Laser pointer advice

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Squaredoch

Senior Member
Hello. Dark nights and time to experiment. Does anybody know if it is safe to leave a laser pointer switched on for say five minutes. I want to try a Nero Trigger fired by breaking the laser beam but it takes a few minutes to arrange everything. I read that 30 seconds is long enough otherwise the laser overheats. Battery life is another question.
Any advice and experience appreciated
Mike
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
I don't know, but I suspect there is no actual issue. The laser security beams we see in the action movies are on continuously, at least overnight. :)

Such gear, including incandescent and flash, have a rated heat factor. They can be operated at high level and may overheat and fail if not cooled soon. A laser beam fired at the moon is surly in that class. And there are High Power pointers, which if they do say 30 seconds, better honor it.

Or they can be operated at low level, and last nearly forever. The design of a laser pointer that will fail at 30 seconds would be extremely poor performance.

Buy a couple of cheap ones ($6) and have at it. Expendable. :)
 
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Zerobeat

Senior Member
Squaredoch said:
Hello. Dark nights and time to experiment. Does anybody know if it is safe to leave a laser pointer switched on for say five minutes. I want to try a Nero Trigger fired by breaking the laser beam but it takes a few minutes to arrange everything. I read that 30 seconds is long enough otherwise the laser overheats. Battery life is another question.
Any advice and experience appreciated
Mike
Click to expand...
You could most likely leave a battery powered, solid-state laser (diode) on until the battery runs dry before you'd cause damage to it. If it's in a metal case, and you are shooting outside, I'd wonder if it would even rise much above ambient.
YMMV, of course.
 
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Squaredoch

Senior Member
Thanks for that. I might just try a cheapie and test it to see if it fails because of heat. Might act as a test for battery life too. Just wonder whether the pointer with AAA batteries might be a better choice then the ones with the button batteries. Will need to see what I can get locally.
 
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