help w/ broken PHR pointer

ndrew2505 · Aug 2, 2009

ive had problems like that that was caused by a short i could never find. my best suggestion would be to take it apart and reassemble it AFTER you try fresh batteries. go to your local store and buy a pack.. youll need them eventually anyway..

Meatball · Aug 2, 2009

It just has to be your driver. A blown Diode what not -even for a millisecond- flash extra light at all. Plus, the fact that this diode is getting an inconsistent amount of current, screams BAD DRIVER to me.

Zinsii · Aug 2, 2009

yours worked after resoldering all the connections? I checked them all, I dont see any shorts...

ndrew2505 · Aug 2, 2009

ndrew2505 said:
ive had problems like that that was caused by a short i could never find...

sometimes its the things you dont see. after you try fresh batteries try it and use your batt to keep putting voltage through the host to test the connections as you put it together. if you had a dmm it would be simple..

cust11 · Aug 2, 2009

You would be surprised how touchy SMD components are. Loose/cold solder connections, micro solder brideges etc. Start with a brand new never used battery, then work your way through the rest of the components.

-Mike

Zinsii · Aug 2, 2009

but could it have really just randomly developed a short, after it worked perfectly for a time before? I'm looking all the connections over again and it looks fine, I guess I have to test

cust11 · Aug 2, 2009

It could be shorting on the case or a bridge that the naked eye can not see. You would be surprised how small some defects can be that cause all sorts of problems. I am still sticking to the bad batteries until otherwise noted :shhh:.

-Mike

Zinsii · Aug 2, 2009

so... do you think I would have any slim odds with simply desoldering the three connections and resoldering them? would it be worth doing do you think? hmm

EDIT: it also sounds like its a good move to order some rechargeable CR123 batteries, but I'd rather not wait 3 months from DX, are there any other sketchy Chinese sites which ship them faster? thanks everyone for the help!

daguin · Aug 2, 2009

It could also simply be a poor connection somewhere else in the power circuit. Clean ALL the connections (screw caps, spring surffaces, etc.) and place a "spacer" (rare earth magnet, a folded square of foil, etc.) in the tube to make the battery connection stronger. It could even be the "connection" between the module and the host tube.

If the switch board was not supported well or it slipped, the driver could be shorting on the housing.

Peace,
dave

cust11 · Aug 2, 2009

Damn, after every helpful post you question the persons answer. Start troubleshooting and AFTER you start ruling stuff out, THEN you can question peoples ideas.

-Mike

Zinsii · Aug 2, 2009

OK, so today I tried resoldering the three connections on the flexdrive, put it all together, crossed my fingers and... nothing, it does the exact same thing. One interesting thing to note however, it now seems to make a quiet high pitched whirring or squeaking noise whenever its turned on. I might have simply not noticed this before, however

help and tips greatly appreciated, thanks

daguin said:
It could also simply be a poor connection somewhere else in the power circuit. Clean ALL the connections (screw caps, spring surffaces, etc.) and place a "spacer" (rare earth magnet, a folded square of foil, etc.) in the tube to make the battery connection stronger. It could even be the "connection" between the module and the host tube.

If the switch board was not supported well or it slipped, the driver could be shorting on the housing.

Peace,
dave

thank you for the advice. none of the surfaces showed any kind of dirt or rust, but I cleaned them all anyway. unfortunately it didnt make a difference, so that problem wasnt it

Zinsii · Aug 2, 2009

sorry to double post, but I did some more testing
I went out and grabbed a DMM, my battery was reading 2.95V across it. I guess it has to be the driver at fault, I cant think of anything else that could be wrong. While I was at radioshack I was pleased to find that they sold a charger with two lithium ion CR123 batteries for $10, so I picked that up (the batteries right out of the blister pack measured a suprising 3.38v, so I popped that into the laser and had the same thing as usual happen)

I'll try to contact drlava about the driver. thank you for your help everyone, I'm glad people here are so willing to offer assistance

bigjoejgde · Aug 12, 2009

i bought a DIY 5mW blu-ray laser pointer from ebay last year.every time i turned it on it would work fine for a few minutes then the beam would get dim.i tried some foil with the battery and it worked for a while but then started doing the same thing.so i sent a person a message that had bought the same laser pointer on ebay.and he said his did exactly the same thing.he told me he took it apart and there was a small circuit board with a resistor solderd to the diode.so he decided to resolder the resistor to the diode and the laser worked fine after that.but i said the heck with that and threw my laser in the garbage and bought a better one.

bigjoejgde · Aug 12, 2009

sorry i didn't see where you said you resolderd everything and it didn't work.

help w/ broken PHR pointer

ndrew2505

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Meatball

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Zinsii

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ndrew2505

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cust11

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Zinsii

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cust11

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Zinsii

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daguin

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cust11

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Zinsii

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Zinsii

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bigjoejgde

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bigjoejgde

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