Ohm) to the contact.

Crystal should be Ok for this blanking. However, some power MOSFET is much better than reed relay.


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## Raccoon (Feb 27, 2005)

I'm thinking that such a relay to the diode would cause stress to the driver board every time the diode "disappears" from the circuit. I would recommend a mechanical shutter for blanking at the aperture.

If the laser isn't too powerful, this should be possible with an LCD, since an LCD is simply a layer of liquid quartz crystal sandwiched between two polarized sheets of glass. The only problem might be the conductive coating on the glass may be subject to burning when the LCD shutter is closed (black).

Perhaps the shutter from an old camera would do the trick?


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## liteglow (Feb 27, 2005)

i did burn my phone LCD with the laser... so i guess the power is to high for that /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif 
I think i just get a laser head with blanking... and leave the PGL3 as it is /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif and maybe sell it..


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## Raccoon (Feb 28, 2005)

Or give it away to me in exchange for a warm fuzzy feeling.

I don't know if a phone LCD is necessarily the strongest out there. Surely there are LCD shutters that /could take the heat/.

But yes. You want to give the PGL to Eric.


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## liteglow (Feb 28, 2005)

aah naaa.. i dont give it away /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I can give my girlfriend away.. becouse she hate it when i got the PGL-3 in the bed /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif 

I dont understand she ?!?!?! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif 


mmmm pgl-3...


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## senecaripple (Feb 28, 2005)

[ QUOTE ]
*liteglow said:*
aah naaa.. i dont give it away /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I can give my girlfriend away.. becouse she hate it when i got the PGL-3 in the bed /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif 

I dont understand she ?!?!?! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif 


mmmm pgl-3... 

[/ QUOTE ]

what's not to understand? you made your choice. your true soulmate is your pgl lll.


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## Raccoon (Mar 2, 2005)

Great way to heat things up in bed. If she wont, the PGL will. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


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## senecaripple (Mar 2, 2005)

maybe she prefers the pgl lll over the other battery operated contraptions she has hidden in her night table. easily mistaken. similar shape.


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## SuperBert (Mar 2, 2005)

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sssh.gif


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## bg2vo (Apr 4, 2005)

I recently bought nine 10mW GLPs from CNI (group buy). Out of the seven which were modified, three are modified to >45mW, two >35mW, two >25mW.


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## 88022167 (Apr 5, 2005)

ÕÅÐÖ£ººÃ°¡ ÔÚÕâÀïÅöµ½ÄãÀ­ºÇºÇ ¶à¶à¹ØÕÕ


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## 88022167 (Apr 5, 2005)

ZHANG XIONG:Good, surprisingly run into here you pull, oddness, here how the nonsupport Chinese


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## cy (Apr 5, 2005)

[ QUOTE ]
*bg2vo said:*
I recently bought nine 10mW GLPs from CNI (group buy). Out of the seven which were modified, three are modified to >45mW, two >35mW, two >25mW.













[/ QUOTE ]

can I still get in on your group buy?


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## Raccoon (Apr 5, 2005)

Sorry, chinese characters do not work.
Most people here read English, only.


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## 88022167 (Apr 5, 2005)

There is no relation pull, ™è™è .Greatly not what I see is slowly


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## LaserMod (Apr 5, 2005)

Some 'Wicked' pointers there. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif


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## bg2vo (Apr 5, 2005)

[ QUOTE ]
*cy said:*
[ QUOTE ]
*bg2vo said:*
I recently bought nine 10mW GLPs from CNI (group buy). Out of the seven which were modified, three are modified to >45mW, two >35mW, two >25mW.


[/ QUOTE ]

can I still get in on your group buy? 

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm afraid all sold out.


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## AbeFM (Jun 10, 2006)

*Disassemble a CNI / Wicked Laser*

I hope this isn't too off topic - my laser seems REALLY tempermental. It appears to be an Extreme from Wicked Lasers, measured pretty high (70 mW) on a meter who's calibration I don't know. At any rate, it's been getting worse and worse. Something seems to be loose in there - perhaps the inner tube that holds the batteries - and pointing it up or down makes a difference to if it lights at all, and how bright. When it's working, it works great, so I would like to think it's not the crystal.

I'd like to know how to disassemble it - it doesn't just pop right apart. Do I pull on the thread-on lens & filter unit? Is there a good trick to prying it open? Do I push on the inner tube with a screwdriver or other tube/dowel?

Any advice is appreciated. It seems from some of the earlier posts perhaps I might want to try to brighten it while I'm in there. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. 

Thanks in advance for any help!!!
-Abe.


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## Athoul (Jun 11, 2006)

Sounds like a connectio issue, possibly the contect terminals for the batteries. Make sure they are clean and that the spring inside the laser is not all shrunched up. Secondly it may be the switch, though in theis case repaor require opening of the laser. Before anything else you should probably check the contacts.


