China RGB laser modules: worth it?

[PhantomRage]

I never got a washer, let alone a sticker on the laser... Must have been from a different seller.

Good to know about the current draw. I used a power supply from a old external USB hard drive case. Since it was super tiny, it makes for a small build to power the brick. If it could power a IDE hard drive should be fine for the little white laser.

My beam seems to be ok to about 30 or so feet... So it may seem they are hit or miss.. But I figured for the price why now.

I do how ever would like to try the one watt version that has the adjustable optics, and the three lasers on a heavy looking base plate. But for the price, you can get a whole darn china projector with the same stuff, plus cheap galvos.. Crazy how the laser hobby has changed over the last 10 years....

[Gmunu]

I checked the time more accurately. It starts at 750 mA then at exactly 2 minutes it dropped to 527 mA. Almost like there is a timing circuit built in.

[PhantomRage]

I checked the time more accurately. It starts at 750 mA then at exactly 2 minutes it dropped to 527 mA. Almost like there is a timing circuit built in.

I think the lasers heat up, and the power levels start to drop off, causing less current draw. That would be my best guess, unless you have a laser power meter to check that...

One tool I wish I had for sure.

[2tall]

Here we go....

The RGB Brick is 12VDC to 13.8VDC (that is the range I tested it at) The Yellow wire is + (positive) the black wire is - (negative) IF this is the wired plug that came with your brick, the colors may differ. If you look at the board, it will be printed 12VDC and each pin will be labeled +12V and GND. This is the plug next to the Green lasers TTL plug.

The TTL plugs are the colored plugs that are not connected, Green, Red, Blue. If you look at the PCB in front of the plug, each pin is labeled. - and + so it looks like this in front of the pins ( - G + )

The PT-ITURS show card from Phenix Technology has a set of plugs, (pins) for each laser color, being that they are TTL. The one labeled intensity blanking is a analog output and used for some china systems that state they are analog, but only green and blue are the analog colors used.

So, from the PT show card (will start with the blue jack or pins) The ones labeled as the COLOR are the + (positive) pins. GND labeled ones are ground.

So it would go like this,

PT Card --> White Brick
Blue --> + of blue plug
GND --> - of blue plug

Green --> + of green plug
GND --> - of green plug

Red --> + of red plug
GND --> - of red plug

Hope this helps.

The other labels GND y- y+ and GND x- x+ and for the scanners,
the board gets its power from the 3 pin plug +15 GND -15
work led, and power led, are for status LEDs, not to be confused with laser TTL signals.

I will try to post photos of my build if time allows, but for now. back to kids, and house duty...

Thank you so much for your reply. I can now say I have a working 7 color projector!!! I still don't know what went wrong with the 200mW model. The only thing different is the 12v power supply for the laser module. I was using a 12v "wall wart" adapter type. Since I was soldering the jumpers to the PT-Itrust board I could have crossed the wires too. I would say this is a good module for first timers. There are some beam alingement issues with the one I have but I'll worry about that later. Now i'm off to watch the preprogrammed show from the Itrust for a couple of hours then I'll start searching for software. More money ha ha. Thanks again for your help. P.S. now I want analog for more colors LOL.

[sugeek]

Pictures or it didn't happen!

[2tall]

Pictures or it didn't happen!

Ok. Coming shortly. I'll try and include a video too.

[2tall]

Pictures or it didn't happen!

Ok, pics as promised. Mind you this project is still in crude form. Still working on the videos.

[PhantomRage]

I have to get photos of my projector... Gosh it is a heap.. I used a old 19 inch rack mount telco case 3u high, the only chunk of aluminum plate I could get at the time was a old heat sink from a projector TV, and stuffed it all in that box.. lol

Glad you got your 7 color projector working with the white brick.

[Ubersapian]

Hey Mirrorball .... I purchased one of those 1W RGB's from the same seller about 4 months ago now and have'nt had any issues so far ... The Analog modulation is selectable by shorting out the ttl jumper and putting modulation onto the provided analog inputs ... only issue i had with the above (all be it small issue) was chipping the epoxy resin of the dicro mounts ... but once done was able to align dicro's properly with good results .. Next thing is to get a meter onto the driver outputs and see if i can tweak them some more

[colouredmirrorball]

OK! Thanks.
It looks like a good option for a next project, once the main projector is finished (you always want more don't you?). It looks like a cheap and decent option for satelite projectors...
Good to know the alignment is adjustable.