Measuring Laser Output Watts...

[miking1834]

I have a LaserWorld RS-800RGY. I must say I have had a lot of fun with it. But recently was looking at upgrading it to RGB. Opened the top to find 2 Red diodes both say 200mw going into a cube. Anyhow after reading a lot of posts about underpowered LaserWorld products, thought I should measure the ones I have. So I bought a LaserBee.

My real question is how to make these go to full power so I can measure them atleast somewhat accurately. I have Pangolin FB3, and I have used 3D Draw to make a point in each color Green & Red, and created the max points 300+ to hopefully drive the diode on each color to measure it, is this the maximum power? As each red is measuring around 75mw not through optics, and the green is measuring around 130mw through optics.

Any help would be much appreciated as I am wanting to upgrade...

Thanks,

Michael

[beamann]

I took my modules out and hooked them up to a driver board that was not part of the projector (adjusting the driver for the diode curent and voltage required for each type) and power metered them that way. I could'nt rely on the the projectors electronics for a acurate reading, so that was a method that I knew was solid.

[norty303]

You need to hook the drivers up to a known constant 5v supply to drive them to max. Running off the FB3 will not do it as it modulates the blanking, even when on full.

[miking1834]

You need to hook the drivers up to a known constant 5v supply to drive them to max. Running off the FB3 will not do it as it modulates the blanking, even when on full.

Drivers.... what is this exactly? Do you mean to put a constant 5 volts to the TTL connection on the laser diode? Is the TTL connection what determines the intensity of the laser? Thanks for the help.

[KGB]

Drivers.... what is this exactly? Do you mean to put a constant 5 volts to the TTL connection on the laser diode? Is the TTL connection what determines the intensity of the laser? Thanks for the help.

Yeah, Just put 5v on your ttl line to get full power but remember that TTL doesn't determine the "intensity" as you call it, rather ttl is just ON or OFF......Nothing in between.

[norty303]

Sorry, missed that it was TTL. You should be fine with any supply that is constant that gets you over threshold value. A couple of volts should do it.

[Jem]

Be very wary of back reflections into the diodes if you're testing them on full power. A small amount of light that gets reflected back into the diode can easily kill them if they're being pushed to the max. To avoid this use the sensor at a slight angle so the reflected beam is kept well away.

[beamann]

Be very wary of back reflections into the diodes if you're testing them on full power. A small amount of light that gets reflected back into the diode can easily kill them if they're being pushed to the max. To avoid this use the sensor at a slight angle so the reflected beam is kept well away.

@ jem
Thanks for that tip, Good To Know!

[DanG]

RS-800 is an analog fixture so you will need to use the full 5V to drive it properly. When it is all said and done you should get about 150 out of each red and maybe 250 out of the green.

[Things]

Apply +5V on pins 5, 6 and 7 of the ILDA input, that should turn all your lasers up to full power