The most challenging and difficult questions about all laser things are “do I have a real rated power output laser?”, “does my laser has its power?” “is it well focused?“
In this post, we will help you will the first key question!
The answer is simple – because many manufacturers do not measure the actual power output of their lasers and intentionally overestimate the values and mislead their consumers.
Most Chinese lasers have low power than is indicated in their manuals. If you check most marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, Banggood, and others you will see that on their sites they claim that their diode lasers are 40/80 watt power output and it is simply not true!
What power can be measured and advertised?
– General power consumption of the whole device. Usually, it is 5-6 times more than the laser output.
– Power consumption of the laser diode. Usually, it can be about 4-5 times more than the optical power output.
– Impulse optical power output than can be for a very limited period of time and then the average power wil lbe much less.
Impulse laser power test
– Constant optical power output – that is a power that should be indicated in the manual.
For example, in this video, we are testing a brand new 405 nm violet laser diode in CW mode
Different lenses add some power losses
Some low-quality lenses made out of plastics can absorb more than 20-25% of the power.
Also if the lens is not clean then you will face some power loss.
It is necessary that your lenses have AR coating at the wavelength of the laser, for example – all Endurance laser lenses have AR coating @445 nm.
An Endurance laser lens pack + laser fixation ring & laser focusing ring
The general power consumption of the whole device and the laser diode has nothing to do with the power parameters of the product.
The impulsive optical power output cannot be easily measured since the impulsive power can last only for 10^-6 – 10^-9 sec. This requires sophisticated equipment and cannot be detected easily. That is why the max impulsive power output is taken “as is” from laser diode manufacturers.
Here we will talk about the constant optical power output.
We know that 100% of Chinese laser manufacturers on eBay, Amazon, Aliexpress, and DHgate, Banggood. advertise fake values of their power output.
That is why most of their lasers die in a week or so after using them…
Most Chinese lasers stop working because they have a problem with their electronics circuit and have problems with thermal regulation
Many suppliers keep on telling about 15 watt, 20 watt power output while the max their lasers have is about 3-5 watts at best.
Wrong data misleads buyers who expect that lasers from trusted suppliers and manufacturers do have the claimed power.
So what is to be done?
It is very important to use proper equipment to do laser power output measurements.
For example, ultra-high quality equipment made by Russian company “Lamet”. This equipment converts the light power into the electric power.
The highlight of this device is a big aperture that allows measuring the laser power output even without a focused beam.
Here we are showing the process of the power output measurement of 3.5 watt, 5.6 watt, 8 watt and 10 watt Endurance’s laser attachments.
The constant laser power is always lower than the peak laser power.
It’s the same as with a claimed car horsepower: it can be reached for a very short period of time (sometimes it can be reached only once).
Below we list the actual constant laser power for Endurance lasers measured during tests (CW power)
3.3 watt for a 3.5 watt laser.
5.4 watt for a 5.6 watt laser.
7.4 watt for a 8 watt laser.
For all Endurance 10 watt lasers it was closer to 8.5 watt long peak and then became ~8 watt.
For Endurance 15 watt lasers it was closer to 14 watt long peak and then became ~13 watt.
All DPSS lasers have average power that is 4 watt for DPSS and 10 watt for DPSS
What matters is the outside temperature, power supply, electronic components, and many other things, including individual characteristics of every single laser diode.
Unfortunately, the optical power output of individual laser diodes can vary greatly. Such electronic components as: LM, DC/DC, transistors, etc. can also have an effect on the whole schematics.
To get a clear result repeat measurements at least 20-30 times.
Starting from the 1-st of June 2017 Endurance will sell lasers only with the rated power output measured individually. We try to do our best to meet the demands of every sophisticated customer.
For high-quality laser power tests, we suggest professional power equipment that costs at least 1500-2000 USD for a power meter.
For laser power meters in a price range of less than 500 USD, it will not be very accurate and endurable. It may stop working in 7-14 days.
Also, it is very necessary that the laser power meter could detect special wavelengths. For example for diodes, it is usually 400-1000 nm. For DPSS it is 1064 nm. For the Co2 laser, it is 10600 nm.
