Lasers: can I see the beam in the dark?

-ADREN-

Hi there,

I don't really Airsoft but I have a feeling that ye might know a thing or two about lasers. I cant find where else to post this on boards..

I am building an installation that is in a dark room and I need lasers that have their beams visible in the dark with out the need of fog/dry ice.

I was just wondering would a 5mw lasers beam be able to be seen in the dark?

Also do any of ye know where I could get cheap powerful enough lasers that I could see in the dark that have are IR filtered. I found these on kaidomain but I dont know if they are IR filtered.

http://www.kaidomain.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=8651

Many thanks.

St Bruno

Dont think you could see the beam from a 5mw laser in the dark.
Dealextreme.com have some quite powerful ones that have that capability though.

TheDoc

I know I have a few legal green lasers that I can see the beam.

Dealxtreme seems the best place to source them

St Bruno

Is the 5mw limit just to do with mounting them on an airsoft though?

nevermind, the guy deleted the post.

extremetaz

erm... you're not gonna be able to see any beam off anything without something for the beam to bounce off, laser, lamp, or otherwise. :rolleyes:

You see light because it's either tranmitted in your direction, or reflected into your direction after bouncing off something. If there's nothing to bounc off, and the beam isn't travelling in your direction, you're not gonna see anything.

Simple physics.

You will see a 5mW laser perfectly clearly if it has something to reflect off - ie: fog, smoke, steam, any particulate vapour.

extremetaz

St Bruno wrote: »

Is the 5mw limit just to do with mounting them on an airsoft though?

No, the 5mW thing is to stop you from causing permanent eye damage (up to and including permanent loss of sight) to yourself or others.

bushy...

You'll see the beam from a green laser easier afaik.




http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~fine/opinions/z-bolt-6plus.html

St Bruno

I use to have one of the 30mw green ones off dealextreme (left it in a mates and havent seen it since:D) Very impressive beam off it i must say.

Witcher

St Bruno wrote: »

I use to have one of the 30mw green ones off dealextreme (left it in a mates and havent seen it since:D) Very impressive beam off it i must say.

You do know you're breaking the law don't you?:rolleyes:

St Bruno

No i didnt, but thank you for taking the time to point it out to me, what does that smiley mean by the way?

TheDoc

You'll have to excuse some people here, they sometimes assume you are a grade A law student in the countries laws.

The green one I have you can shine in the air at night and see the beam clearly.

There is some limit or something with lasers, ( limits with ****ing everything these days)

but you can get pretty much anyones in from abroad without hassle. Aslong as your not acting the maggot with it and show a bit of cop on there harmless, much like airsoft guns

I'd say "hot lasers" is low on the pecking order.

Stercus Accidit

5mw is the limit and afaik you can only have red lasers without any licensing or some such, I havn't the foggiest about lasers though.

I remember back when people really cared about them though, its was stupidly funny in hindsight, we predicted there would be a flurry of laser use, then nothing, and we were right pretty much

St Bruno

haha its grand, i dont take the internet to seriously in any case, i wont worry about the police breaking down my door just yet.

kdouglas

TheDoc wrote: »

You'll have to excuse some people here, they sometimes assume you are a grade A law student in the countries laws.

The green one I have you can shine in the air at night and see the beam clearly.

There is some limit or something with lasers, ( limits with ****ing everything these days)

but you can get pretty much anyones in from abroad without hassle. Aslong as your not acting the maggot with it and show a bit of cop on there harmless, much like airsoft guns

I'd say "hot lasers" is low on the pecking order.

Unfortunately, the law is quite clear on laser limits in Ireland, as per the charter:

Only lasers that meet the following criteria are legal in Ireland:

- lasers of less than 5 milli Watts
- in the light frequencies of 630 to 680nm

OP: perhaps use some dry ice/fog so that the lasers are visible? If that's an option

Firekitten

Lovely how we mention ilegality, but not the reason why... those greens... were you to shine them accidentally in someones eye during a skirmish, WILL cause permanent damage. You'd REALLY screw airsoft then... Please think about that more than your fun with pretty lights...

St Bruno

The guy who posted the thread siad himself hes not an airsofter, he just wanted some info on lasers for a different purpose.

Hivemind187

lasers ... grumble ... again ... grumble grumble ...

/goes back to sleep.

moggser

Hivemind187 wrote: »

lasers ... grumble ... again ... grumble grumble ...

/goes back to sleep.

and stay asleep no one inc me wants to hear old man ronan kick off lol

TheDoc

pwned

Back on topic, yeah the guy isnt an airsofter and just needs some help.

