How much can I push a blue ray?

I have a blue ray diode here in front of me and I need to know much much power it needs to actually light up as well as how far I can push it before it dies.

When I get new red diodes I usually connect it up to two used AAA batteries for 5 seconds to test the diode works. Something tells me I shouldn't try that with a blue ray diode.

Im just wondering because the last thing I want is to buy all the optics and drivers and then find out the diode didn't even work.

No, they need 4.5V.Current should depend on the type of diode, so what diode is it? :-/ If it's a PHR 803T , there are tons of experiments and endurance tests from members around. The recomended way of testing it would be with a current regulated driver.

Switch said:

No, they need 4.5V.Current should depend on the type of diode, so what diode is it? :-/ If it's a PHR 803T , there are tons of experiments and endurance tests from members around. The recomended way of testing it would be with a current regulated driver.

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Two brand new AAA batteries wouldnt even light it up then...

A laser diode driver is basically a current regulator anyway, can I not try it with a multimeter or something along the lines? or maybe just stick a resistor between the wires when I test it?

Well maybe the diode is gonna draw 300mA at 3 volts and still die from 2 AAA. :-/ I don't know.Maybe it would work with a pot or resistor if you just want to test it for a few seconds and not actually build a laser that way. :-/ A phr or dt811 might handle it , while a KES-400 might die easier.It depends on a lot of stuff.You could try it, but if you want to be as safe as can be , use a driver.

Switch said:

Well maybe the diode is gonna draw 300mA at 3 volts and still die from 2 AAA. :-/ I don't know.Maybe it would work with a pot or resistor if you just want to test it for a few seconds and not actually build a laser that way. :-/ A phr or dt811 might handle it , while a KES-400 might die easier.It depends on a lot of stuff.You could try it, but if you want to be as safe as can be , use a driver.

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Ah, I guess its a good excuse to build another laser even if I still need to buy 1 more component for my diy red.

If you use a 9V battery it is possible to test them with just a series resistor. (the higher the battery voltage, and the higher the resistor, the more precise the current limiter will be. Just think what would happen if your battery voltage is 0.5V above the diode voltage and the diode voltage deviates by 0.5V down...)

Assuming you have a PHR-803T diode, The forward voltage at 55mA is between 4.53 and 4.67V (min/max of 8 didoes). When you use a 9V battery and 82 Ohm resistor, the current will never exceed 70mA even if the battery is 10V and the forward voltage is 4.4V. You can also use a 100 Ohm resistor if you happen to have it lying around, the current will be around 44-48mA then

For more on these diodes, see the PHR-803T batch testing thread