Kenometer Pro Review

[heroic]

the LCD will break before those wires come off from an impact

Hope is not a strategy

Apparently you've never heard of thermal creep. You should ask the guy who designed the Apple III about that.

[Kenom]

Guys: you've got some nice software. But the hardware sucks ass. Redesign it ASAP. You can get PCBs made fast and cheap, with free-as-in-beer software at pad2pad.com so there's no excuse. You should also strongly consider getting a decent ADC because while I love the AVRs like a little brother, their ADC sucks.

You gonna design said circuit and show me how to include said groundplane? I sure as hell don't know how to do it and can't afford to pay someone to do it for me. As to the pcb's being prefabbed, I could do the same thing with the enclosures and have them pre-cut for me for all the holes, but I havn't got the resources to pay for this kind of stuff. The prefabbed pcb's would have to be more inclusive than just some $10 design.. there are associated fees that go along with it. Tooling etc.

All of this comes down to disposable capital to expend on this venture and I just don't have it. I'm a unemployed single parent of 2. The $500 I recieve from the govt per month doesn't even cover my rent

[Phredy1]

The meter functioned! Did anyone miss out on that? Looks like almost everyone.

Technically the meter did function - after CDBEAM fixed a broken wire to the sensor plug and another broken wire from the LCD. Personally I don't think that qualifies as "The meter functioned".

My .02 cents about this thread:
1.Kenom asked CDBEAM to do a review. He did an honest and completely through review. All the backpedaling now about it being a prototype is just wasted words.
2. In my opinion, if you are worried about 3 or 4 mW accuracy, none of the inexpensive power meters are the right option. I want to know roughly how much power the laser is putting out. If I needed to know exactly, I probably should spend a couple grand on a power meter.
3. I value the reviews done on this forum. It is a huge help in deciding where I spend my money. After reading this review, I did a search for LaserBee to see if it had been reviewed. I found this. If Pat B and others liked it that is good enough for me.

[heroic]

Go look at pad2pad.com and see how they roll. The last batch of PCBs I ordered from them cost me $197 for 20, and they were pretty big.

As for how to lay out a groundplane: go to the library and get The Art Of Electronics. Read it. This will not cost you anything and apparently you have plenty of time on your hands. You can't afford my rates. Heck, you couldn't afford a day of my salary.

Let me get this absolutely straight:

- Your product doesn't suck, except for the parts that suck
- You would make it better except you don't know how
- You can't afford to make it better and cheaper because you can't afford to and you don't know what you're doing
- You want me to redesign it for you for free

Yup, that "Pro" badge on the box is REALLY MEANINGFUL.

[norty303]

Originally Posted by MarioMaster
Heh, I'd like to see lasersbee's meters going though an investigation like this
So would I, anyone wanna post pictures of the inside of one? Preferably large enough that I can identify chips.

I've got the very first Laserbee II off the production line, I'll do some internal shots in my review if you like.

[heroic]

2. In my opinion, if you are worried about 3 or 4 mW accuracy, none of the inexpensive power meters are the right option. I want to know roughly how much power the laser is putting out. If I needed to know exactly, I probably should spend a couple grand on a power meter.

5% of 5 watts is 250 milliwatts. And I doubt it even gets close to 5% accuracy across its entire operating temperature range (the meter unit, not the box) since there is no compensation on the input network.

[lasersbee]

The prototype unit was sent because I was waiting on enclosures due to a volcanic
ash cloud grounding all air traffic from Europe and Bob was wanting a refund, which
I did not have the means of producing at the time. I sent the prototype to tide him
over until the enclosures arrived

So you knew that you sent him a "prototype"... and yet you claimed it was sent by
mistake... I'm sure you would have told him about it had he not made the review
Just like you refused to fix the Dust problem until he posted the review.

I'd be more than happy to post a price list for all of the components and you can
judge by yourself how little of a price margin there is. Would laserbee be willing
to do the same? I think not! Will he stream live the assembly of his house without walls?
I think not!

One more example of where someone with a lot of money to throw away on a product beats
out the little man who has to do everything by hand and doesn't have the resources to
"pre-assemble" everything from the manufacturer.

First.... I don't need to justify anything.... I don't sell the inferior product that
I saw in those photos you sold to CDB...
I don't need to or have time to stream live assembly because I'm not full of myself and
we spend our time producing a High Quality product... We are proud of the products
we send out... and don't need a Warning label to keep the customer from seeing
our work

Boo Hoo.... you think the Government set me up in business like it paid for your college
and housing..
We have nothing pre-assembled... We design our own Firmware and Hardware...
We design our own PCBs and have the raw boards Professionally produced.
We purchase all prime stock new electronic components...
We have our Thermopile Sensors manufactured to our specs and do all the Mechanical
and Electronic assembly in-house....

BTW... those identical lengths wires of your new production unit using the Arduino Nano
are "pre-assembled" jumper wires... where did you ever find the $$$$...
(FYI..it still doesn't look PRO...)

@mccarrot..... as I/ve stated before....you're a clueless Troll...

At most the meter jumps a value of a milliwatt, two at higher powers -
the noise is virtually invisible on my oscilloscpe.

It was stated in the review that after Zeroing the meter the display jumped between
0 and 1 peaking at 2... that's at low and no input powers...

Well I've just done a little digging on the laserbee I and it doesn't use a separate ADC either....

just a PIC microcontroller and a microchip opamp to amplify the signal generated by the tec

Are you pulling these Nuggets of wisdom out of your butt...
Why do you post something you have no clue about...
You seem to be digging in the wrong place...IMO


@ heroic.... everything that you posted makes 100% sense...
It is clear that you are a knowledgeable person with electronics experience
by the obvious that you have pointed out...

Now it seems they want you to do the work and design it for them...
They had originally asked me but I thought it would be a conflict of interest...

I want to build an airplane and compete with the big commercial airlines...
could you design a flying prototype... I can't pay you I'm broke... (holds out hand
for feebies)

[EDIT]
@ PRO team.... heroic has given you more than enough information to improve
your meter if you want.... As I tell the Noobs on LPF...
You need to do some research... using that info provided...
Then design it and test it thoroughly before putting them up for sale..
The customer should not be doing your design trouble shooting and
debugging... IMO

Jerry

[heroic]

It was stated in the review that after Zeroing the meter the display jumped between
0 and 1 peaking at 2... that's at low and no input powers...

So that's at least 1.5LSB of error right there.

That means the meter has at best 8.5 LSB of range; and no guarantee of monotonicity, and I'm damned sure the input doesn't use a compensated bridge topology so I bet it drifts like a mofo.

I'm not sure the Laserbee is materially better in respect of accuracy- I don't endorse that product either- but it has certainly been designed much more carefully, by someone who knows how to design a decent PCB, assembled professionally, and then tested carefully before shipping.

Plus if I were to call Mr. Bauer on build quality, design or accuracy I'm absolutely certain he wouldn't be a douche about it. He's seemed to be a straight up guy every time we've corresponded.

[MarioMaster]

yep, i am totally pulling things out of my ass

this is really all there is to a bee1

[lasersbee]

yep, i am totally pulling things out of my ass

this is really all there is to a bee1

You're so enraged by your crappy builds that it's making you blind..
I can clearly see the the ADC...

I don't need to exaggerate...
What I state is "just the facts ma'am"...


Jerry