Finding a good green for micro projectors

[krazer]

Hi All, in light of the new 445nm diodes I am rebuilding my micro RGB with a bit more umph. Currently what is limiting me is finding a suitable green.

I would love to get 300mw, but I will settle for ~150mw for round one at least (with the intention of adding another module in at some point).

I have been limiting my search to 12mm modules (ie, laser pointer cores), although if you know of a good cheap lab style one I am all ears. I will be adding my own TEC for the 12mm modules to keep them somewhat stable. Modulation performance is going to be hit or miss, but I am assuming that all of the 12mm modules will perform about the same when TEC'ed.

The current contenders:
ebay #1
http://cgi.ebay.com/532nm-150mW-Lase...#ht_3314wt_907
filter - ?
power - 150mw +/-10%
current <350ma
price - $57.99
current status - maybe try?

ebay #2
http://cgi.ebay.com/Industrial-Lab-D...#ht_2200wt_907
filter - yes
power - 130mw guaranteed
current - <280ma
price - $62.99
current status - WINNER

ebay #3
http://cgi.ebay.com/INDUSTRIAL-LAB-5...#ht_2233wt_907
filter - ?
power - 150mw +/-10%
current - <350ma
price - $63.5
current status - maybe try?

ebay #4
http://cgi.ebay.com/150mW-532nm-Soli...#ht_3617wt_907
filter - ?
power - 150mw +/-10%
current - <650ma, duty cycle 60s on 5s off
price $75
current status - looser

CNI OEM Series 150mw
http://lasershowparts.com/store/inde...&productId=222
filter - yes
power - >150mw
current - ?
price - $275+shipping
current status - looser

Buynow.com
http://www.buynowmobi.com/200mW-532n...en-Laser-Black
filer - ?
power - 200mw, no warranty
current - ?
price - $49
current status - maybe try?

ecrater.com
http://www.ecrater.com/p/8529237/200...een-beam-laser
power - 200mw, no warranty
current - ?, but runs from a single AAA battery!
price - $39.99
current status - WINNER

The CNI one has been ruled out due to excessive cost (over 3 times other contenders!).

Of the ebay modules, #4 was ruled out due to excessive current draw (a sign of it having been overdriven? if anything, it means a bigger tec/more heat in the system). #1 and #3 seem about the same (although look physically different), but both state unfiltered power which is why #2 wins--it guarantees 130mw of filtered power from <280ma of drive. Of course the modulation performance is still to be determined....

I am trying to not become dependent on the ebay modules however, because if I try to build another one of these in a year the chance of the same seller still being on ebay is pretty slim.

That brings us to the other 3rd party vendors, buynow.com and ecrater.com being the top 2 choices. They both offer a <200mw pointer (however do not guarantee a minimum power, and the output is most likely unfiltered). The ecrater one is $10 cheaper, and comes with a free boost driver (won't be of any use in this build, but those are always nice to have around). It is however tempting to get both of them and compare the modulation performance.

What are all of you thoughts? It would be great if I could convince someone else to try a module or two, although at the $40-70 price point I can afford to get a few to try out.

[badger1666]

Hi
I have a laserlands laser in my micro projector
Works very well had it running for two days at the last meet
Without tecs and it was great, just keep below 25deg c
Wish my proper lasers modulated as well ;-)
One thing to note they have no ir filter on them even though
They say they

[krazer]

That is interesting, have you measured the power after a filter to see how much IR is there?

[badger1666]

That is interesting, have you measured the power after a filter to see how much IR is there?

no i dont have an ir filter as such but after two dichros (crap ones) i was still getting over 70mw from the 100mw module ,i think the dichro's would have taken out any left over ir
the beam on the laserlands laser is super tiny, barely 1mm
so you could knive edge two and still have a tight beam
but like most laser stuff its a bit of a crap shoot as to if you get a good one or not
but i was happy with my set up
i just mounted mine in a ali block with no tec, but did build the whole lot on a heatsink
see pics

[chad]

I am looking for the same thing. I did a review of a module on eBay a while ago. I suspect that my results are going to be pretty similar for most of the cheap pointer modules.

http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...ad.php?t=11187

Chad.

[DjHeadie]

there is a new "laser company" in town called wlaser.

i am not promoting them whatsoever yet, as i have not reviewed the "150" mW green module i purchased due to lack of time, but it was reviewed by daguin (LPF member) before i purchased it, and he reported it as over/at spec.

it was 42.00$ and i truly believe that it is worth ever penny, as i have never had an ebay module do more than ~35 of green for me.

[krazer]

I have purchased 2 of the ecrater.com pointer, and so far I have received very good service. The free shipping was actually free (not the we-will-put-it-on-a-camel-for-free-but-its-$12.99-to-ship-it-by-airmail kind of free), the vendor sent me a e-mail in coherent English a few minutes after my order, now I just need the module to arrive

I am also looking forward to DjHeadie's review of the wlaser module, it sounds like it has high potential as well.

[Laser Ben]

no i dont have an ir filter as such but after two dichros (crap ones) i was still getting over 70mw from the 100mw module ,i think the dichro's would have taken out any left over ir
the beam on the laserlands laser is super tiny, barely 1mm
so you could knive edge two and still have a tight beam
but like most laser stuff its a bit of a crap shoot as to if you get a good one or not
but i was happy with my set up
i just mounted mine in a ali block with no tec, but did build the whole lot on a heatsink
see pics

That thing is tiny!

[krazer]

Update -
The ecrater pointers are out of the running.

My 2 pointers arrived today, and they are indeed tiny. They run from a single AAA sized lithium ion cell (unmarked, just generic blue shrinkwrap). They did come charged, but no charger, or other documentation for that matter, was included.

The power was well below spec, one put out ~100mw, the other put out ~35mw, which dropped to about 70mw/12mw with the addition of an IR filter.

Furthermore, the modules do not have any kind of beam expander, so the beam is very tiny at the apeture (~0.1-.5mm), but has a very large divergence.

Conclusion - lets hope DjHeadie's review comes soon!

[Solarfire]

Just following the thread, also building a mini RGB and looking for a usable green.

Take a look at this, claims 70mW with IR Filter and a divergence of 1.0-1.2mrad in a 12mm housing.
Sounds realistic

http://cgi.ebay.de/70mW-532nm-Green-...efaultDomain_0