Anybody know how to "Hot Rod" a laser?

[Wrong Way]

I know it can be done.....just don't know how.

I have a 3V laser sight, and I want to boost it's output. Anybody?


Ryan

[randas]

kinda OT but how dose it work in daylight? is it any good at like 5-10ft?

[Wrong Way]

Yeah...its fine at 20ft....but I want 20 yds. I KNOW there is a way to do it.......

[randas]

dont know too much about upgrading red ones, but these are supposed to me good:

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Tactical-green-laser ... dZViewItem

http://search.ebay.ca/search/search.dll ... =&saprchi=

[SharpTeeth]

I've changed my laser pointer from 2 AA batteries to a 9V battery. I just had to solder one of the 9V battery connectors to the laser and it worked fine.It's so much brighter, but will probably burn out much faster.
After that I was able to point at almost any distance and still see the red dot. Never did check with binoculars to actually see how far it shines though.

[randas]

I dunno if thats the way to go, I tried that with a dollar store laser before and it burned out within a week

[cfraser]

^ You're right, not with a dollar store laser. With the better ones there is an optical feedback of output light intensity built in to the laser module (a brass-cased thing). You won't make these hugely brighter with higher voltage. The cheap lasers have nothing, not even voltage regulation, so intensity varies with battery voltage, pretty easy to tell if you have one of those; these are the ones you can easily boost output, to a point.

Geez, a $25 laser pointer is good for 200yds, mine is. How much farther can you guys shoot??? Oh yeah, I've seen some of your guns, forgot...

I extremely recommend you check out Sam Wasserman's Laser FAQ. And all his other FAQ's for everything. The man is a goldmine of how-to-fix/mod info for just about any gadget there is.

[airsmith282]

if you want to hot rod a laser and expect it to last then you have to re align the focal points on the laser as well.( focus points for english,) any how i have done this many times when jacking up the speeds on cd rom players, on a steady beam laser for adding more power same theroy applies but you will still burn it out but will just take a bit longer to burn out if you realign the laser beam, heat and power require realigning and seeing as the laser will heat up then you must realign it to accept the extra juice other wise you butn out the laser and can also fri its internals pretty good to... this of a magnifiying glass if you focus it corectly at a shoots of paper sunny day of corse you creat a laser using the sun and hence it set the paper on fire so same idea here extra just refocus and the laser will last a fair about of time and no you are not creating a dangerous laser for setting treees on fire with LOL,,, any how , your going to have to take the laser apart to make the proper adjustments for accepting the new voltage you are using,honestly i think lasers for guns are over rated at least for airguns...and as for distance tonight if i remeber ill do some other checking and see just how far i can see it before it dissipears out of my site, the big thing with lasers is they are best used more at night time then day time....also the human eye can only see so far, the laser should be umlimited for distance other then the distance we can see the little dot wiht our eye..

[Wrong Way]

This laser is an actual tactical laser....not a toy. The problem is, in Canada we are limited to Class IIIa. I've used lasers which gave me 40 yards in bright daylight that looked the same, but they came from the US.

There must be a way to up the output without increasing the voltage, as the other ones I used were powered by the same battery (CR123)

Ryan

[cfraser]

Like I said, if it's a quality laser and uses a MODULE (and not just a laser diode like the cheap ones) the built-in optical feedback will prevent you getting much more output (a photodiode in the module detects the light output and regulates the laser current). Disc players that use lasers use the diodes, so you can do a bit more.

The laws on power are the same in the U.S. and Canada, for each laser class.

If you want serious range then you want a shorter wavelength red laser (most are not this, most are 670-680nm, and nowhere near the potential 650nm they may suggest) because the eye is more sensitive to that, or even better and much more expensive, a GREEN laser. Way more visible to the human eye for the same laser power class.

I find the gun lasers I've seen are much worse for spot size etc. compared to a quality pointer, kind of a joke really, but I guess OK for very short range.

[airsmith282]

you ever heard never judge a book from its cover, same thing applies with this stuff as well, just cause it looks the same its aint always so, you can try and refocus the laser as is but i almost certin you will be defeted, some lasers even power by the same battery have a step up circut like a tv set you plug in 120 volts but the tube runs 50,000 volts, same idea here if you have 2 lasers onemore powerful then the other then what they likely did was add in a step up circut refocus the laser and you have sweet stuff now but also more money as well ...some stuff can be readjusted but some can not some stuff will handle more voltage some can not..
anyhow its all childs play to me but, see if you can get your hands on 2 differt ones to compare the circuts and stuff ,, with a step up circut involed the power would likely only get steped up about 2 volts maybe 3 so double the power of its present power level but if you dont realign the laser for the ne power source you will burn out the laser faster then normal.. adding 9 volts is not a good idea on the little airgun lasers we have as its way to much power for it to handel no matter what adjustments are made, also if you are looking at tactial lasers they are also made a bit stonger in quaility as well and the lasers are different, if you are trying to achive that kinda cool that form the US your going to have to do alot of work, what make and model is the laser you are messing with that might help me to be able to help you jack it up the way you want to ...

[cfraser]

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm

Seriously, anyone who has the slightest or a huge interest in practical lasers should read this. Follow the Table of Contents link at the very bottom of that page. Good luck!

[Woody]

I remember someone on the OLD green forum talking about this. It involed a potentiometer I believe, as well as other electronic components. I don't know much about electronics other than the basics I have read on the internet. But I think you can adjust the laser with the POT. I think the last person I heard talk about it was John "the crook" Walls not too long before the end of that forum.

Worth the search. It didn't sound too hard to do.



Woody