Why did my GGW-H20L fry?

On the first day!

I was running the RKCSTR driver on a 12.5v 3s Li-Po battery, and the GGW-H20L diode was running at 203ma.

I was trying to laser my signature on a bench for about an hour while waiting for the bus, It only got very slightly warm, I was running a pair of 12mm motor heatsinks on the aixiz module.

Then it suddenly dimmed and went out. No signs of life.

NOOOOOoooooo!


But that's not all!
I also murdered an LPC-815 20x red diode trying to transplant it from the sled to my module. I used a dremel cut-off wheel on low RPM instead of a file to remove the heatsink and when I was prying it out of the heatsink, it popped out of my pliers and bounced across my desk a little. Either of those factors could have killed the red one. It never emitted any light when I attempted to power it up.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!
I got 2 drivers and one of them reads 980mv on my DMM when hooked up to the test load regardless of where the POT is set...


Why are these tiny little diodes so expensive? The GGW-H20L just doesn't have the appearance of a $50.00 component. It would be awesome if the lone diodes themselves could be purchased from the actual manufacturer. Rather than dissecting expensive DVD burners to get them, or buying them from people who dissect DVD players.


BTW, during that time where I was burning the block of wood I wasn't wearing eye protection and my eyes bother me a tiny bit.. Is that normal? It can't be any worse than burning things with a magnifying glass under the sun... Can it?


ALL OF MY DIODES HAVE DIED!!! NOOOO!

It sucks to be you

Peace,
dave

I don't know where to start...

Any ideas?

M

Thats just how it goes. It's what makes this hobby fairly challenging.
I have killed several diodes. In fact I have killed more diodes then I have completed builds. I even have several lava drives that I ruined with too much heat from my iron, melted the little resistor block thingys that were surface mounted right off

I feel sorry for you
About your eyes bothering you, I remember when I started with this hobby it took my eyes a little time to get used to lasers, but after that everything was normal.

When I first started building nitro RC stuff, I blew up a few engines before I figured out what I was doing.

I guess it's like anything else, it takes practice.

I was a tiny bit too rough on my diode, I took a tiny bit too long when soldering... Maybe 12.5v was too much for the RKCSTR, it says 12.0v is the max... Maybe I'm just unlucky...

Whatever went wrong, I'm set back for a while, until I come across some more money or diodes.

Seems strange that the GGW-H20L would just dim and die all of the sudden over the course of a few seconds... I've always heard that these were relatively resilient and that when they fail they degrade over time.

I'll have to disassemble it and investigate later.

I think there's a wimpy red diode in one of my sleds, I'll see if I can put it in a module.

... okaay, I'll start here....

If you have a look at the link below about the RCKSTR driver, the maximum input voltage is stated at 12V, ( http://laserpointerforums.com/f64/micro-drive-laser-driver-rkcstr-22553.html ). A current that is considered safe for the GGW BR is 190mA, although this may be in dispute of late. I'm not saying that running a RCKSTR at .5V above maximum necessarily risks your diode but you can certainly find a better power source than the one you're using. 203mA is not that much higher than, 'safe', either but it is higher none the less.

LOC diodes from the LPC sleds are open can and as such are susceptible to easy damage should they be bounced at any stage. LCC diodes from the GGW sleds are better protected and of similar outputs.

A RCKSTR outputting 980mV measured with a test load? (I am assuming it is also a RCKSTR?) A quote from the link above...

Fully adjustable range of regulated current output from ~30mA up to ~440mA.

There is a problem. It may have something to do with 12.5V but if not, check your setup and if the problem still persists then take it up with the supplier.

The GGW-H20Ls are that expensive because they are x6 burners. A x12 burner is at least 3 times that price because of what it is and what it comes out of. The diode itself looks no different. (Except maybe some markings on the can or base.) Difficult to get them direct from the manufacturer as they want to sell them to people who build DVD burner drives. You can get SW-AF210 diodes that have been extracted from their sleds but still in heatsinks from suppliers, (see O-like.com or numerous other sellers), and they are cheaper than GGWs but they are generally considered weaker. Who dissects DVD players for a living anyhow?

Burning stuff with a BR at somewhere over 150mW without goggles? Never a good idea. In a public place? Possibly worse. Vandalising public property by etching your name in the process? Need I go on?

Some reading may help with some of these points.

If anyone thinks I'm being a little harsh here then chime in, but I think it needed saying.

Thanks,

M

I was thinking about getting a BDR-S03 diode sled, they are supposed to be 8x and are usually under $50.00. But someone said that the 6x GGW H20L actually outperforms them.

Maybe I'll try other wavelengths and get some practice handling cheaper diodes.

