Just wanted to compliment you and say that your instruction was so clear and so easy to follow that I was impressed. So often instructional videos especially technical ones are obfuscated to the point that the viewer couldn't possibly duplicate the results. Your method for explaining this was so clear that I think I could do this just from memory alone. Thank you again you are awesome!
Thanks for this information. I have many lasers, mostly firearm lasers and pointers, but I'm going to explore a few of them and see if any of them have the potentiometer to adjust. Never took any of them apart. In particular is a laser from NOVA Lasers (not for firearms) with a peak output of 90.0 mW. It seems to have lost about half it's output over the last six years or so. Would be great to get it back to the original output. Thanks again for the cool tip.
This drastically reduces the lifetime of the diode and ktp crystal. Laser diodes are very fragile and you can easily kill them by touching the leads on the diode itself. Also they are rated at a specific current. With your 'mod' you just increase the current flowing through the laser diode. The circuit board is just a constant current source. by increasing the current you get a ton of infrared light passing the KTP crystal because it is over saturated which is really dangerous for your eyes because you cant see it! The 808nm pumpdiodes usually have around 200mW of optical output power where about 50mW leak through the crystal. Seems like the laser pointer in the video has an infrared filtee but sadly most cheap ones dont. Be carefull with handling lasers!
No doubt increasing the current beyond the factory setting to the laser diode is a early death to the LD. The laser diode will go into avalanche failure . When the laser diode fails. It will go dim and change color. If you decide to increase the power of your laser by adjusting the potentiometer on the driver board keep in mind that the laser will be permanently damaged very soon.
@@PDBreske Laser diodes aren't like candles, not even in this respect. Make it burn twice as bright, and chances are that it will last only 1/20th of the time... ...or maybe even die instantly.
*Some brand new LASERs appear to overheat even without adjustment* I've bought a handful of these green LASERs seemingly identical to this one. *After ~55 seconds of "on" time (both of them right out of the box) but with a fully charged 16340 lithium cell, **_at least 2 of them_** overheat WITHOUT my having made ANY adjustment, and the LASER dot becomes so dim you can barely see it even on a bright white wall* It does not happen slowly...it's a step function. One second it's too bright to look directly at the spot on the wall, and you can see the beam in the air in front of the LASER, and the next you can barely see the dot and you can no longer see the beam in the air at all. I do NOT yet know which component(s) is(are) overheating, but I tend to suspect the diode is the likely culprit as diodes tend to operate non-linearly. I then wait a minute to allow the device to cool down a bit, and after then restoring power, it's again as bright as it was originally. However, this time it takes less than the full 55 seconds to overheat and become dim. At the time the beam is dim, the battery still has a basically full charge and when moved immediately to a different LASER, easily keeps it powered up as brightly as expected. The other LASERs (same model, same Seller), appear to work as expected and do not dim after even a few minutes of constant ON...it's just the 2 (again...unmodified) devices that have this symptom.
hi i have my 5 mw laser and i did take it apart successfully, but there is no screw to tur and my laser has only a small black button on the circuit board. is there anything i can do to make it stronger, it is a big black chunky laser that i bought from witch the online app
+michael mcleod I made the video based on the laser I own, so I can't possibly advise you on a different assembly. Is yours also a Firefield model #FF13037K?
i dont know the make , but its a big chunky black bulky metal design , and it did come apart the same way but only difrence is that the circuit board has a small black button instead of the screw , i tried to turn it but i dont know if it makes a diffrence as im still waiting for the battery to come in the post, i bought it from wish gadget online store . £7
+michael mcleod I assume your laser arrived in a box with a model designation on the box. If it's not the exact model shown here, I can't help you. It sounds like your circuit board has something other than a potentiometer, so I'm not sure how you can adjust the laser output. Sorry.
nope , it came in a grey plastic bag in buble wrap . i have also just realised it is not a laser pointer , it seems to make a pateron and when i remove the tip it just gives a rough cheep dot . but hey you get what ya pay for . i will just have to buy another . but thanks all the same.
