Green laser pointers.... on the net 240mw green lasers sell for around £300-400. on ebay £20 so i brought one

Question

Green laser pointers.... on the net 240mw green lasers sell for around £300-400. on ebay £20 so i brought one.
they say it will burst ballons etc and i have seen videos,
so i thought i was getting a bargin.
when it arrived i tryed it out nice and bright but no heat.
the sticker says 240mw and the site does (surepromise) from ebay. a lot lower mw power will create a small amount of heat so what is wrong. the beam is bright and you can see it a bit in daylight at night it goes for miles. can anyone technical help.
can i overclock it some how, will a clean good lense do it.
also without sounding sill have i bean ripped off.
the ones one the net like wickid lasers, dragon lasers etc look simalar to what i have so i don't understand.
thank you

Answer 1

As a class IIIa laser, its power output must be less than 5mw. First I thought your pointer might be 240nm (the light wavelength) rather than 240mw, but that's well into the ultraviolet and wouldn't be visible. There's no simple way to increase its power output. Even 1/4 of a watt isn't a lot of power, it's just concentrated on a small area. You shouldn't be able to buy one with much more than 5mw of output power to use as a toy.

Answer 2

Yes I bought this Anime from Japan on Ebay, it was over 300 episodes for 50 bucks it was on CD-Rom though. That's the most expensive thing. I also bought a blue toothhead set recently it was a pain in the rear since it took forever to get the product but it was a 70 dollar item I got it for 20. I set limits I don't want to go broke for an item I just want and don't need.

Answer 3

First, safety - if its over 4mW you could permanantly damage your retina if left on one spot. 240mW would give instant scoring. Your vision would be ruined.

If you are thinking of having fun with these devices, bear in mind you could be committing a criminal act. It could be tantamount to stabbing someone in the eye.

If it was 240mW you could so very easily have an accident. Green is the worst as eyes are very sensitive to it. e.g. if you accidentally got backscatter off a metal object you pointed it at. The amount of heat may not be huge, but it can still be destructive.

Someone sent me a red diode laser pen. Its probably beyond safe emission levels for the UK. I don't like looking at the spot, its too bright. (I checked its power on a special laser power sensor - about 8mW.)

Going up in scale ... today I was testing an infra red industrial laser and had an accident. My safety system failed, and It could have burned down the building. It drilled into the water cooled laser power sensor, destroying it, and could easily have gone all the way through, and started melting the brick wall behind. If I point it at fire bricks, it melts them, turning the surface into glass. If I focus the beam, its even more destructive. Of course its invisible too.

Answer 4

If something is usually expensive, and you then think you found it much cheaper, there is usually a reason for it, I am a heating engineer, if a person takes a price that is considerably less than mine, they usually end up regretting it because the quality etc is'nt the same as i offer!

Answer 5

I think that this is an excellent lesson in getting what you pay for....think about it - if you bought something for 20 pounds that ordinarily sells for 3-400 pounds, we'd say here it's either stolen or not really the product you imagined it would be...."let the buyer beware" and all that jazz.

Answer 6

If the laser does not meet the advertised specification and description, you can complain to eBay and get your money back. What do you want to use the laser for?

Answer 7

Haha, you got suckered in by that one. It's more like 32mW. However it is still powerful enough to cause anyone permanent eye damage. Read this link *very* carefully before playing games with your laser.

Answer 8

The only reason for these lasers are to create havoc best left for the military, they are very dangerous in the wrong hands