Noob review of BLM-50 473nm 50mW from Extreme Lasers on eBay

Printable View

11-16-2006, 19:27
allthatwhichis

Noob review of BLM-50 473nm 50mW from Extreme Lasers on eBay

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
First off, I've never done a review before, so... this will not go on my resume. :lol: Criticisms are welcome. And I don't spell well...

My batterys in my camera are going dead so I only took a few beam shots to compare between my green and red.

Looks like a nicely built module; much sturdier than my 100mW green. I now really question if my green is 100mW. Maybe this comparison will help decide...

My first real problem is where the screws to the power supply that have stickers that say, void warrenty if removed, looked to have been removed... The stickers are "broken" and the screws have rough spots where it looks like they have been loosened.

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/3...b002fs8.th.jpg

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/102...b003nv9.th.jpg

That's the only problem I see so far... I'll send the seller an email and ask what's up. I definatly want a warrenty...

Here's is my "test" config. I took poster puddy and puddied everything on top of each other so I could tote it around work to find a good enough room.

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/6...gb01xn7.th.jpg

The lasers are 14 feet from the wall and I have a sheet of paper with a grid of 1/4 inch squares. the grid is too light so you can't see it too well. I did it on MS Word, and I hate Word, but you work with what ya got.

http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/693...gb12gy9.th.jpg

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1...gb11xr7.th.jpg

The green spreads to almost 1/2 inch at 14 feet...

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/498...gb13xo5.th.jpg

The blue is about 1/4 inch at this distance.

http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/9...gb14fl9.th.jpg

The red I got a lil closer to... It is also focusable, it was 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch. I'm not sure what make the surrounding dots... I guess it's just a cheap diode...

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/7...gb16kr4.th.jpg

Here's a few beam shots to compare. No red beam...

http://img93.imageshack.us/img93/892...gb17xy0.th.jpg

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/7...gb18rq6.th.jpg

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/5...gb19wo1.th.jpg

So... Survey says??? I need a meter. From the beam shots and "point" shots, the green and blue look a lot closer in power than 100/50... I may have to find someone local... :D :wink: Maybe someone that makes lasers, sells their red ones on eBay... :? That I can take these to and get them measured. I'd like to measure the blue before I leave feedback.

Here's my ghetto try at white. I couldn't get teh beams aligned AND take a picture, but while I was not taking the picture I got a few good alighments and it seemed fairly balanced, NEED more red though. That's why I question the power of the green. Please post thought in it's power!!!

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/9...b001zo8.th.jpg

I'm still waiting on my DAC so I can hook up the scanners... After that the show is on... :D
11-17-2006, 01:32
JimBo

The green should appear to be about 4x the brightness of the blue because our eyes are MUCH more sensitive to the 532nm (green) wavelenght.
You will probably find that the green has no IR filter and that is why they rate it at 100mW, the blue CNI units have the filter so their power is representative of what you can see.

Jim
11-17-2006, 04:20
allthatwhichis

There is a greenish lense just inside the opening of the green. I have tried 3 cameras trying to see any IR and haven't been able to, so I don't think there's any. I got it from extremem. The blue had a cap that screws off and the filter's right there.

I put em all on this motorized mirror I got... off eBay. I;m a junkie... :oops: and took a picture. The blue almost blends with the green... :?

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/7...1018yn0.th.jpg

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/8...1019pm8.th.jpg

I hate to say it but it looks to me like the green is running around 50 to 75mW... :roll:
11-17-2006, 13:48
buffo

Allthat:

You're less than 20 minutes from where my Mom lives in Florida. The next time I drive down to visit her (probably not until January), I'll bring my Coherent Lasercheck with me - along with an IR filter. We can check the output of all your lasers if you want.

Adam
11-17-2006, 15:12
allthatwhichis

:D Awesome! If I can rid myself of a few more computer parts I may grab one of marconi's reds. He's only an hour or 2 west of me. If I can, I'd rather spend the gas money and ride over there than pay for shipping. :D I'm not sure how they take to strangers visiting. I'm strange too... :roll: :wink: I "assume" there's a meter at their place... :D

By January I should have the scanners going and be able to make a frame or two on my own. :P
11-17-2006, 16:45
DZ

Quote:

Awesome! If I can rid myself of a few more computer parts I may grab one of marconi's reds

I have a spare Maxy module if you interested. Its ttl, though they can change it over to analog if you need. $200 OBO.

