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Thread: Laserwave 532mw very low power when modulated

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
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    Vancouver, Canada
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    Default Laserwave 532mw very low power when modulated

    Hi,

    Finished up the case and wired everything up, however I'm having an issue now with the Laserwave green. I'm hoping it's something simple I overlooked.

    I'm getting very low output when modulated (I don't have a power meter yet, but yellow is now orange, white is purple) Output is visually very low.

    The case ac ground was tied to ilda ground as shown in Pangolin's projector wiring page, but previously during testing was not. I disconnected it temporarily just in case it was causing the trouble, but there no change.

    When the analog line is unplugged and the driver is set to cw, the output appears to be more powerful, though still seems to fall way short of what it did. While it's far from an accurate test, the poor man's power meter (a piece of black plastic) would previously start emitting smoke at about 3 seconds, now doesn't appear to mark the surface at all for any duration on cw.

    I'm curious what can cause such a power drop, and if it's something I can troubleshoot ? What can cause this ? I've been very careful to always make sure it's properly heatsinked and it never seems to even get warm. Roughly it's been powered for about 30 hours max.

    Thanks for any advice,

    Miles

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Posts
    1,622

    Default

    Could be a number of things. Cooling system failure is a common cause, as is premature pump diode degradation. It could also be an alignment or crystal coating issue. Does the laser seem more powerful when you first turn it on? If it starts out at a certain power which then drops as the laser warms up I'd say that it's a TEC/TEC driver issue.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
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    Connecticut, USA
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    hey Mof-

    what power is it supposed to be?
    what power is it outputting?
    When did you get it?
    Where did you get it?

    if you flick it to CW while *installed* in the projector does the power rise back to where it seemed to be before?

    can you apply a *direct* 5V signal to the modulation input and see what you get for an output? a known 5V power source like a power supply. *not* an input from a software dac.

    Does it do this in TTL mode also?

    What are you using for a DAC?

    -Marc
    http://www.laserist.org/images/ildalogos/ILDA-logo_colored-beams_Corporate_150w.jpg

    ILDA- U.S. Laser Regulatory Committee

    Authorized Dealer for:

    • Pangolin Laser Software and Hardware
    • KVANT Laser Modules & Laser Systems
    • X-Laser USA
    • CNI Lasers
    • Cambridge Technology & Eye Magic Professional Scanning Systems

    FDA/CDRH Certified Professional LuminanceRGB Laser Light Show Systems


  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
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    Vancouver, Canada
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    Default

    Thanks for the suggestionss. I gave it a good cool down and started it up again. The output doesn't appear to be affected by run time. Ambient temperature is 27c at the moment for reference.

    Hi Marc,

    I bought it from you around the end of March as part of a 1W rgb bundle, received around the beginning of May. It was technically a 400mw, but outputting an average of 492mw and a high of 530mw.

    I am unable to measure the current output, but visually in cw the beam and dot are less visible than the ~270mw laserwave 473nm in cw. For comparison sake I have an 18mw 532nm pointer which although a smaller beam diameter appears similarly bright. However when the lasers first arrived, the pointer was very much less visible when compared to the 532nm lw.

    CW tests were conducted with the 532nm installed in the projector (the 473nm not). The dac is an FB3-SE with a differential board. I did hook a 5v directly to the modulation line, the result was visually similar to cw.

    Most noticeable is the lack of yellow, whereas at full power was almost a greenish yellow (mixed with ~400mw 640), however it remains over saturated by the red as even in cw the result is orange (when the livepro colour wheel is at yellow), and only when deep into the green does it seem to shift barely to yellow). When green only it appears washed out vs the other colours (a big contrast to before)

    TTL seems to exhibit a similar power level.

    Should I try unmounting it from the projector ? (I've already bypassed the optics) Could it be something within the projector causing the low output even in cw ?

    Thanks for the help,

    Miles
    Last edited by m0f; 07-09-2010 at 12:00.

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    Preston, Lancashire UK
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    This sounds like a similar problem I had with one of my 300mW LW greens. The laser had lost around 50-60% of it's power. As the warranty had expired Rob Stanwax had to investigate for me and he had to realign the cavity to get it back up to power. It's been OK since but the modulation is still a bit iffy. I'm hoping this can be sorted with some tweaking of the TEC's

    Carl
    2 x Stanwax Laser 3W RGB's
    2 x OPT 10W RGB
    Pangolin FB3QS + Live Pro
    1.3W Laser Harp

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Connecticut, USA
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    Hi Miles-

    Sorry i didnt know it was you from the PL username. Why dont you give me a call tomorow (saturday) any time. Or even now if you want. I dont know what time it is where you are, but its 11:00 PM in CT. I will be up until prob at least 1 am and the wifey is out. So feel free to call. (203) 889-1319

    I will try to talk you through a few tests (yes you may want to take the laser out of your prjector) and see if we can sort out the problem. If we cant figure it out, we'll get you into a new one.

    -Marc
    http://www.laserist.org/images/ildalogos/ILDA-logo_colored-beams_Corporate_150w.jpg

    ILDA- U.S. Laser Regulatory Committee

    Authorized Dealer for:

    • Pangolin Laser Software and Hardware
    • KVANT Laser Modules & Laser Systems
    • X-Laser USA
    • CNI Lasers
    • Cambridge Technology & Eye Magic Professional Scanning Systems

    FDA/CDRH Certified Professional LuminanceRGB Laser Light Show Systems


  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Washington.
    Posts
    139

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by gottaluvlasers View Post
    Hi Miles-

    Sorry i didnt know it was you from the PL username. Why dont you give me a call tomorow (saturday) any time. Or even now if you want. I dont know what time it is where you are, but its 11:00 PM in CT. I will be up until prob at least 1 am and the wifey is out. So feel free to call. (203) 889-1319

    I will try to talk you through a few tests (yes you may want to take the laser out of your prjector) and see if we can sort out the problem. If we cant figure it out, we'll get you into a new one.

    -Marc
    ^^^^^^^^^^
    now thats customer service! CT lasers, you've earned urselves a future sale!

  8. #8
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    Oct 2007
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    Vancouver, Canada
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    Definitely can't go wrong buying from Marc. Unfortunately I got that message too late that night and then had to take off for the weekend. I'll give you a shout tonight and see if we can troubleshoot this thing.

    One thing I notice when the laser is removed from the projector and directed at a nearby wall, there is a very noticeable halo around dot. At about 10 ft distance, the halo is around 8 - 10", and fairly bright. Definitely more than just scatter. Could it be that an optic is acting up ?

    Cheers,

    Miles

  9. #9
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    Sounds more like an alignment issue, as Carl mentioned.

    Either way though, I'm sure Marc will get it sorted out. He's a hell of a guy, and he definitely stands behind the products he sells.

    Adam

  10. #10
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    Time goes so slowly when waiting for warranty service Can't wait to get up and running again. How long does it usually take ?

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