Outside Laser Powers?

[White-Light]

Hi,

I'm seeking some power advice for small garden BBQ's.

What size laser do you think I'm going to need?

I was thinking maybe:

680mw 637
1W 445
500-600mw 532

I understand from Chroma that 680mw of 637 should be the equivalent of 850mw of 642 (eagerly awaiting Norty's feedback on 637 here).

Do you think this is going to cut it?

I know red is a problem outdoors.

Viewing distance will probably be in the region of 30-35 feet (diagonal across garden).

Total garden area 30x30 so around 900 square feet.

As I have no experience of outdoor shows I thought I'd seek some opinion.

[Jem]

Hi Al

Assuming this is for beamshows, it's the 'how long is a piece of string' question. Usually, for outdoors more power is always better .

One of the big problems with using lasers outdoors is air particulates, as that's what makes the beams visible (whatever the power). Without particulates in the air even a mega watt laser wouldn't look that good. Conversely, on a naturally misty evening even a relatively low power laser looks good, and that's the problem... How do you keep haze 'local' when there's a slight breeze or a definate 'wind' blowing. I've used my laser in the garden on a dark misty November evening and it looked fantastic

If you look at large outdoor events you'll usually find that there are multiple hazers being used, these are strategically placed around the venue so that whichever way the wind blows you're guaranteed some coverage. Using as much laser power as possible is just hedging your bets and guarantees that something will be seen. For serious outdoor stuff I would suggest perhaps 5 watts of green with other colours to balance, for use in your garden?, well, assuming the correct level of haze even my RGB would be adequate.

I guess some of the outdoor 'Guru's' will jump in with more info, but in the meantime I hope my simplistic view helps.

Jem

[White-Light]

What's your RGB power now Jem?

BTW I suppose haze is the answer but unfortunately that means cost. I have a JEM smoke machine that's quite good, but I guess ideally 3 fazers would probably be the answer. Can't see me affording them though.

Wonder is its possible tp warm some smoke fluid over a small fire for the same effect or would it just boil off too quickly.

[norty303]

I'll be blunt.

Debating over laser powers by the 10's of mW, or between 640 and 637 wavelengths is pointless when talking about outdoor laser powers.

You simply want as much as you can get, forget about white balance.

As for 'atmosphere', proper haze is not the answer, as this is more suited for controlled environments (i.e. indoors).

Your show will live or die purely on your ability to get fog in front of the lasers, not on the size of the lasers.

In 'my' experience, the best way of doing that, using limited resources, is to use regular foggers and fans. One fogger placed underneath the laser, with a fan to disperse and blow the fog out in the direction the laser is facing works quite well and you can adjust depending on prevailing wind conditions. Remember that in some situations, even with big resources, you will struggle to control the atmosphere.

Having a fogger that can do constant fogging at lower volumes is useful here.

This is a vid using 400mW 532, 400mW 640, 600mW 445 and one big fogger and fan, but the wind was kind to us that night.

[helium]

Wow! Nice show Norty. If your BBQ's are anything like mine there should be plenty of smoke around.....coff......coff.....

[White-Light]

Thanks for that Norty.

Looks like you had quite a good result there with relatively low powers.

My dilemma is that apart from the cost, I want to audience scan (it will be private and not public) which I presume should help brightness having the beams straight at you, but of course the rub is that from 30 feet ot so, the higher the powers the higher the risk. It would be quite easy (money allowing) to stick 1W of each colour at the top of the garden but with 3W the MPE would be horrific or the projectors turned down massively anyway. That's why I was thinking maybe if I could keep levels to 1.6W, with 680mw 637, 600mw 532 and 1w of 445 (turned down to 500mw) it would be far safer and easier to manage to safety issues.

I'm wondering if the real answer might be to buy additional smoke / fazers rather than go hunting for huge laser powers, would you agree?

[danielbriggs]

What size laser do you think I'm going to need?

Anything with wheels.
30W minimum.


Weather conditions: Flip a coin to know if it will look good...

[stanwax]

some opsl based projectors would do the trick

Rob

[norty303]

Talking of outdoors, am I right in thinking my new 532 is in the post Rob?

[White-Light]

TBH I could live with a result like Norty's.

A few breaks in the beams are neither here nor there.

With a 30 foot viewing distance I need to have safety in mind and going for huge powers apart from the cost, blows my MPE with every MW of increase.

I want the food to get fried not the retinas!