Bosch has been a power tool manufacturer for many years. Recently Bosch has become a major player is the laser level industry after purchasing Robo Toolz a few years back. In this guide I am going to look at the calibration procedure for 4 of Bosch’s rotating laser levels. The Bosch GRL 250 HV, GRL 300 HV and GRL 300 HVG green beam, all these models share the same calibration procedure.
As always 1 shall assume you know how to check calibration and know where you need to adjust calibration to. I will be concentrating on the procedure to get the laser level into calibration mode and how to make adjustments on both X and Y axis. But first a mention about the 3rd “Z” axis. This is the axis when the vertical capable rotating laser is on its side producing vertical rotation for alignment as apposed to horizontal rotation for levelling. Under the vast majority of circumstances when the X and Y axis are correctly calibrated the Z axis will automatically be correct. Under some extremely rare situations this is not the case and so the Z axis would need adjustment. This is vary rare so in this guide I will just cover the horizontal calibration.
The first thing to note is that you will need to have the Bosch RC1 remote control to calibrate these models. It may be that you did not get this when you purchased your laser, not all packages included it. In the case of professional calibrators you may need to purchase one of these remotes to add to your collection.
The next thing we need to know is the alignment of the two axis. The image below indicates the axis direction for these Bosch models. When looking at the control panel the X axis will be left to right. Y axis being front to back in relation to the control panel.
Entering into calibration mode is achieved by pressing buttons on the laser level itself, not the remote. To enter calibration mode press the “Shock” button and “Scan” button simultaneously then whilst still holding these two buttons press and release the red “Power” button and also release the first two buttons. The LED light under the power button should now be flashing slowly indicating that the laser is in calibration mode and X axis is ready to adjust. Note you may need to try this process a couple of times to get the timing right.
To switch axis, make adjustments and save calibration you will need to use the remote control RC1.
The top right button on the remote switches the axis you wish to adjust. The X axis is selected the Power LED on the laser’s control panel will flash. When Y axis is selected the LED beneath the Shock (TILT) button will flash.
The bottom two buttons on the remote adjusts the beam up or down. Note depending on which way the laser is pointing at your target the Up and Down may be reversed.
So using these buttons adjust each axis to the correct height. I prefer to work on one axis at a time so once I’ve got the X axis correct then I would save this into the laser. Depending on how you have you calibration space set up you can do both axis before saving if you prefer.
To save calibration to the new levels you have set press the top left button on the remote. If you want to abort without saving simply power down the laser by pressing the red power button.
Thats it you should be done, go back and check both axis again and make further adjustments if needed.
As always the Laser Level Review does not take any responsibility for your actions whilst using our guide. If you are at all unsure do not attempt to re-calibrate your laser and send it to a laser level service centre.
Had experience of these models and have anything to add please comment at the bottom of this page.
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About Author
First, many thanks to Laser Level Review for providing detailed information on calibrating the “Bosch GRL 250HV, 300 HV & 300 HVG” laser levels!
I performed a calibration on a new Bosch GRL 250 HV self leveling laser level because the “Y” axis was out about 1/32″ at 35′. It took MANY, MANY, MANY attempts to get the laser to respond to the remote control Up/Down buttons, but I finally found the trick, and was able to bring the “Y” axis into visual alignment with the “X” axis. Now the laser beam is visually aligned with a target at 35 feet no matter how the level is rotated.
After calibrating, the laser was set up outside perpendicular to a wall 100 feet away. All laser hit a target at the same elevation no matter how it was turned, but the laser dot would jiggle around, up to about 1/8″ vertically, and some horizontally. Wait 15 seconds and the dot would return to the “normal” level. I also noticed that the dot was an ellipse whose dimensions were 1/2″ vertically and 3/8″ horizontally for the “X” axis, and 3/8″ horizontally and 1/4″ vertically for the “Y” axis. I don’t know what the jiggling or elliptical shapes mean.
The following are my tips for performing a calibration on the specified Bosch models:
Tip 1. Make certain that the surface on which the laser level is placed is as flat and level as possible in all directions. This is necessary because the laser level has to be turned numerous times, and if the surface is not flat and level, the height above the floor at the laser WILL surely raise or lower a little, causing the laser dot on the wall to appear at inconsistent elevations as the device is rotated, making it very difficult to calibrate.
Tip 2. As stated in the instruction by “Laser Level Review”, it can be a little difficult to get the button pushes just right in order to enter calibration mode. The trick is to press and hold the Shock and Scan buttons, then press and release the Power button, then release the Shock and Scan buttons. A RED light below the Power button (“X” axis) will blink rapidly at first, with no other front panel lights (if not, the device did not enter calibration mode). The laser dot will also be blinking about once for every 2 blinks of the light below the Power button. After a short while (5 to 10 seconds), the laser dot will stop blinking and the red light below the Power button will blink slower. Of course, if the “Y” axis is to be calibrated, switch to that mode and the red light below the Shock button will be the one lit and blinking.
Tip 3. Make sure to select the “Y” axis if that’s the one being adjusted. It is EXTREMELY easy to forget this! When a calibration is saved, the laser is automatically turned off, and the next time in calibration mode it returns to the “X” axis, and that is when it is the easiest to forget to reset to “Y”. Naturally, when set to the wrong axis, the adjustments will be applied to the wrong axis, and you will be wondering why the laser dot does not appear to be moving up or down, but it is moving for the other axis and that messes up everything.
Tip 4. Getting the laser dot to move up or down when pressing the buttons on the remote control is NOT very intuitive! Press and release a button and nothing happens. Hold the button and nothing happens. The following is the procedure I found. If there is a better method, please let me know.
If the laser dot is NOT blinking, wait 3 seconds, then press the appropriate up or down button 3 times (each press about 1/2 second apart, you may have to practice this). If the laser dot does not begin blinking, repeat the waiting period and 3 button pushes until it does. While the laser dot is blinking, repeatedly press the appropriate up or down button and watch the laser dot slowly move in that direction. If it moves the wrong way, use the other button.
Unfortunately, while raising and lowering, the laser dot also jiggles left and right, increasing the difficulty to reach the proper elevation. Try to ignore the horizontal movements. It will take a varying number of button pushes to move the desired distance, and ofter it doesn’t move at all. If too far, move the other way.
Tip 5: Instead of marking lines on the wall, I suggest making a paper target, with horizontal lines spaced every 1/16″, to tape to the wall. Or simply tape a ruler to the wall.
Tip 6. When you think calibration of both X & Y is complete, triple check each direction. It took me several times to get the calibration perfect, or at least as perfect as I could visually tell at 35 feet. Without someone helping, you’ll be walking between the laser and the wall quite a few times, because, unfortunately, the remote control cannot turn the laser on, cannot be used to enter calibration mode, and is difficult to rotate the dot horizontally to the desired point.
Awesome work Josh some very nice details there, it should help a few out.
Some times dots on rotating lasers can look a little oval this is usually due to the dot being shot from the diode upward through the laser level and then being reflected through a prism through 90 degrees to divert the dot from vertical to horizontal.
The jiggling of the dot up and down a little whist finalising the levelling process is the motors and sensors fine tuning the level height. So best to wait for everything to stabilise (just a few seconds) before checking the heights.
Again great work and thank you for your input.
Dear Admin,
Thanks for the kudos and for posting my tips. I couldn’t have done it without your Laser Level Review as I’ve not found any information on calibrating the laser levels anywhere else.
Would you please edit my post to add the blank lines between paragraphs. It’s difficult to read otherwise.
Thanks,
Josh
Anyone know how to calibrate a Bosch BL 130 I?
Mine is slightly out of tolerance in the X axis