Then I might attempt something with a big 808nm C-mount diode. Or maybe try and make a CO2 laser tube with machined PVC if it's possible, I like to machine PVC, for making piston valves for my golfball cannons. I've made a 3x hybrid oxy-propane cannon as well, lots of fun.


Lazing my signature on a log bench while waiting for the transit at 6am, is not something that struck me as absolutely horrible. However, thanks for letting me know that I'm evil criminal scum.

Majority of latest GGWs cannot be set above 190mW. That's why your setting killed it quick. There should be a stickie about this, but no one seems to care.

I was thinking about getting a BDR-S03 diode sled, they are supposed to be 8x and are usually under $50.00. But someone said that the 6x GGW H20L actually outperforms them.

Click to expand...

BDR-SO3's are 4x diodes IIRC. actual 8x's are still about 150$ i believe. the only difference is that S is something else that i cant remember

Tech_Junkie said:

Majority of latest GGWs cannot be set above 190mW. That's why your setting killed it quick. There should be a stickie about this, but no one seems to care.

Click to expand...

I think that we are all hoping that these engineering samples will be gone soon and we'll get more QC rejects

kevinmassey said:

BDR-SO3's are 4x diodes IIRC. actual 8x's are still about 150$ i believe. the only difference is that S is something else that i cant remember

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There are BDR-S03 burners. The sleds being sold as BDR-S03 sleds are NOT from those units. The BDR-S03 sleds being sold now are 2X burners. They may even be HD-DVD salvage. There are NO 8X sleds available to us yet.

Peace,
dave

Howdy YAG I don't think any one was calling you an evil criminal scum the first place thoes words were uttered they came from your keyboard ! bammy. and I don't think it's all that bad either but it's not up to us what should happen to public property now is it, it's more like up to the cops.
Maby your hurt by the coments of Morgan and missing the point there as I believe it to be you were defacing public property and regardless of what you think about it if a cop had driven by while you were not looking cuz you were being blinded by the light do you think he would think the same way as you ?
now no one here is trying to tell you how to run your life but when you do things in public with a laser and then come on a laser forum and tell people what you have done what do you expect !
any thing you do in public with a laser is reflected back on all who use lasers !
maby if you had been burning your name on your parents front door then you would have gotten a different response from Morgan and me.

As far as your problem with burning out your GGW it sounds like you should turn down the current about 30ma and buy a LarryDFW Hi-Power lens or a JAYROB 405-G-1 lens both will up your power to more than you have now and with less drive to your diode so it will last longer.
Some GGW's are just wearer than others, give Scopeguy20 a PM he has all kinds of diodes for sale.

The 8x drives are $159.00 and the 12x drives are $209.00 at this time ! and the diode you will get out of em is the same size as your GGW diode, they just cost 3 and 4 times as much...

YAG said:

I was thinking about getting a BDR-S03 diode sled, they are supposed to be 8x and are usually under $50.00. But someone said that the 6x GGW H20L actually outperforms them.

Maybe I'll try other wavelengths and get some practice handling cheaper diodes.

Then I might attempt something with a big 808nm C-mount diode. Or maybe try and make a CO2 laser tube with machined PVC if it's possible, I like to machine PVC, for making piston valves for my golfball cannons. I've made a 3x hybrid oxy-propane cannon as well, lots of fun.


Lazing my signature on a log bench while waiting for the transit at 6am, is not something that struck me as absolutely horrible. However, thanks for letting me know that I'm evil criminal scum.

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Sorry to hear about your bad luck

no one else has mentioned this so ill chime in, in your OP you stated you were burning your sig in the bench for about an hour, during this hour were you obeying proper duty cycles with your laser? If you left it on too long, that would have greatly reduced the life expectency of your diode.
And onto saftey, you NEED saftey glasses in order to burn things, without them you are staring at the laser dot very close to your eyes, this can cause you unwanted effects

EDIT: yea sorry to hear about your luck, ive got horror stories about weak GGW diodes

kingdave2357 said:

no one else has mentioned this so ill chime in, in your OP you stated you were burning your sig in the bench for about an hour, during this hour were you obeying proper duty cycles with your laser? If you left it on too long, that would have greatly reduced the life expectency of your diode.
And onto saftey, you NEED saftey glasses in order to burn things, without them you are staring at the laser dot very close to your eyes, this can cause you unwanted effects

Click to expand...

LoL I was thinking it but i figured someone had mentioned it good call

KiLLrB said:

LoL I was thinking it but i figured someone had mentioned it good call

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Thanks! Sometimes its the simplest things that get overlooked, though I really hope he didnt just leave that thing on untill it blew