Pesky BenBoost Drivers

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

Yes, these S06J 12x diodes are very sentive. I have killed 2 of 3 diodes. I wouldn't dare to push the third one much above the 400mA. They couldn't be the fake ones because I bought them couple years ago.

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

What kind of heatsink are you putting them in? That's another failure pathway I've not seen asked about yet in this thread. the 12x diodes seem to be rather sensitive to heat when soldering but also when in use. I've only killed one, and that from soldering, (though at the time we had to buy entire drives for $200 or so to get one so it was a big ouch)

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

In reality it could be the heat. Just because it didnt blow immediately doesnt mean heat didnt damage the diode. You could of melted one of the gold wires, or weakened them all. We are pushing these diodes way past their intended limit. Any minute damage caused by heat will toast the diode.

Also, are you using the same driver for all the fails? If you are it may be a driver issue. It could be spiking for some reason, causing the diode to fail.

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

You may alternatively, try to get a different sled type. I got mine from a BDR-205 drive, and it works at 442 mA just fine. It may also be the driver, as T_J suggested.

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

I have other S06Js running at higher mA on Flexdrive, so not sure what could be problem. It was my first setup, so thought I did something wrong. TJ is probably right, but mine was heatsinked pretty well and failed after 10 seconds.

The 445s just seem to be more forgiving.

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

One thing to keep in mind here is that these are diodes from sleds which are most likely
factory seconds.. For one reason or another if they did not meet the required specs
they get tossed..

405nm, no matter what origin are very prone to COD. You could have these in a
massive heatsink, and it would make no difference.

I had a similar experience with 6x sleds a while back. Diodes taken from an actual GGW
writer could handle much more current and light output vs the GGW sleds
sold in sled form..

Its more luck of the draw with sleds, and with 405nm, its always a risk.

I had diodes from 6x GGW writers putting out more than 300mW, and diodes
from sleds crapping out at 200mA, at a hair over 200mW IIRC.. Even under 200mA
they were dying.. A whole batch was garbage..10 sleds or more. :banghead:

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

Hey just saw this thread. One question I would ask did any of them die while they were powered on or did they all work then the next time you tired them they did not possibly indicating a starup spike?

I did notice something that disturbed me a little playing with a ben boost the other day. It may be a fluke but has anyone else seen this. I test all my drivers on a bench power supply which normally I will set to 4.2V but I will also turn it up to 4.4V to make sure the current does not increase and on the one that I tested it did increase the output current. I have not had much time to play with these driver as I only have a couple of them and I was saving them for a build.

Batteries can have small voltage spikes on startup which if these driver do increase from their set current with excess voltage could be creating a startup spike. I will test another when I get home tonight.

I would aslo not recommend going over 450mA with the S06J as they can be a little bit of a crap shoot around 500mA+.

Also I have sold a tons of these in the module combo's with microboosts preset to 450mA here and on eBay and I have only had one report of one dying and I eventually found out they used two li-Ions with the unit. I have used hundreds of these diodes and have not had issues with them dying like this unless they are over driven or a bad driver is used. If you are seeing multiple diodes in a row die there must be something else going on.

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

DTR said:

Hey just saw this thread. One question I would ask did any of them die while they were powered on or did they all work then the next time you tired them they did not possibly indicating a startup spike?

I did notice something that disturbed me a little playing with a ben boost the other day. It may be a fluke but has anyone else seen this. I test all my drivers on a bench power supply which normally I will set to 4.2V but I will also turn it up to 4.4V to make sure the current does not increase and on the one that I tested it did increase the output current. I have not had much time to play with these driver as I only have a couple of them and I was saving them for a build.

Batteries can have small voltage spikes on startup which if these driver do increase from their set current with excess voltage could be creating a startup spike. I will test another when I get home tonight.

I would aslo not recommend going over 450mA with the S06J as they can be a little bit of a crap shoot around 500mA+.

Also I have sold a tons of these in the module combo's with microboosts preset to 450mA here and on eBay and I have only had one report of one dying and I eventually found out they used two li-Ions with the unit. All I can say is I have used hundreds of these diodes and have not had issues with them dying like this. If you are seeing multiple diodes in a row die there must be something else going on.

Click to expand...

DTR, I think you're definitely hitting something here. Right when I was reading your post about start-up spikes, it offered an awfully accurate explanation of what happened:

Both of my diodes were driven by a Ben Boost and both of them died RIGHT when I turned it on (around the fifth or sixth time they were turned on). None died while they were already lasing.

