driving blu ray diode from Samsung BD-P1500?

Hello,

I'm just starting out but I've harvested two diodes from the sled of a Samsung BD-P1500 blu ray player. I know the lasers work as I had the cover off and saw the lasers fire up when the tray loaded - albeit from an oblique angle!

There doesn't seem to be any markings on the blu ray diode so I'm wondering how to drive it. I assume it's very low power, like ~5mW. I also took a look at the service manual for the player but unfortunately it only lists the whole drive mechanism as one part and doesn't list the diodes used. The drive mechanism takes 3.3V, 5V and 12V supplies.

I have a few rckstr microdrives on their way so I was thinking of setting one to something low like 1mA and then go up in 1mA increments.

There's also a 4-pin diode which I think does the IR and red beams. I don't want to play with IR as I think it's too dangerous. I'd like to practise with the red aspect but I'm unsure of the pin-out?

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks!

hmmm it looks like a PHR to me.. can you post the picture here?

Yes, pictures would be a good idea!

This is the front of the 3-pin blu ray diode:


This is the back of the blu ray diode:

The middle pin appears to connected to the chassis.

Just to confuse matters, this is what the front of the 4-pin IR/red diode looks like, which is very similar:


There are no markings on either diode.

I'd take better pictures but my Nokia N96 won't focus that closely.

I admit I'm no expert but I thought the PHR was a blu ray burning diode, not a reading one? Do blu ray players really need that high power for reading?

Thanks for the prompt reply!

I just thought that maybe you want pictures of the sled rather than the diode!

The sled PCB has BDP4-Rev2.2 2008.04.24 written on it and looks like this on the underside:



Hope this helps!

right, following up to my own thread (again - sorry)

I searched the forums for BDP4 and found this:

http://laserpointerforums.com/f38/8x-sleds-available-possibly-20046.html

Which basically says it's some as-yet-unnamed diode, roughly 4x or 6x (for reading?) which puts out maybe 150mW at 200mA.

So the rckstr microdrive I have on order should be about right to power it.

Does anyone knows any more?

Thanks...

not much you can do with just one single diode. if you had a bag full, you could sacrifice one, two, and see when they degrade and finally die.

you can however:
-measure the lasing treshold current. at what mA does the diode change from "led mode" to "laser mode"?
-measure the voltage drop

with that data, we can compare it to "known" diodes. the stronger the diode (like an 8x burner diode), the higher the treshold current will be, and the voltage can perhaps identify it as a known diode.

since its a reader, you could as well do it the opposite direction: "what output would be worth keeping it?" since a PHR diode, capable of 100mW, costs 10$, i would try to run your unknown diode at 100mW (or more?). if it dies, it was worse than a PHR. get one of these for replacement. if it survives.. you will eventually increase the current, no question

oh, for further guessing: how was the diode installed? in something like a heatsink?

well, its "just" a reader. so its perfect for building a real laserpointer. that means a laser that is actually useful for presentations, instead of distracting flash-blinding the whole audience! ;-)

manuel

It has been awhile, but IIRC we were running these at ~38-65mA. They were putting out ~25-50mW (after aiXiz acrylic lens).

You will not be able to run the Rkcstr all the way down to 1mA. IF you set the driver to "low power", you can get it down to ~30mA. For this diode I would recommend that you set the driver to "low power" anyway.

Also, even at low power, with the Rkcstr and this diode you will have to supply the laser with >7.2V

Peace,
dave

Peace,
dave

i'm impressed again, dave.. you surely know your stuff!
before this thread, i didnt even (consciously) know this diode/drive!
..and i thought i started right at the beginning too, with the ps3 sled ;-)

cheers,

manuel

Krutz said:

i'm impressed again, dave.. you surely know your stuff!
before this thread, i didnt even (consciously) know this diode/drive!
..and i thought i started right at the beginning too, with the ps3 sled ;-)
cheers,
manuel

Click to expand...

GooeyGus and I scoured Fleabay looking for "broken" blu-ray and HD-DVD drives for awhile. We were searching for the "holy grail."

The best we found (for very little money) were the SF-AD112 diodes that I used for making lecture pointers for a bit.

Now that the Chinese have figured out that WE are a large enough market, they search for available sleds for us. Of course, then they lie about what they've found and we burn up a lot of diodes (like the S03 experiment going on now).

BUT HEY! We are stoooopid, riiiiich Americans, No?

Peace,
dave

we really are dumb americans. you mis-spelled stoooopid, you forgot an "o" :na:

Thanks for the responses!

The rkcstr microdrives have arrived - just waiting for aixiz module and a host now.

Basically going to practise building using the cheap and crap diode at, say, 50mA. Don't want to make mistakes with better diodes! Starting small and simple and working up...

WOW...a n00b who did their homework and getting off to a great start.

You sir are very welcome here. :beer: