How much power do I need??

[MObruin]

I've searched this site pretty extensively and I am still having a hard time getting a simple question answered:

How much power of 660nm Red do I need to match 50mW at 473nm Blue?? My 532nm is variable power so I dont need to worry about that (would be nice to know the exact power though). I am trying to get a good (decent) white out of all three.

I have a rough idea, but I am not sure when it comes to matching wavelengths (along with power).

Any help is greatly appreciated. I am close to purchasing a red from a member and I want to make sure I get the right one.

thanks,

[Doc]

A couple of hundred along with about 30mW of 532 should be something like, but the red beam on it's own will probably still be less visible than the blue or green.

[MLin]

I do also have the same issue but with 100mW 473nm blue.

I have tried:
100mW 473nm
100mW 532nm
250mW 650nm

But the red is to weak, it does not blend properly.
What do you think about mixing the blue and green with 500mW @ 655nm red?

[allthatwhichis]

Do a search for the numerous threads on this issue, but I would do 1:1:6 with 660nm red using 473 for blue.

[tocket]

Here's a table a made a while back. It says 5.6 times as much 660 nm red as 532 nm green and 1.5 times as much 473 nm as 532 nm makes a good daylight white. That makes the blue to red ratio about 1:3.7, which means you'd need 185 mW of 660 nm to match your blue laser. This is easily achievable with a single DVD burner diode.

[buffo]

I have 400 mw of 660 nm red in my graphics projector, and only 100 mw of 473 nm blue. (My green puts out 150 mw, but it's always running at half-power or less to get my white balance correct.) Typically my red is running wide open, and the blue is only throttled back by a very small amount.

Bottom line: a couple hundred mw of 660 nm red will get you pretty close. From there you can tweak your color balance in software to whatever color white (warm or cool) you prefer.

Adam