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Thread: NRG 800mw RGBv projector - Lots of pictures and video

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
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    Canberra, Australia
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    Default NRG 800mw RGBv projector - Lots of pictures and video

    Greetings all.

    Have been reading PL for a few months now, learning as much as I can, reading some interesting stories, and some very scary stories (Namely what some do with old hospital equipment!)

    I have been VJ'ing for a few years now, two laptops and two low end data projectors. Have been enjoying myself at many indoor locations. I have seen lasers in operation, but very low power. (Can only see the laser dot once it hits something, never seen a beam show.)

    So I thought I'd jump into the deep end and learn so more about laser projectors and doing displays on walls. (I'm not interested in audience scanning, though doing beams above the crowd with some smoke/haze would be interesting.)

    Searching around, I decided that to learn, I'll grab a low end, cheap projector with some software and go from there. Being a visual person, having a laser to see and touch makes the world of difference.

    I ended up purchasing a 800mw RGBv projector and Pangolin QS with a FB3-XE USB box from NRG lasers in England.

    Several emails to and from Gary (He was very patient with me, being a 'noob' asking silly questions.) resulted in a sale.

    1,200 GBP later, and waiting a couple of weeks, a very large flight case turns up on my doorstep.

    First things first, I didn't expect the laser to be as large as it was, and as heavy! Secondaly, I couldn't wait to fire it up and see what it could do.

    From reading on here, I set it up in a room with no reflective items. (Room was an empty spare room) Hung a large king sized white bed sheet on one wall (Walls have a dark'ish bone colour paint to them) and setup the laser projector on a table, laptop beside it.

    Installed QS, Installed FB3 drivers, was all ready to enjoy the new 'toy' when QS decided the FB3 was too new, thus would not allow it to work.

    Fired off an email to Pangolin explaining what was happening, expecting to wait weeks for a reply. To my surprise Mr Benner replied 30 minutes later! I've read here that Pangolin do communicate with their customers and on the forums regularly. The timely response blew me away. Chalk one up for Pangolin, they look after their customers!

    Roughly two days later, a updated QS file was emailed to me, and duly tested. It worked.

    Onto the testing! (Please note, I'm not a professional, like the majority of you lot, I don't have any leaser power level metering gear)

    The unit was built with 150mw of 532nm, 350mw of 650nm and 2x 150mw 405nm.

    Chroma looks like this:
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    Slightly off, but usable.

    Test patterns as follows. (Note, had to back the camera off 8 stops to stop it blowing out)

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    Video of tunnel animation:



    From what I've read here, all the lasers are TTL. (I believe, please correct me if I'm wrong)

    The case has four fans on it (Two blowing in, two sucking out) and multiple fans on lasers and PSU's.

    The galvos are reported to be 40Kpps @ 30 degrees. QS setup has them running at about 26Kpps @ full angle. They are slightly noisy in a quiet room, though you would not hear them over music in a club. Still very smooth animation from these units. I have no idea what brand they are.

    The only issues I can see with this unit, being the lower end of the market is, the 650nm is rather blurry (I think you lot call it 'jelly bean'?) and does not hit the galvos properly, and that the dichro mounts are solid items, not easily adjustable. Also the dichros are not the best quality, leaking very badly. Photos to follow.

    (I may need to do some adjustments since I think the entire unit may have experienced some bumps and knocks on the flight from UK to Australia)

    Lasers:
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    A 'fat' red:
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    Dichros just not up to scratch?
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    Showing bleed behind the dichros and red missing one of the galvos:
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    Overall picture of the unit:
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    In short, I feel it is good budget start to getting into laser projectors, though has enough room to upgrade. (Yes, I will be looking at pulling the dichro mounts and grabbing some adjustable items, with proper glass)

    I'm very impressed on how much white this little unit throws, and the amount of light it produces.

    Hoping to learn heaps more of you lot, and looking forward to chatting with you all in the future.

    Cheers.

    PS: No beam shots, I don't have a smoke machine and the camera seems to be overly sensitive to the laser. It's either total darkness, or full of light. Sorry.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails chroma2..jpg  


  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    Essex, UK
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    Default

    i have an identical laser from NRG to review so i will try get someone up this weekend
    Eat Sleep Lase Repeat

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Canberra, Australia
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    Default

    Thanks Andy.

    It would be good to hear from others what they think about this laser from NRG.

    Just wondering if it's ok as a starter unit, one to learn from and upgrade some components in the future?

    Oh, the second chroma picture is of 600mw of 405nm to see if I could make a more perfect white. Might look into those quad heads shown on here for 4x 150mw of 405nm.

    Or am I barking up the wrong tree? (I do like how the 405's are almost UV in colour until they hit something white, then they are a nice deep, glowing blue! I guess not what I want for beam shows?)

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Charleston, SC
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    Smile

    Welcome to PhotonLexicon, Skydragon! And congratulations on your recent purchase. Looking good there.

    With regard to your question about the 650 nm red laser; the large diameter beam that makes it look "fuzzy" is not a jellybeaning problem. Rather, it is an artifact of the physical structure of the diode (specifically, the wide emitter stripe), and it is a problem that affects all higher-power 650 nm and 635 nm red lasers. And sadly, there isn't much you can do to correct it. (You could use a pinhole mask to "punch out" the center of the beam, which would make it appear smaller, but you'll lose power in the process.)

    Jellybeaning, on the other hand, is a phenomenon almost exclusively limited to DPSS lasers (and DPSS blue lasers in particular). It is characterized by rapid power fluctuations as the beam is scanned, creating a line that appears to have "static" in it, almost as if the line was made up of a bunch of jellybeans stacked end-to-end. This is related to thermal instabilities inside the doubling cavity, and is even harder to compensate for.

    As for your idea of adding some 405 nm violet to your projector, I should warn you that this will not help much for beam shows, as 405 doesn't really show up well in the air. However, on a white wall or a white projection screen, it does visibly increase the brightness of your blue. So if you plan to do mostly graphics shows, it might be a welcomed addition. But if your focus will be beams instead, then you probably won't need it.

    Actually, the color balance of your projector looks pretty good already, judging by the pictures and the animation you posted. You may want to just leave things as they are for now and get some experience under your belt. Later on, when you've had time to play with it for a while, you might decide that you want to make some changes. (Probably one of the first one's would be to upgrade the lasers to analog modulation, since this will give you a wider color palette.)

    But for now, since everything appears to be working OK for you already, I'd say go ahead and experiment with your rig now and learn how to use the software. You've got a whole new world of things to explore... No sense waiting!

    Adam

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Canberra, Australia
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    Quote Originally Posted by andy_con View Post
    i have an identical laser from NRG to review so i will try get someone up this weekend
    Just read your review, looks exactly the same as the unit I received.

    Quote Originally Posted by buffo View Post
    Welcome to PhotonLexicon, Skydragon! And congratulations on your recent purchase. Looking good there.
    Thank you.

    With regard to your question about the 650 nm red laser; the large diameter beam that makes it look "fuzzy" is not a jellybeaning problem. Rather, it is an artifact of the physical structure of the diode (specifically, the wide emitter stripe), and it is a problem that affects all higher-power 650 nm and 635 nm red lasers. And sadly, there isn't much you can do to correct it.
    Ahh, ok, that makes sense. Wasn't sure what it was exactly, but now I know. Cheers.

    As for your idea of adding some 405 nm violet to your projector, I should warn you that this will not help much for beam shows, as 405 doesn't really show up well in the air.
    I've noticed that. In the air it is dull, but with some smoke it starts to show. What really makes the 405nm stand out is a white screen that reacts with the UV, glowing a very bright yet deep blue. (White cloth works well)

    I was going to add more 405 to bring chroma closer to white. (The white is slightly overdone with green in it.)

    (Probably one of the first one's would be to upgrade the lasers to analog modulation, since this will give you a wider color palette.)
    I would love to know how to achieve this since I am starting to find the limitations of only a handful of colours. (That and would like to use beam attenuation maps as an extra safety net when scanning above a crowd. Note: I have no intention of scanning into crowds.)

    But for now, since everything appears to be working OK for you already, I'd say go ahead and experiment with your rig now and learn how to use the software. You've got a whole new world of things to explore... No sense waiting!
    Cheers mate, I have been working with the QS software, designing, trialing, playing, learning.

    In saying this, had a friend over who has a better camera than what I have, so he whipped it out and rolled off shot after shot of the laser in action with a single incense stick to provide some 'smoke' to the air.

    His camera really brings out the blue on the 405's, and shows just how bright and nice the purple colour these units produce. Never seen any other laser produce the bright purples like these.


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  6. #6
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    Thumbs up Re: Analog modulation

    Quote Originally Posted by SkyDragon View Post
    I would love to know how to achieve this since I am starting to find the limitations of only a handful of colours. (That and would like to use beam attenuation maps as an extra safety net when scanning above a crowd. Note: I have no intention of scanning into crowds.)
    You might want to get in touch with Dave and/or Aijii. Both are located in Australia and might be able to offer some advice.

    Adam

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by buffo View Post
    You might want to get in touch with Dave and/or Aijii. Both are located in Australia and might be able to offer some advice.

    Adam

    Cheers, will PM them shortly.

    :}

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