It could only get brighter if the LASER is designed such that one was using it with a 3.0V cell (whether or not rechargeable) and then changed to a 3.7V (nominal) cell (18650 or any other with that voltage). Also, to get the same brightness increase as an 18650 3.7V (nominal) cell, you could instead use a 16340 rechargeable 3.7V Li-ion cell (or similar size) which can be also obtained in the same physical form-factor as some 3.0V cells and may even fit in the same location as the original cell. The 16340 outputs the same 3.7V voltage as an 18650 Li-ion cell, but assuming similar high quality the 16340 can provide less than 1/4 the mAh (or Wh) capacity as an 18650 cell. ----------------------------------------------------- *Some Notes On Li-Ion Cells and Seller mAh Ampacity/Capacity Claims* The *maximum* mAh you can get from a very high-quality 18650 Li-ion cell is *_about_* 3800mAh. If you're willing to pay a LOT more money, you may be able to get a few hundred more mAh out of an 18650.The *maximum* mAh you can get from a quality 16340 cell is perhaps 800mAh. Anyone claiming higher ampacities/capacities is being unrealistic. They are possibly either lying outright, don't understand what they're talking about, or are performing the capacity tests at an unrealistic discharge current level that is MUCH MUCH lower than 0.2C for a given lithium-ion cell (and certainly less than the ~300mA discharge current class IIIa green LASERs like these typically use under normal temperature and voltage). I'd never even consider buying an 18650 Li-ion cell from anyone claiming it can provide over 4500mAh, or claiming their 16340 cell can provide more than 800mAh.
cus you busted off the frequency doubling crystals now you are getting a dangerous amount of infrared. Don't look at that because it will burn your retinas. Unless your scenario is that you cranked the output too low, just adjust the potentiometer until you see green output. Also try replacing your batteries if that doesn't work.
+Scott B It's true; the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long, but I have used this thing exactly twice since purchasing it. I'm not really worried about how this adjustment reduces the life of the diode.
only if you let it overheat, every diode has its temperature tolerance level,breach it and it will disintergrate far more than under factory designed use.
How xan I replace the original push botton to a simple slide ON/OFF botton...n what if the casing of the lazer is aluminum and the lazer cristal holder is plastic...where do I connect the positive to..???
Does this laser have windage and elevation adjustments? I didn't see that being a problem is so. What is that laser's model? Thanks for the great video.
Yes, sort of. The barrel of the sight has set screws at the 12-, 3-, 6-, and 9-o’clock positions. To adjust elevation, you loosen or tighten the top screw while tightening or loosening the bottom screw. The same for left-to-right windage adjustments. It’s a poor system and very difficult to get right, and there is also a chance that you can over-tighten and/or strip the screws as you make these adjustments. Since the barrel is made of aluminum, it is very easy to strip the threads of the very small screw holes. I expect this was cheaper to implement than traditional adjustments, and much less satisfactory. The model is in the description: Firefield 5mW green laser aiming device #FF13037K.
+Ian warden miliili It's possible, but I never use this thing and even when I did, it was for only a few seconds at a time. I'm sure that turning up any device past its normal wattage would decrease the lifespan.
It does. The pot is trimmed to set the amount of current that goes to the laser. Laser diodes increase brightness with more current. The trade off like you say is they retire early.
Just wanted to compliment you and say that your instruction was so clear and so easy to follow that I was impressed. So often instructional videos especially technical ones are obfuscated to the point that the viewer couldn't possibly duplicate the results. Your method for explaining this was so clear that I think I could do this just from memory alone. Thank you again you are awesome!
Thanks for this information. I have many lasers, mostly firearm lasers and pointers, but I'm going to explore a few of them and see if any of them have the potentiometer to adjust. Never took any of them apart. In particular is a laser from NOVA Lasers (not for firearms) with a peak output of 90.0 mW. It seems to have lost about half it's output over the last six years or so. Would be great to get it back to the original output. Thanks again for the cool tip.