Theres plenty of knowledgable people around here that can help you out.

Although I'd just ask if you are going to post about "legalities" you take it elsewhere and just give the bloke the information he needs

Adren I've got a perfectly LEGAL green laser and the beam can be seen perfectly 80% of the time, although its not a constant its a flutter, but its look **** cool.

hoplite

I suppose smog and fog would be your friend in terms of visibility.

Damn those eco/lung friendly smokeless fuels forced upon us a few years back

OzCam

Can I Safely Use a Laser Pointer?

- Ken Barat, Certified Laser Safety Officer, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

See also Laser_safety on wikipedia - excellent article.

And if you need any more... You Only Received One Set of Eyeballs?

BTW, there's a huge difference in eye safety between class IIIa and class IIIb.

Damage caused by a laser shining into the eye can occur in milliseconds, may not be noticeable at the time, and is permanent.

bullets

I love Lasers and would love a visable one.
Nothing to do with Airsoft at all, and I'd never mount one
to an airsoft device, but the pure technology aspect of it
all being able to see a visable beam of Laser light while
pointing it in a safe direction or popping a rubber balloon
I find facinating.

Forgetting totally for a min, all the dangers and those poeple that are so concerned about our welfare and possible blindness due to big bad green lasers burning our eyes out and boring a hole through our skulls.....;)
(I know they can cause blindness if used incorrectly)

Is it actually in Irish Law that limits the power to 5mW ?
or was this limit just something that was an answer to a question posed to the DOJ when it came to questioning the legalities of mounting a Laser to an airsoft device ?

I had always thought that Green lasers were Legal to own
and use in Ireland for the purposes of astronomy.
And do remember reading articles years ago from some
Astonomy clubs in Ireland about the use of Green Lasers.
(cant link said articles for proof as I've long forgotten where I read them)

There are green lasers also advertised a 1mW at the moment I noticed on ebay Ireland.
as these are under the 5mW figure that people throw around the place I assume
its Ok to mention them:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/2-in1-SKY-Green-Laser-Pointer-Star-Projector-Pen-Style_W0QQitemZ370207565201QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Gadgets?hash=item5632172591&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1300|240%3A1308|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

~B

Stercus Accidit

bullets wrote: »

I love Lasers and would love a visable one.
Nothing to do with Airsoft at all, and I'd never mount one
to an airsoft device, but the pure technology aspect of it
all being able to see a visable beam of Laser light while
pointing it in a safe direction or popping a rubber balloon
I find facinating.

Forgetting totally for a min, all the dangers and those poeple that are so concerned about our welfare and possible blindness due to big bad green lasers burning our eyes out and boring a hole through our skulls.....;)
(I know they can cause blindness if used incorrectly)

Is it actually in Irish Law that limits the power to 5mW ?
or was this limit just something that was an answer to a question posed to the DOJ when it came to questioning the legalities of mounting a Laser to an airsoft device ?

I had always thought that Green lasers were Legal to own
and use in Ireland for the purposes of astronomy.
And do remember reading articles years ago from some
Astonomy clubs in Ireland about the use of Green Lasers.
(cant link said articles for proof as I've long forgotten where I read them)

There are green lasers also advertised a 1mW at the moment I noticed on ebay Ireland.
as these are under the 5mW figure that people throw around the place I assume
its Ok to mention them:
http://cgi.ebay.ie/2-in1-SKY-Green-Laser-Pointer-Star-Projector-Pen-Style_W0QQitemZ370207565201QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Gadgets?hash=item5632172591&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1300|240%3A1308|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

~B

From the previous threads I recall it is, and they have to be red.

See, I was planning on building a super laser out of fibreglass, epoxy, lipo batteries and deal-extreme lasers to write vulgar graffiti on the moon and shoot down satellites like clay pigeons at the country club.

But alas, even with all the technical aspects clearly covered, I believe there is a 5mw limit on power unless you have some special approvals, like light shows and all that.

moggser

ive a green laser which is clearly visible in any weather condition
at nite and at day time too not as much at day but you can see the beam if you look for it

the spec of it is a class IIIa
wave length 532nm
max output is 20mW

from what i know its illeagal "maybe"

now popping balloons with it is something i dont think that will happin
there is a 65th party goin on in the local tomoor nite might go piss off some pentioners lol

Rew

Lads green lasers and lasers over 5mw are illegal in Irealnd so can people not queue up to tell the world that there breaking the law? OP you have your answer, if you need more powerfull lasers you should find out how to license them.

There are plenty of cheap lasers on ebay that claim huge power rating, these can be very dangerous for your eye sight.