David
11-17-2006, 16:57
allthatwhichis

Quote:

Originally Posted by DZurcher

Quote:

Awesome! If I can rid myself of a few more computer parts I may grab one of marconi's reds

I have a spare Maxy module if you interested. Its ttl, though they can change it over to analog if you need. $200 OBO.

David

I should have bolded "If..." I do have someone interested in the storm block and the FX55 Sandy for close to that price. What power is it? You need any computer parts? :roll: :D
11-17-2006, 17:04
DZ

Quote:

What power is it?

Its the 200mW one.

Quote:

You need any computer parts?

Ha! I work on computers for a living and often end up with way too much of that junk. Once I put about 30 power supplies up for sale on ebay. Only sold about 3, the rest I just threw away. Thanks for the offer though. Say, do you need any computer junk? I do have an old IBM PCServer 330, rack mount with external EXP drive array, running raid 5. I think it is a dual pentium pro. I listed that for free on a local web site and got no takers!

David
11-17-2006, 17:12
allthatwhichis

NO, NO, NO!!! My girl is yellin at me to get rid of what I got... :roll: No... Only computer stuff I need... is $350 for a BFG 7950GX2 but don't tell anyone I said that... :D
11-17-2006, 18:06
marconi

Bounce the beam off of an old DVD onto a wall and look again with the camera
might have to block the green spot too to see any IR off to the side..
But this works ..If you dont see anything my guess is you dont have any IR radiation.
Seeing that it has a "green glass" in front of it..I would say it has an IR filter. :)

Yeah Its strange how many of us have so much computer junk laying around ..right Dave.
Just to hard too throw out good junk.
I should have tossed out those 486's a long time ago, but they make great code machines.. :0

I not too apposed to visitors, but strangers ...yes.
You are welcome anytime to come over ..and yes we have many meters.
Just warn me first..ok?

I am also a HAM but havnt operated in a long time..
Got lostsa video junk here as well...goes with the TV dayjob.
11-17-2006, 18:18
marconi

Also, That red you have looks strange..

It looks to me they masked the diode just behind the lens to cleanup the beam

what you are seeing is reflections inside being emitted ..could be wrong tho..
my eyes play tricks on me sometimes :)
11-17-2006, 19:30
allthatwhichis

Cool! Another sale or two and I may come out and bother you early next week! I'll bring the red and you can disect it... :shock:

My grandfather was into HAM... I just like pork. :D
11-18-2006, 06:35
buffo

Another HAM! Cool... I was into it as a teenager (KA9KPG), but I lost interest. My Dad and my Grandfather were both HAMs. (K9ERO and W8LYS, respectively) But they're both gone now :( and the Drake TR7 my Dad had, along with my Grandfather's Kenwood TS820 were donated to a local Florida ham club.

There is still a nice 5 element tri-band beam at my Mom's house. Pretty sure it's got a tailtwister rotor on it too... Anyone feel like climbing a tower to get it down? (Free to a good home!)

Adam
11-18-2006, 08:44
marconi

Wow Kewl Adam..

I come from a family of Hams as well...
Great grandfather was an Inventor of sorts back during th spark-gap days.
Grandpa was an into RADAR during WWII and my Dad just did a bunch of off-the wall
projects, but was mostly into computer controlled related items, starting from the first Modems to
that camera at the Cape for tracking..also some microwave.
Me..well without tooting my horn too much..I basically followed in his footsteps..
wish my son would tho.. ah well.
But I ended up from doing microwave rf as a kid mostly to hear the Apollo and the shuttle to satellite TV
and to more practical applications.

Talk about young,,look at this http://photonlexicon.com/albums/albu...019a.sized.jpg

And because of all the stuff I was into as a kid (got my novice at 8 ) and doing lots of various stuff
it got me to where I'm at today..building and maintaining Analog and Digital TV transmitters during the day.
And building lasers at nite.