It definitely sounds like a start-up spike in my case, not sure about ENX's case with the Microboost though.

I'll await your testing DTR, I suspect these Ben Boosts aren't appropriate drivers for the sensitive 12x 405nm diodes.

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

Has anybody put these drivers on an o-scope?

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

I don't know how they die. The diodes went LED after powering it on. I was sure the current was set around the 400mA.
But back then I haven't much proficiency in building lasers.

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

RyanElectro said:

DTR, I think you're definitely hitting something here. Right when I was reading your post about start-up spikes, it offered an awfully accurate explanation of what happened:

Both of my diodes were driven by a Ben Boost and both of them died RIGHT when I turned it on (around the fifth time they were turned on, first few times were fine). None died while they were already lasing.

It definitely sounds like a start-up spike in my case, not sure about ENX's case with the Microboost though.

I'll await your testing DTR, I suspect these Ben Boosts aren't appropriate drivers for the sensitive 12x 405nm diodes.

Click to expand...

I am getting ready to run a test right now. One thing is for sure small power spikes are not a problem with the 445 diodes or at least an immediate problem as we all know they can handle currents way over even the lasing ability of the diodes. I will also point out that I pay a extra fee for my diodes to be extracted and tested from the seller as I got tired of one in 15 sleds having a dead diode in them as JLSE pointed out the sleds are quality control defects and most of the time it is for bad soldering or some other defect not the diode but every once in a while it is the diode.

JLSE said:

Has anybody put these drivers on an o-scope?

Click to expand...

I don't know but one thing I wonder does it matter if the driver is scoped when being driven by a clean power supply with no voltage spikes or a battery or power supply with voltage spikes?

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

DTR said:

I am getting ready to run a test right now. One thing is for sure small power spikes are not a problem with the 445 diodes or at least an immediate problem as we all know they can handle currents way over even the lasing ability of the diodes. I will also point out that I pay a extra fee for my diodes to be extracted and tested from the seller as I got tired of one in 15 sleds having a dead diode in them as JLSE pointed out the sleds are quality control defects and most of the time it is for bad soldering or some other defect not the diode but every once in a while it is the diode.



I don't know but one thing I wonder does it matter if the driver is scoped when being driven by a clean power supply with no voltage spikes or a battery or power supply with voltage spikes?

Click to expand...

Im not familiar with the driver in question, but some drivers are picky on what you
power them with..

Are these the LM3410 based drivers? If yes, I used that IC for a while, and
always tested on batteries as the boards didnt like my benchtop PSU. :thinking:+

In fact, when I was selling PHR modules with the 3410 driver on ebay, I used to advise
against bench PSU's, but on batteries were great drivers..

Keep in mind, my configuration was different, so results will vary..

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

Blord said:

I don't know how they die. The diodes went LED after powering it on. I was sure the current was set around the 400mA.
But back then I haven't much proficiency in building lasers.

Click to expand...

Yup. Same symptom as me. LED'd right when powering on (though mine was the 5th or 6th time powering it on then it LED'd). What driver did you use?

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

Alright I will try to get a better video but I wanted to put something up pretty quick. Keep in mind this is a 940mA driver so not the exact same as what you have but this is what worried me the other day. Although the drive is dead on 940mA from 3.6V-4.2V as soon as you go over that it shoots up. Now this just may be a bad driver or I don't know but I have always been told a Li-Ion will voltage spike a bit above its current charged voltage when transitioning from no load to full load.


Here is a better one.

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

A higher input voltage should only be a problem if it exceeds the vf of the diode..
The 3410 will pass more current when this is exceeded, but thats the only circumstance
that ive seen more current reaching the diode..

Again, this driver has a completely different layout than I used, so somebody has
to test these conditions..

Anybody who has one of these drivers and an oscilloscope would have to try to
repeat whats going on in the video above..

In the meantime, you can try using an LED in series to your test load, and
see if there is significant brightness at startup..

Re: Pesky 12x diodes

Ah, this offers a completely plausible scenario.

Li-ion fully charged at 4.2V turns on from no load to full load, causing a voltage spike, subsequently, current output jumps, and at an enthusiastic current setting of 480mA, it can easily hit over 550-600mA+, resulting in a failure, aka LED'd.

My lasers were lasing fine at first though, worked fine for about 5 minutes upon creation. Then suddenly almost like russian roulette, the next trigger pull it dies.