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## tobjectpascal (Jun 12, 2006)

the "extreme" laser is a leadlight?

http://www.wickedlasers.com/products.php?content=extreme

says they have 95mW and 125mW in the range? are they also leadlights? if so then all they have done is changed a couple of resistors to get that kind of output, 20c at most for 2 resistors and about 5 minutes soldering and then a nice different looking shell with a sticker...

then charge, what $50 US at most for a 5mW leadlight and bump it up to $499.99

Or is that not what they did/do ?


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## pixar (Jun 12, 2006)

You really think they are leadlights? They appear to be special CNI lasers with optimum crystal sets.


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## Athoul (Jun 12, 2006)

They are not leadlights, they are CNI lasers made to Wickedlasers specs(better crystal sets and 500mW pump diodes). Leadlights have 200-250mW pump diodes, there abouts.


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## tobjectpascal (Jun 12, 2006)

Looks identical to my Leadlight 105 driver board, maybe this picture was not supposed to be included in the shots but it's there, just look at the first post of this thread and this pic is included. if it's an extreme, then it's a leadlight modified.


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## That_Guy (Jun 12, 2006)

Remember that this is an old thread and that WL originally sold Leadlights before switching to CNI. Look at the second picture with the Extreme and the CNI 5mW. The Extreme is clearly different to the CNI, and looks the same as a Leadlight.


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## Athoul (Jun 13, 2006)

That_Guy, my bad, you're correct they did sell leadlights awhile back. I was unaware though that they had units that went as high as 70mW at that time.

The link that tobjectpascal has posted though is not to a modded leadlight, those are the new lasers made for Wicked by CNI to their specifications.

That's where I got confused.


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## fizzed (Jun 20, 2006)

Great review Bg2vo, 
Your pictures are beautiful! I especially like your 6.5 digit voltmeter! I couldn't stop myself from replying - you brought forth some pleasant memories. I designed most of the HP34401A back in 1992. The project was code named "ALF" and it became the most popular DMM in its class. I hope you like it. 
But this is a laser forum so I ought to say something relevant: I have never before seen credible evidence of a little GLP green pointer outputing a stable 80mW. I have a couple of Wicked 45mW pointers that have been amazingly reliable for nearly 3 years. After seeing your data I think I'll modify one with the hope of duplicating your good results. Maybe I'll get lucky? 
Thank you for your nice evaluation.


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## pixar (Jun 21, 2006)

Hi, bg2vo - I wonder how you got the front part (laser head with gold ring) out of the main body of the CNI laser? I can get the rubber button off without damage, but from your pics it seems the front is not marked or scratched, including the label. So, did you just pull it and were lucky, did you use acetone? This is the part that worries me as it seem such a tight fit.

Nice review !


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## bootleg2go (Jun 21, 2006)

fizzed said:


> Great review Bg2vo,
> Your pictures are beautiful! I especially like your 6.5 digit voltmeter! I couldn't stop myself from replying - you brought forth some pleasant memories. I designed most of the HP34401A back in 1992. The project was code named "ALF" and it became the most popular DMM in its class. I hope you like it.
> But this is a laser forum so I ought to say something relevant: I have never before seen credible evidence of a little GLP green pointer outputing a stable 80mW. I have a couple of Wicked 45mW pointers that have been amazingly reliable for nearly 3 years. After seeing your data I think I'll modify one with the hope of duplicating your good results. Maybe I'll get lucky?
> Thank you for your nice evaluation.



Is that you Ron?
I remember that you use to work up at HP in Loveland and thought you might be "fizzed". If so, drop me a line. 

Jack


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## fizzed (Jul 12, 2006)

Yes, it's me Jack. I stopped reading the forums a few months ago after becoming thouroughly disgusted with the endless "Wicked" slandering. It appeared to me the slandar was repetitious and something like "Wicked's lasers are illegal because the FDA says a, b, or c.". Yet, the manufacturer's dissing Wicked sell product just as illegal or just as legal since their time delay and key interlock safety devices do not address any particular FDA requirement. In my manufacturing experience, regulatory agencies are usually responding to the complaints of competetors, not consumers who were harmed by a product. Perhaps the high power portable laser market wants to self destruct? 

Anyway, I'm intriqued with your RPL products- especially the higher power units. I remember suggesting 18650 lithium batteries to you (I hope it really was my idea)? After our IR leakage work, LaserGlow started giving away IR filters for PR ;-). I guess that's good since we identified a real problem, but the offer has a bit of a self-serving smell. If your RPL300 or higher? is pretty nice I might be interested in it even though my PPL250 is still working great. You gave me the best laser + service I've ever had. I'll give you a call.


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