Can dropping lazer pen dim it?

  • Thread starter Terry Donadlson
  • Start date
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Terry Donadlson

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Lazer pointer pen is getting very dim. Changed it with fresh batteries it
still dim. I bought another identical lazer pen and this one is really
bright. Is it normal for a lazer pointer to wear out or did I dropped it so
many times?
 
Terry Donadlson <Sinc@tomi.com> wrote:
Lazer pointer pen is getting very dim. Changed it with fresh batteries it
still dim. I bought another identical lazer pen and this one is really
bright. Is it normal for a lazer pointer to wear out or did I dropped it so
many times?
Click to expand...
Overdriven or poorly made laser diodes can indeed wear out.
Dropping it isn't very llikely too do it.
 
"Terry Donadlson" <Sinc@tomi.com> writes:

Lazer pointer pen is getting very dim. Changed it with fresh batteries it
still dim. I bought another identical lazer pen and this one is really
bright. Is it normal for a lazer pointer to wear out or did I dropped it so
many times?
Click to expand...
Assuming red, both. Esepcially the cheap ones.

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Home Page: http://www.repairfaq.org/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
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Important: The email address in this message header may no longer work. To
contact me, please use the Feedback Form at repairfaq.org. Thanks.
 
Ian Stirling <root@mauve.demon.co.uk> wrote in message news:<YeYAb.18551$lm1.155724@wards.force9.net>...
Terry Donadlson <Sinc@tomi.com> wrote:
Lazer pointer pen is getting very dim. Changed it with fresh batteries it
still dim. I bought another identical lazer pen and this one is really
bright. Is it normal for a lazer pointer to wear out or did I dropped it so
many times?
Click to expand...
That sounds like the laser diode is fried. The way to tell is to
examine the beam profile using a white sheet of paper and a lens- if
the blob has vertical lines in it then the diode is toast.

The cheaper ones are prone to this, there is a trade-off between diode
current and brightness/battery life and you can guess which goes
first.

The more expensive pointers are designed using a proper temperature
compensated optical feedback circuit and last longer than the $9.95
junk.

-A



Overdriven or poorly made laser diodes can indeed wear out.
Dropping it isn't very llikely too do it.
Click to expand...
 
These low cost laser pointers usually don't last very long. The diodes tend
to go dim and fail after a while. They generally have poor temperature and
current feedback control in their design. If you invest in an expensive
one, it should last longer.

Dropping a laser pointer, unless you really smash it, should not be the main
cause of failure. Maybe a hard drop may break something mechanical, but not
the laser diode.

--

Greetings,

Jerry Greenberg GLG Technologies GLG
=========================================
WebPage http://www.zoom-one.com
Electronics http://www.zoom-one.com/electron.htm
=========================================


"Terry Donadlson" <Sinc@tomi.com> wrote in message
news:f56abaeb7d9bf136130ed83097260294@news.bubbanews.com...
Lazer pointer pen is getting very dim. Changed it with fresh batteries it
still dim. I bought another identical lazer pen and this one is really
bright. Is it normal for a lazer pointer to wear out or did I dropped it so
many times?
 
"Jerry G." (jerryg50@hotmail.com) writes:
These low cost laser pointers usually don't last very long. The diodes tend
to go dim and fail after a while. They generally have poor temperature and
current feedback control in their design. If you invest in an expensive
one, it should last longer.

Dropping a laser pointer, unless you really smash it, should not be the main
cause of failure. Maybe a hard drop may break something mechanical, but not
the laser diode.

I've bought them for 99 cents here in Montreal, at one store at least,
Click to expand...
so I'm not sure it really matters about how long they last. Even at the
$2.99 level, I don't think you could buy batteries for it for less, so
it's cheaper to buy a whole new pointer when the old batteries die off.
Indeed, I've bought the cheap laser pointers for the batteries, since
the batteries actually do fit some of the other things I have around here.

Michael
 
Everyone is right about this one.

I dropped the new one so many times but still works. (It's a key chain red
lazer and gets tossed four meters everyday, - we share cars.)

And yes, it has the vertical line symtom.
And yes, it was cheap. $2

I also have a $20 one that died because I supplied 4.5V DC cell phone charger
in series with a 150-Ohm resistor for 2 hour attempting to build an intruder
alert. Till today, I still don't know why a cell phone charger would kill
it?? I assume it doesn't have a temperature and current feedback control,
like several poster mentioned.

Lazer pointer pen is getting very dim. Changed it with fresh batteries it
still dim. I bought another identical lazer pen and this one is really
bright. Is it normal for a lazer pointer to wear out or did I dropped it so
many times?
Click to expand...
 
I also have a $20 one that died because I supplied 4.5V DC cell phone
charger
Click to expand...

Forgot to mention how this one died (not related to the OP.) It gets dimmer
and dimmer and then no more. Next day it gets slightly brighter by supplying
4.5vdc 'D' batteries or cell phone charger but eventually gets dimmer and
dimmer. People make a living by making lazer intruder alert that stays on for
long periods at a time. I just don't know what I'm doing.
 
"Terry Donadlson" <Sinc@tomi.com> writes:

Everyone is right about this one.

I dropped the new one so many times but still works. (It's a key chain red
lazer and gets tossed four meters everyday, - we share cars.)

And yes, it has the vertical line symtom.
And yes, it was cheap. $2

I also have a $20 one that died because I supplied 4.5V DC cell phone charger
in series with a 150-Ohm resistor for 2 hour attempting to build an intruder
alert. Till today, I still don't know why a cell phone charger would kill
it?? I assume it doesn't have a temperature and current feedback control,
like several poster mentioned.
Click to expand...
How about you read the diode laser chapter of the Laser FAQ? Then
you will know. :)

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Home Page: http://www.repairfaq.org/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
| Mirror Site Info: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html

Important: The email address in this message header may no longer work. To
contact me, please use the Feedback Form at repairfaq.org. Thanks.
 
I also have a $20 one that died because I supplied 4.5V DC cell phone charger
in series with a 150-Ohm resistor for 2 hour attempting to build an intruder
alert.
Click to expand...
Next time, try an HeNe gas tube laser instead of a laser diode. - Reinhart
 
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