I'm not into laser-pointers but I do want to make something that might involve using a laser pointer so I thought I'd ask here.
I want to point what I guess should be a focused beam of light, probably IR, at a fixed reflector, which would bounce the light back to the transmitter where it would hit a receiver. These are typically called retro-reflective beam break or photoelectric beam detectors.
The distance I'm looking at is about 150 feet. I guess there aren't a lot of infra-red laser pointers, but maybe if someone has already tried this with a red laser pointer then it would be similar to what I'm looking for. I see there's a website called civillaser .com and they have 10 to 250 mw IR laser modules for $30 - $60 but I'm not sure what to use as a detector.
So has anyone ever tried to make a beam-break detector using a laser pointer, and what sort of range did you get, and what was your power?
I want to point what I guess should be a focused beam of light, probably IR, at a fixed reflector, which would bounce the light back to the transmitter where it would hit a receiver. These are typically called retro-reflective beam break or photoelectric beam detectors.
The distance I'm looking at is about 150 feet. I guess there aren't a lot of infra-red laser pointers, but maybe if someone has already tried this with a red laser pointer then it would be similar to what I'm looking for. I see there's a website called civillaser .com and they have 10 to 250 mw IR laser modules for $30 - $60 but I'm not sure what to use as a detector.
So has anyone ever tried to make a beam-break detector using a laser pointer, and what sort of range did you get, and what was your power?