This drastically reduces the lifetime of the diode and ktp crystal. Laser diodes are very fragile and you can easily kill them by touching the leads on the diode itself. Also they are rated at a specific current. With your 'mod' you just increase the current flowing through the laser diode. The circuit board is just a constant current source. by increasing the current you get a ton of infrared light passing the KTP crystal because it is over saturated which is really dangerous for your eyes because you cant see it! The 808nm pumpdiodes usually have around 200mW of optical output power where about 50mW leak through the crystal. Seems like the laser pointer in the video has an infrared filtee but sadly most cheap ones dont. Be carefull with handling lasers!
Nuh uh
Jeez who called the fun police?
No doubt increasing the current beyond the factory setting to the laser diode is a early death to the LD. The laser diode will go into avalanche failure . When the laser diode fails. It will go dim and change color. If you decide to increase the power of your laser by adjusting the potentiometer on the driver board keep in mind that the laser will be permanently damaged very soon.
The candle that burns twice as bright, burns half as long. Mine burns five times as bright. LOL
@@PDBreske Laser diodes aren't like candles, not even in this respect. Make it burn twice as bright, and chances are that it will last only 1/20th of the time... ...or maybe even die instantly.
*Some brand new LASERs appear to overheat even without adjustment*
I've bought a handful of these green LASERs seemingly identical to this one.
*After ~55 seconds of "on" time (both of them right out of the box) but with a fully charged 16340 lithium cell, **_at least 2 of them_** overheat WITHOUT my having made ANY adjustment, and the LASER dot becomes so dim you can barely see it even on a bright white wall*
It does not happen slowly...it's a step function. One second it's too bright to look directly at the spot on the wall, and you can see the beam in the air in front of the LASER, and the next you can barely see the dot and you can no longer see the beam in the air at all.
I do NOT yet know which component(s) is(are) overheating, but I tend to suspect the diode is the likely culprit as diodes tend to operate non-linearly.
I then wait a minute to allow the device to cool down a bit, and after then restoring power, it's again as bright as it was originally. However, this time it takes less than the full 55 seconds to overheat and become dim. At the time the beam is dim, the battery still has a basically full charge and when moved immediately to a different LASER, easily keeps it powered up as brightly as expected.
The other LASERs (same model, same Seller), appear to work as expected and do not dim after even a few minutes of constant ON...it's just the 2 (again...unmodified) devices that have this symptom.
hi i have my 5 mw laser and i did take it apart successfully, but there is no screw to tur and my laser has only a small black button on the circuit board. is there anything i can do to make it stronger, it is a big black chunky laser that i bought from witch the online app
+michael mcleod I made the video based on the laser I own, so I can't possibly advise you on a different assembly. Is yours also a Firefield model #FF13037K?
i dont know the make , but its a big chunky black bulky metal design , and it did come apart the same way but only difrence is that the circuit board has a small black button instead of the screw , i tried to turn it but i dont know if it makes a diffrence as im still waiting for the battery to come in the post, i bought it from wish gadget online store . £7
+michael mcleod I assume your laser arrived in a box with a model designation on the box. If it's not the exact model shown here, I can't help you. It sounds like your circuit board has something other than a potentiometer, so I'm not sure how you can adjust the laser output. Sorry.
nope , it came in a grey plastic bag in buble wrap . i have also just realised it is not a laser pointer , it seems to make a pateron and when i remove the tip it just gives a rough cheep dot . but hey you get what ya pay for . i will just have to buy another . but thanks all the same.
for those of you who have different lasers just attach an 18650 battery to it and it gets brighter. but dont leave it on for too long
It could only get brighter if the LASER is designed such that one was using it with a 3.0V cell (whether or not rechargeable) and then changed to a 3.7V (nominal) cell (18650 or any other with that voltage).
Also, to get the same brightness increase as an 18650 3.7V (nominal) cell, you could instead use a 16340 rechargeable 3.7V Li-ion cell (or similar size) which can be also obtained in the same physical form-factor as some 3.0V cells and may even fit in the same location as the original cell. The 16340 outputs the same 3.7V voltage as an 18650 Li-ion cell, but assuming similar high quality the 16340 can provide less than 1/4 the mAh (or Wh) capacity as an 18650 cell.
-----------------------------------------------------
*Some Notes On Li-Ion Cells and Seller mAh Ampacity/Capacity Claims*
The *maximum* mAh you can get from a very high-quality 18650 Li-ion cell is *_about_* 3800mAh. If you're willing to pay a LOT more money, you may be able to get a few hundred more mAh out of an 18650.The *maximum* mAh you can get from a quality 16340 cell is perhaps 800mAh.
Anyone claiming higher ampacities/capacities is being unrealistic. They are possibly either lying outright, don't understand what they're talking about, or are performing the capacity tests at an unrealistic discharge current level that is MUCH MUCH lower than 0.2C for a given lithium-ion cell (and certainly less than the ~300mA discharge current class IIIa green LASERs like these typically use under normal temperature and voltage).
I'd never even consider buying an 18650 Li-ion cell from anyone claiming it can provide over 4500mAh, or claiming their 16340 cell can provide more than 800mAh.
I did it with my green laser. now it is red for some reason. how do I fix it. or reset it?
Send it to me and I can fix it for you. Remember to include a check for $100.00.
Phillip Breske no thanks. that's not even how much I paid for it. I paid 4.00$ on ebay for it. I just wanted to know who to fix it
Michael Mendez over current burned laser diode. and now it is dying. no way to fix it.
he was joking xD
cus you busted off the frequency doubling crystals now you are getting a dangerous amount of infrared. Don't look at that because it will burn your retinas. Unless your scenario is that you cranked the output too low, just adjust the potentiometer until you see green output. Also try replacing your batteries if that doesn't work.
That diode is gonna burn out sooner rather than later.
+Scott B It's true; the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long, but I have used this thing exactly twice since purchasing it. I'm not really worried about how this adjustment reduces the life of the diode.
only if you let it overheat, every diode has its temperature tolerance level,breach it and it will disintergrate far more than under factory designed use.
I don't think he gives a fuck about the life of the laser. If he did I'm sure he wouldn't have made this video.
How xan I replace the original push botton to a simple slide ON/OFF botton...n what if the casing of the lazer is aluminum and the lazer cristal holder is plastic...where do I connect the positive to..???
If you don't see it in this video, I can't provide an answer. I have opened up ONLY this particular model.
I do not know how the heck I got here.But I know now NOT to touch the leads on the dioid! Y'all are pretty serious about this stuff!
Mine says its 100mw factory
Do u think this might work with a red laser?
Does this laser have windage and elevation adjustments? I didn't see that being a problem is so. What is that laser's model? Thanks for the great video.
Yes, sort of.
The barrel of the sight has set screws at the 12-, 3-, 6-, and 9-o’clock positions. To adjust elevation, you loosen or tighten the top screw while tightening or loosening the bottom screw. The same for left-to-right windage adjustments. It’s a poor system and very difficult to get right, and there is also a chance that you can over-tighten and/or strip the screws as you make these adjustments. Since the barrel is made of aluminum, it is very easy to strip the threads of the very small screw holes. I expect this was cheaper to implement than traditional adjustments, and much less satisfactory.
The model is in the description: Firefield 5mW green laser aiming device #FF13037K.
Thanks for the info! I may try this.
Have fun!
sweet!
could't it heat up too much?
+Ian warden miliili It's possible, but I never use this thing and even when I did, it was for only a few seconds at a time. I'm sure that turning up any device past its normal wattage would decrease the lifespan.
It does. The pot is trimmed to set the amount of current that goes to the laser.
Laser diodes increase brightness with more current.
The trade off like you say is they retire early.
Wow
Thx. :-)
Ah damn it no screw to turn on this little mobo :(
Sorry. Not all lasers have this ability.
Yeah I figured that, thanks :)
Can u do it with red and blue
I expect you can do this mod with any laser that has the same internal parts, though I have tried it only with this particular model.
Phillip Breske i might be wrong but i heard green ones only have it not sure why or if i’m right
@@ItzCaptGaming You might be. I don't know. I've never opened any other color lasers.