Ham radio is the fault of all my experimenting..hehe
ask Maxy..she really believes I'm the "real" mad-scientist... :roll:
But I believe we all here on PL are anyway...quite the niche group we are. ;)

Sadly, my haming is on hold and my two towers are a mess..needing new rotors since those no-name storms came thru 10yrs ago...but I still have beacons running at another location.
Some of my tower crew friends keep ribbing me and claim some week-end they are going to do a marathon make-over at Marconi's station..hehe.
I do have some mobil equipment but my cars are not radio ready or have room.
oh well, someday..prolly when the sunspot cycle comes back up !!!
11-18-2006, 15:54
buffo

Wow... Love the photo! You're only a little older than I am, judging by the pic. Pretty cool though - listening in to the Nasa missions like that. When I was in middle school we used to use the club station we had to chase the Russian woodpecker all over the band. (Illegal as hell, but lots of fun!) We were pushing nearly 2.5KW out the end of the Alpha linear, and we had a 6 element 10 meter beam on the roof of the school. (We also had a 5 element 15 meter, and even a 2 element 40 meter beam!) Bottom line - when we wanted to get out, we got out - no matter what the ionosphere was doing! (Well, not quite, but we sure did a lot better than the other guys in the club that had dipoles!) It helped that we were on top of a hill, and the school's roof was about 120 feet high to start with. Great fun though - to chase that damn radar...

I guess HAM radio was part of the reason I got interested in computers and electronics, though truthfully I was already something of a geek before I became a HAM. My grandfather in particular was quite instrumental... He used to install the radar on the Cobia-class subs they used to build at the Manitowoc shipyards during WWII. (Sounds a lot like what your Grandfather was doing on ships...) Anyway, he was an invenerate tinkerer - always building Heathkit projects and stuff. He used to make it a point to always explain stuff to me, and he really got me thinking about science in general, and electronics in particular.

Saddly, my interest in electronics and computers hasn't carried over into my day job. But that's OK... I still enjoy it as a hobby.

Adam
11-18-2006, 16:05
allthatwhichis

WOW, nice Dark Side gif!!! 8)
11-18-2006, 17:22
marconi

Thanks AMcD.. I like it too :)

Yeah I remember the wood-pecker seems we all did the same thing to get rid of it..
10mtrs was and still is fun but not as much as it was during the CB boom...
I remember the wood-pecker made it as low a 40mtrs at nite.. on 20 it seemed to be there day and nite
10mtrs was my favourite band in the early morning..as we could work into Europe then.
I had a 4 ele tri-band quad and a homebrew 4cx1000 later replaced by an 8877.
Didnt need the amp much as it would tear-up the TV's around the block.

Now 6 and 2mtr ssb is fun too , I did a lot on them.
worked all over the world on 50mhz with no more than 100w with a 9ele I have now laying on the roof.
I need to get it back up on the tower someday..
2mtr ssb and cw did a lot there too, even moon-bounce for a few years , I had 4 x 19 elements
and a another 8877 amp here. only have one of those beams left after the storm.
the amp hasnt seen any power for about 10yrs...sad I know.

Even hf has taken a back-seat as well.. tho I still have a Kenwood TS-430s and a Dentron MLA-2500b to feed a 4band
4ele beam...also now laying on my roof..
Oh Well....someday
11-19-2006, 04:56
allthatwhichis

I was playin around with the motoized mirror... I also split the green... pointed the small split, red and blue towards the motorized mirror and got a nice white in the cornor of my ceilling.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/9...1029pl2.th.jpg

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/1...1028vp0.th.jpg

It's probably a 40mW R, 20mW G, 50mW B mix...

I got a friend who let me borrow his cheap wal mart fog machine, but he forgot the juice... Called him a minute ago and told him to carry his ass... Maybe I need the fog ready before the DAC will carry it's ass... Until then this is the only scanning I can do... And I need the fogger to enjoy it better. I was waiting for the DAC to get him to bring the juice... maybe the opposite'll work... the universe can move in mysteryous ways... To bad the post office doesn't deliver on Sundays... :(
12-14-2006, 20:28
nono shen

Smoke fog machine trully a good thing , can see the beam clearly , looks so nice ! the beam will be more twinkling and dazzling , all the house will be light ! so cool .I like that ! but there is a smoky smell when we use it . as well as the smoke is not good for our health.
12-14-2006, 20:33
allthatwhichis

:o
Dragged this one up huh? The smoke from this fogger is a water based mix that actually smells like butterschotch... :? It's almost too much for my room.

I got the DAC about a week later and all is well now. I have a 200+mW maxyzmodule, a 30mW green (POS), and this 50mW blue all playing nice with aijii and daves scanpro30s... :D
12-17-2006, 02:28
nono shen

cool ! our smoke machine make fog by smoke oil , so the smoky smell isnot good . I am so like to hear what you have done , thanks for your nice picture . :wink: