Kenometer Pro Review

[Things]

The bouncy reading is due to the voltage converter, it's the only way to get the +/- required for the thermopile, without having to practically ship a computer power supply with it. Filters have been added to try get this noise as minimal as possible. Also, the meter uses the internal 1.1V reference for the low power mode, which is extremely accurate.

Yes, Ken does make a bit of profit on this, and who doesn't make a profit on their sales, but he really does not make much at all, The cost of simple things, even the overlays and button pads all add up.

Why a review was done on a temporary prototype unit baffles me.

[heroic]

The bouncy reading is due to the fact that Aref is coming from the same power plane as the microcontroller is using. HTH. Get a real ADC. AD7708 is nice.

[norty303]

Why a review was done on a temporary prototype unit baffles me

I'm not sure it was a temporary prototype unit until the review became public domain.

[lasersbee]

The bouncy reading is due to the voltage converter, it's the only way to get the +/- required for the thermopile, without having to practically ship a computer power supply with it. Filters have been added to try get this noise as minimal as possible. Also, the meter uses the internal 1.1V reference for the low power mode, which is extremely accurate.

Yes, Ken does make a bit of profit on this, and who doesn't make a profit on their sales, but he really does not make much at all, The cost of simple things, even the overlays and button pads all add up.

Why a review was done on a temporary prototype unit baffles me.

That is so untrue.... I even supplied a split supply schematic that does not
use a switching PS without any high frequency inverter spikes... but that
would entail more assembly than a pre-built SPS..
IMO... you don't put band-aids on a badly chosen power supply

Let me un-baffle that for you.... your leader ASKED CDBeam to do the Review
on that "prototype"...

[EDIT]
In case anyone is curious we use a dedicated 16 bit ADC on the LaserBee II
and it reads in 0.1mW increments upto 999.9mW and 1mW increments to Max.


Jerry

[MarioMaster]

People need to watch what they say with some of the accusations - but it's a moot point anyway. The project is dead, ruined with that single prototype unit.

Why would Kenom ask him to review such an obviously poor meter unless it was a mistake? None of the other units shipped look like that inside so don't give me the "it was a production unit and he wants to recall to hide blah blah"

Oh wait, my unit also looks like that inside because it's a PROTOTYPE

[mccarrot]

Remember guys, the Thermophile is one of the most important parts of a laserpowermeter, and I think thats ok with this meter. The head of my coherent meter cost just as much as the meter itself.

If I would spend money on a meter it would be this meter with a proper head instead of a meter with a simple tec glued on a heatsink.

About jumping between 0 and 1 mW, even my multi digit Coherent meter is jumping in the milliwatt range because of the sensitivity, if you put your hand close to the sensor you will even see the meter goes up a few mW due to the heat of you hand.

Meters like the Laserbee are even 20% off in the range below the 30mW as you can see in this graph made by doc, so why bother about 0,1% accuracy. and who cares of your 1W laser does 1000mW or 1001mW.

[MarioMaster]

The bouncy reading is due to the fact that Aref is coming from the same power plane as the microcontroller is using. HTH. Get a real ADC. AD7708 is nice.

The reading is quite stable as long as the supply to the thermopile is clean. Thanks for the suggestion on the ADC converter chip I will be investigating this into a redesign.

Remember guys, the Thermophile is one of the most important parts of a laserpowermeter, and I think thats ok with this meter. The head of my coherent meter cost just as much as the meter itself.

If I would spend money on a meter it would be this meter with a proper head instead of a meter with a simple tec glued on a heatsink.

About jumping between 0 and 1 mW, even my multi digit Coherent meter is jumping in the milliwatt range because of the sensitivity, if you put your hand close to the sensor you will even see the meter goes up a few mW due to the heat of you hand.

Meters like the Laserbee are even 20% off in the range below the 30mW as you can see in this graph made by doc, so why bother about 0,1% accuracy. and who cares of your 1W laser does 1000mW or 1001mW.

Thank you on your input mccarrot, it seems I am pretty much alone in defense against lasersbee who has gone far beyond what I would expect for someone in his position.

[Kenom]

Remember guys, the Thermophile is one of the most important parts of a laserpowermeter, and I think thats ok with this meter. The head of my coherent meter cost just as much as the meter itself.

If I would spend money on a meter it would be this meter with a proper head instead of a meter with a simple tec glued on a heatsink.

About jumping between 0 and 1 mW, even my multi digit Coherent meter is jumping in the milliwatt range because of the sensitivity, if you put your hand close to the sensor you will even see the meter goes up a few mW due to the heat of you hand.

Meters like the Laserbee are even 20% off in the range below the 30mW as you can see in this graph made by doc, so why bother about 0,1% accuracy. and who cares of your 1W laser does 1000mW or 1001mW.

Its nice to see someone sees the truth behind all the negative. This meter was opened. Removed teh warranty sticker to repair it himself. voiding the warranty. I never told him to do so and I would have repaired ALL of the problems including the dust behind the screen had he sent it back to me for repair. That wasn't the case.. I still amiably offered to swap him out after it was shown to be working regardless of the dust. The meter functioned! Did anyone miss out on that? Looks like almost everyone. No instead he's swapping it for a Laserbee II. Not allowing me to fix my mess. Oh well, I personally would never own a spray painted tec as a laser power meter. Would take a true thermopile sensor from a true laser power manufacturer.

Let me go further to state that I stream live the construction of my meters almost every night for everyone to see. come check it out if you like. (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kenom) They do not suck and have lots of folks comment that the build quality is superior to anything they could do. This one indication of messiness is a mistake and was never intended to go into any customers hands. The damage to the back of the unit is irrelevant since it was going to be cut out to install the included battery compartment.



The readings from the meter are stable and the ADC is adequate for the job. The features of the meter are FAR superior to the laserbee and include a enclosure free of charge (no house for sale with no include walls here)

I will continue to sell these.. I will continue to stand by those who aren't willing to bail on me at the first opportunity and those that are willing to take a chance on me are going to get a superior meter that will function as promised.

[lasersbee]

Remember guys, the Thermophile is one of the most important parts of a laserpowermeter, and I think thats ok with this meter. The head of my coherent meter cost just as much as the meter itself.

If I would spend money on a meter it would be this meter with a proper head instead of a meter with a simple tec glued on a heatsink.

About jumping between 0 and 1 mW, even my multi digit Coherent meter is jumping in the milliwatt range because of the sensitivity, if you put your hand close to the sensor you will even see the meter goes up a few mW due to the heat of you hand.

Meters like the Laserbee are even 20% off in the range below the 30mW as you can see in this graph made by doc, so why bother about 0,1% accuracy. and who cares of your 1W laser does 1000mW or 1001mW.

First .... I agree with you that those OPHIR Surplus heads are good Thermopile
heads... The Head outputs 1mV/1mW that you can easily read with a standard
DMM... Kenom had posted somewhere that he paid $60.00 per head...
You do the math.............

When you try to put down the LaserBee I as you so often do...
you should perhaps compare the costs... you are comparing a $219.00 LaserBee I
to a $400.00 PRO...

If you look at that same old graph... who on this Forum really cares about checking
Lasers in the "below 30mW" range... And even your Huge 20% point is moot...
because it is only a few mW.. You may be surprised at the newer LaserBee products
accuracy..
Did you even see the difference at only 100mW on the graph to you posted or
are you just scraping the bottom of the barrel... again...

BTW... no one is stopping you to buy a PRO....

Jerry

[MarioMaster]

You'd be surprised how little profit margin there is on these meters.



Your new meter is still just a spray-painted TEC and it costs nearly as much as a Pro

And since you seem so high and mighty right now what ADC does the LB1 use? You seemed so willing to share what the LB2 uses...


Also, I'd like to apologize for the color coding on the comparison chart - and again I'd like to as if any information presented in said chart is inaccurate.

How's this?