# Laser Vortex with a Module



## MrGrimm (May 19, 2009)

Hey gang, last year I made a cheap and easy laser vortex which was a huge hit.

But the pen laser I was using kept dying/eating up the batteries. I ended up going through 10 double A's in 3 hours!

So I was thinking of "upgrading" the vortex to use a laser module that could be powered by plugging it into an exterior wall socket.

Is that even possible? Would anyone know where I could get a reliable module?

I have limited tech skills, but am ready to learn 

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks gang


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## HomeyDaClown (Oct 3, 2009)

Not sure you'll find one that's AC powered unless you're looking for a big laser. Most laser modules run on DC power from 3 to 5 volts (such as the ones in the laser pointers). Here's a 5 volt one that you could run on just about any 5 volt USB or cellphone AC power adapter:

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G19031

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G19031


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## The_Caretaker (Mar 6, 2007)

be careful not to give it to much power, you will burn it out. you need a regulated wall wart that is the correct voltage.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

I'd say go back and have a look at the circuit or post up on here and maybe we can troubleshoot. Alkaline AA batteries are generally 2500mAh or better. Meaning they could run approximately a 2500 milliamp (2.5 amp) load for 1 hour. Burning through 10 in 3 hours mean a lot of power is going somewhere!

I set up a vortex last year, too...green laser diode...I forget the exact laser rating, but it was definitely in the 30, 40, 50 mA range. Then I salvaged a small computer fan clipped it's blades and hot-glued a first surface mirror onto that. It ran for 6 hours Halloween, plus a couple of parties since then...probably another 12 hours...so maybe 18 hours total. The laser is starting to dim a bit, to probably time for the battery change. But still 18h on one set of batteries vs 10 batteries in 3 hours... I'd say something is gobbling too much power...unless your laser is cutting steel!


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## MrGrimm (May 19, 2009)

Hey everyone, thanks for the help.

Sorry I've been away the last week, but I do appreciate you taking the time to give me some guidance.

@Corey872, would the fact that I am running this thing outside, in relatively cold weather affect the batteries performance at all?


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## Cole&Jacksdad (Jan 20, 2011)

I have made them with laser pointers. I twist off the battery cover and soder a wire to the spring where the - side of the battery goes and then another wire to the threads. The thread wire will be the + wire and the spring will be the - wire. Get a DC 3 volt wall wart. soder the + wire to the + wire on the pointer and soder the - wire to the - wire on the pointer. I get the laser pointers off ebay or amazon. If you use a 3 volt motor, wire that up to the wall wort too.


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## Cole&Jacksdad (Jan 20, 2011)

This is the wallwart that I use for this project.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/US-Plug-...80405663?pt=AU_Travel_Acc&hash=item2ebf71db9f


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## MrGrimm (May 19, 2009)

Thanks for taking the time Cole&Jacksdad!

I will try this and let the forum know how it came out.

Much appreciated


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## RandalB (Jun 8, 2009)

I use a modded (ala Scary Terry) PC power supply. It has the 12v (Mirror Fan), 5v (Chip heat sink fan) and a 3.3v (Laser Module) outputs and it's regulated.

Bonus: the vortex's power requirements are so low you can run other props it's power supply. I am running 2x additional wiper motor props off the same power supply. 

HTH,
RandalB


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## MrGrimm (May 19, 2009)

Hey RandalB, thanks for the reply.

So many possibilities! I'll have to consider this as well when planning the display layout.


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## RandalB (Jun 8, 2009)

NP,
The Laser Vortex was one of the easiest and cheapest projects I've done, but with a decent fog machine and the right conditions, it will draw a crowd. It's a spectacular effect...

I have a pic of it in operation in my photo album...

RandalB


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

MrGrimm said:


> ...
> @Corey872, would the fact that I am running this thing outside, in relatively cold weather affect the batteries performance at all?


The cold will obviously have some effect on battery life. I don't know what 'relatively cold' is, but even down to freezing, I'd think you'd still have a moderate chunk of battery capacity left. Maybe you are going sub zero?

I guess the converse question would be - do the 'dead' batteries suddenly 'come alive' again when they are warmed back to room temp? That would indicate it's just the electrolyte freezing.

If it really is just the cold, the quick fix would be to switch from an alkaline battery to lithium - the lithium batt isn't affected by cold - and sometimes can even benefit from it.


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## MrGrimm (May 19, 2009)

Corey872: Interesting! I think that's worth a try. Thanks again for helping this nOOb out


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## wandererrob (Aug 8, 2007)

How about switching to larger batteries, for example a pair of D batteries instead of AAs. Same voltage, but a lot more mAh in reserve. You'd still be self contained too.


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## darkside501st (Sep 21, 2012)

Hello everyone.

I am using an inexpensive 5mW 532nm green laser for a my green laser vortex. It uses a mirror spinning on a computer fan.

I first built this prop for Halloween last year and I started out just using the laser pointer by itself running on the stock setup with 2 AAA batteries. This only lasted like 30 minutes of continuous use and it only gets down to like 50 degrees around October here in Texas. So I needed to power the laser from standard USA AC outlet (110-120v). I did what was suggested earlier in this thread and tried to hook it up to a 3.3v 500mA wall wart (ac/dc transformer) but it produced a visible flickering or pulsing in the laser beam which detracts from the effect. You can see a video here:
Misc images :: 00068_zps8c18e633.mp4 video by __darkside__ - Photobucket
So you can see the flickering or pulsing... makes it look like a helicopter blade or the spoke on a bicycle.

So I hooked up some rechargeable batteries in parallel with the wall wart and that seemed to solve the problem but it only lasts a few hours before it starts flickering again as the batteries drain. You can see the difference here:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150520982598219&set=t.100000008875728&type=3
The camera still displays a looping gap in the green cone but this is not really visible to the human eye. It looks pretty solid when powered with batteries or batteries and wall wart.

I need to come up with a better solution, without using batteries, to eliminate the pulsing effect. I am not sure if it is just the wall wart I am using that is causing that pulsing/flickering. Cole&Jacksdad posted a similar one... does this one work without a pulsing effect?

I would also like to hook up a PWM control for the 12v computer fan to the same power supply as it is part of the prop. The ATX power supply solution would work well for my setup but it is rather bulky and I would prefer to come up with a smaller solution that can be put in the vortex box I built.

So maybe I need to switch to a 3v motor and get the other power supply that Cole&Jacksdad linked to.

Thanks, Mike


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Sounds like your wall wart may be AC or only rectifying 1/2 wave. Either way, the laser will only be on when the polarity of the wart matches the polarity needed by the laser.

The 'test' would be to reverse the leads of the wart when connected to the laser...if the laser doesn't work at all, then you have 1/2 wave rectified DC. If the spoke pattern remains then you have AC.

If it turns out you have 1/2 wave DC, then a large capacitor across the leads might do the trick, but it will have to store enough power for when the supply is completely off for 1/2 of the AC cycle. If you have AC, then you could build a full wave bridge rectifier and add a capacitor which would give you solid DC power. Of course for the price of this work, you could probably just scavenge another true DC wart.

It's interesting to see another account of batteries being zapped fairly quick with one of these. I would have thought a 5mW laser would run a long time...though you mention AAA batteries which are a bit smaller than AAs. Are you running the fan off the batteries as well? It may make a moderate difference, but I clipped the blades on my fan...maybe that reduces the current draw quiet a bit. I will have to drag it out and see how much current it draws, but it's run multiple nights on a set of AA batteries.


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## MrGrimm (May 19, 2009)

Thanks for the replies guys...

My problem is exactly as darkside501st described. A 5mW 532nm green laser running only for 30 minutes on AAA batteries. I was going to try the lithium batteries next, as previously suggested, but now I am not sure that will help either...


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## loki13 (Sep 23, 2007)

wonderrob has the right idea. I did that with my candles. Instead of the watch batteries I used AAs. Solder a jumper from the pos to neg in series then attach it to your laser. should work .


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## loki13 (Sep 23, 2007)

sorry Wanderrob. :googly:


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