🔦 Waveshare Laser Receiver Sensor Module for AVR PIC - Laser Transmitter Module Review

Worked fine for 5 minutes then failed. The device got very hot, started smoking slightly and stopped working. short circuit. Luckily my Rpi shut down to avoid damage. Be careful - this could potentially pose a fire safety issue.

This laser module works very well but please note that when you first turn it on you may have problems as upon careful consideration of the design of the laser module it is designed to operate from a single cell . battery and so has a DC step-up converter to generate 5 volts from about 0.8 volts. This means that it has a huge current surge when it is first switched on, which means that when USB powered the module may not start properly as the required power is not available until USB enumerates

I like it but wish there was a way to calibrate the sensor readings. This is effective for ranges from 0.5" to about 4-5 feet. This can work over long distances when the beam and impact/rebound surface are parallel with minimal beam disruption, but does not typically work above 4 feet. The sampling rate is incredibly high, can detect fast moving objects. Please note this is NOT a RANGE SENSOR, it returns a 1 or 0 value.