*Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) Laser

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

Yes that looks like the one I just harvested - different from the first two I did.

I'm waiting for the glue to dry, so I think I'll go to bed and test it tomorrow.

I've got a meredith 3-lens collimator assembly I'm trying out for the first time. I'll be testing this with a ddl circuit and nine volt battery. Hmm, my guess is at 100mA a nine volt will sag quickly, tho it should last long enough to test.

Post the results tomorrow..

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

Just got done testing, and I can confirm climbak's results - this diode is MUCH more powerful than the first two I harvested.

I whipped up something to test the diode with. I threw it into the case I'd made for my first DIY red, and am testing it using a DDL circuit with a nine volt. You'll note the fine craftsmanship This is just a test rig, for the finished pointer I'm going to use a lavadrive and a real pointer barrel.

OK, the diode... this diode did not really start to lase until I hit around 40-50mA of current. Compare that to the first two diodes which were already lasing at ~20mA, and cannot be pushed much beyond 35-40mA. I drew this one up to ~70-75mA of current, and it seems fine. The diode is 'cleaner' than the first two also, in that it doesn't have the prominent yellow/violet spray around the spot.

I'm using a Meredith 'LDC10' collimator assembly, with has three glass lenses to improve divergence. After fitting the diode into the Meredith 5->9 mm adapter, this adapter goes into the back, and the lens assembly screws into the front. Unfortunately the spanner for the back would not fit around the 5->9mm adapter (grrr) so I thermal epoxy'ed it into place. I'm having trouble getting a good focus with this assembly, so I'll have to monkey with it. Also, with three lenses you're going to loose a larger percentage of light.

Nine volt batteries really aren't meant to be used in devices that draw over ~50mA of current.. at least I imagine they will not last long and sag quickly at this level. So I'm going to have to wait for the lavadrive I ordered to really give this thing a good test.

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

awesome, guys. so, those of you who have seen the new model sled with the new diode, does the sled that PSXBoy have pictured match the new or the older type?
http://www.psxboy.com/804_XBOX360-PHR-803T-Laser-Lens.html

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

drlava said:

awesome, guys. so, those of you who have seen the new model sled with the new diode, does the sled that PSXBoy have pictured match the new or the older type?
http://www.psxboy.com/804_XBOX360-PHR-803T-Laser-Lens.html

Click to expand...

I just ordered a couple. I figure I will either have a couple of inexpensive 6x diodes or a couple of expensive PS3 diodes. We'll see.

What about these? Anybody brave enough to buy them to check out?
http://www.psxboy.com/194_XBOX360-Laser-(HD66).html
http://www.psxboy.com/186_XBOX360-Laser(HD63).html

Peace,
dave

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

daguin said:

[quote author=drlava link=1204080284/120#130 date=1209671458]awesome, guys.  so, those of you who have seen the new model sled with the new diode, does the sled that PSXBoy have pictured match the new or the older type?
http://www.psxboy.com/804_XBOX360-PHR-803T-Laser-Lens.html

Click to expand...

I just ordered a couple.  I figure I will either have a couple of inexpensive 6x diodes or a couple of expensive PS3 diodes.  We'll see.

What about these?  Anybody brave enough to buy them to check out?
http://www.psxboy.com/194_XBOX360-Laser-(HD66).html
http://www.psxboy.com/186_XBOX360-Laser(HD63).html

Peace,
dave [/quote]
You might want to get this model PHR-803T for HD-DVD, the other two could be DVD readers.

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

drlava said:

awesome, guys. so, those of you who have seen the new model sled with the new diode, does the sled that PSXBoy have pictured match the new or the older type?
http://www.psxboy.com/804_XBOX360-PHR-803T-Laser-Lens.html

Click to expand...

That appears to be the new sled, with the higher powered diode.

Here are the two sleds I've come across, old (low powered) on left, new (high powered) on right:

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

Here are a couple shots of the diode output (@ 75mA). This is from the Meredith ldc10 collimator, from about four feet away, unfocused. The spot is around a couple feet across. The color shift toward the center of the spot is the camera flaking out, there is no color shift actually.

Clean healthy diode.

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

Hopefully I can get one put into a heatsink tomorrow so I can do a lifetime test over the weekend. I'd like to see how long these things last at some arbitrary current like 100mA.

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

i have a few xbox drives and they have 4 pins ? and some has 3 pins ,any idea ? what pin is what

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

the one with 4 pins is the red/IR diode. the one with 3 pins is the violet diode. I don't know the pin out for the red/IR but the blu ray diode pin out is here:

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

thanks i saw that, i have gottin one with 4 pins so i though i grabbed the wroung one but they both are 4 pinss on the br diode ?

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

Well, I f*cked up this nice Meredith lens assembly. I couldn't get a good focus with it, more a line than a dot. I don't know if it's optimized for red light or what. I was able to remove a the outer lens (three lenses in it) and get a decent focus, though not as good as my other bluray.

I'm just going to have to wait until I get the lavadrive, as well as another 'LDC-2' collimator from Meredith. It does seem more powerful, but not dramatically (@75mA) compared to my other diode (@35mA). Of course at this frequency it's really impossible to tell by eye. When I take the lens out I get a very clean and bright wash of light from the 'raw' diode (much smoother than the pics through the lens assembly).

This is a good find, if these are good for 40-50mW they're currently the cheapest around at $40.00 for the sled.

Post back in a few weeks..

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

It would be nice if there was a way to determine what type of laser diode was inside the HD DVD retail box without having to open it. So one could 'cherry pick' the right unit at Best Buy....

Is anyone willing to post a serial number and what type of diode was in it (assuming the SN is visible from the exterior of the retail packaging?)

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

i have 5 of the hd dvd drives ill see if i can open one and get a number for u, they are all diffrent, like one of the heatsinks was like a nut from a bolt that i had to hack saw off, and another one u can just snap off with pliers and one had 4 pins ? but i have 5 br lasers made and they work great, i measured the mw on my meter and they are all 10mw and still works fine

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

F*CK!!!! I blew it. sigh. During the night the ground wire going from the cap to the diode popped loose, and in the morning like an idiot (with the fog still in my brain) I pushed the two back together before remembering to discharge the cap first. Diode is toast.

However I was playing with it all last night, I'd pushed it up to 85mA (as far as the pot would go) and it was super bright, well over 50 mW I would guess. Here's a picture of my two xbox blurays - the one on the left is running at 35mA, the one on the right, 85mA (yes this unit is now defunct). Questions?



So, I was likely briefly in the 6x club, for all practical purposes. The last xbox I'd gotten from amazon in late March, after they'd gotten another shipment in (I'd almost gotten a used one). If you want to make certain you get the right one, order the $40 sled from psxboy.

There was something loose inside my diode, when I was examining the stripe w/out a lens, if I rotated it or tapped it some debris would sometimes get in the way of the facet, causing weird patterns.

Otherwise, this is a completely different, much more powerful diode than the first two I harvested.

After this I've decided I'm never going to waste more than $50.00 on one of these diodes, obviously they don't cost much to make if MS could substitute a 10-20 mW diode with a 50mW one.

Re: *Finished* Pics & Vid -Xbox HD DVD (Blu-Ray) L

climbak said:

the one with 4 pins is the red/IR diode. the one with 3 pins is the violet diode. I don't know the pin out for the red/IR but the blu ray diode pin out is here:

Click to expand...

My pinout was different for the 3 pin diode. The pin grounded to the case wasn't the negative. It is very strange that it was like that.