This reminds me of when I played around with laser diodes as a kid (of course to burn random things).
I ordered a powerful green laser diode from eBay, wired it up and pointed it at some black paper, hit record on the camera, excitedly connected the battery and... nothing. I checked the wiring, all was good. I looked in the end of the diode, I could see a faint red glow inside, but nothing else. I must've got a dud unit.
Later I looked at the recording and my heart sank. When past me connected the battery, the room immediately lit up with a bright white glow. The diode emmitted an intense beam of infrared light... and I pointed that thing directly at my eye.
There wasn't a wider point to that, this just reminded me and I wanted to share. I suppose be careful of what you can't see.
I got lucky. That sort of thing can cause big problems. Especially those that stay unnoticed until old age. Hearing is also one of those.
Can the laser in OP’s laser burn things? No? Point of my comment is to console OP’s concern with long term damage to his eyes. Some Windows Hello’s IR emitter is powerful enough I can see bright red blinking.
I ordered a powerful green laser diode from eBay, wired it up and pointed it at some black paper, hit record on the camera, excitedly connected the battery and... nothing. I checked the wiring, all was good. I looked in the end of the diode, I could see a faint red glow inside, but nothing else. I must've got a dud unit.
Later I looked at the recording and my heart sank. When past me connected the battery, the room immediately lit up with a bright white glow. The diode emmitted an intense beam of infrared light... and I pointed that thing directly at my eye.
There wasn't a wider point to that, this just reminded me and I wanted to share. I suppose be careful of what you can't see.
I got lucky. That sort of thing can cause big problems. Especially those that stay unnoticed until old age. Hearing is also one of those.