477nm Streamlight Microstream

So...
Shotgundrums posted the following which got me drooling:
520 Streamlight
I saw this and immediately knew I needed to have something in this host and thus this beauty was born.







477nm goodness in the smallest host I have ever worked with. Also the hardest build I have done thus far. Almost lost my precious diode in the process of building this one too!! I'm going with don't ask, don't tell on that incident. All I will say is that I made a terrible mistake not related to the host of choice.

Thanks Shotgundrums, for posting your amazing 520nm build in this host and for getting me inspired to challenge myself just a little. I really needed something to do between other projects and this fit the bill perfectly.

Very nice little build Cynicalbrad, love these little host builds. Nice beam shot also. Thanks for posting. :gj:

What current did you set the drive for? I'm a little concerned about the ability of the host to move heat away from the diode. I have worked with more of these diodes than anyone else here and I know how hot they can run. Just don't want to see you lose it by running it longer than it can tolerate.

Very pretty build. Congratulations on making it work.

paul1598419 said:

What current did you set the drive for? I'm a little concerned about the ability of the host to move heat away from the diode. I have worked with more of these diodes than anyone else here and I know how hot they can run. Just don't want to see you lose it by running it longer than it can tolerate.

Very pretty build. Congratulations on making it work.

Click to expand...

I've got it set at 200mA in an effort to preserve the diode's lifetime and will be keeping runtimes well under a minute aswell. This host has a VERY stiff forward clicky on it which makes for a great momentary on. This diode was previously in a pen build which didn't have much in the way of heatsinking either.
I'm being really careful with this diode as I would hate to lose it.

CynicalBrad said:

I've got it set at 200mA in an effort to preserve the diode's lifetime and will be keeping runtimes well under a minute aswell. This host has a VERY stiff forward clicky on it which makes for a great momentary on. This diode was previously in a pen build which didn't have much in the way of heatsinking either.
I'm being really careful with this diode as I would hate to lose it.

Click to expand...

Nice work.

Glad to hear it. I wouldn't want you to lose such a nice diode. It is an aesthetic build.

paul1598419 said:

Glad to hear it. I wouldn't want you to lose such a nice diode. It is an aesthetic build.

Click to expand...

I like it. And yep, I want this diode to live for as long as possible hence the lower current than where most people are running theirs. Im definitely not going to push the thing to the edge just for another nm or two when it looks so nice as is.

I'm running mine at 275 mA, but it is in an aluminum heat sink with heat sink compound added. I run it almost daily and it seems to holding up just fine. Even at duty cycles of close to 2 minutes. Looks like we are working on another similar project as I have the B&W Tech spectrometer and five more coming to get working and calibrated. Have you tried to download the software that was sent with it yet? I'm curious what it is exactly. I have concerns about it working with these units.

paul1598419 said:

I'm running mine at 275 mA, but it is in an aluminum heat sink with heat sink compound added. I run it almost daily and it seems to holding up just fine. Even at duty cycles of close to 2 minutes. Looks like we are working on another similar project as I have the B&W Tech spectrometer and five more coming to get working and calibrated. Have you tried to download the software that was sent with it yet? I'm curious what it is exactly. I have concerns about it working with these units.

Click to expand...

I do have the software and it throws a ton of errors keeping it open but it may be that it is seeing no com ports open to connect to. I still can't find either my arduino or my usb to 9 pin serial convertor so I haven't been able to make any progress aside from popping it open to see an astonishing lack of baffles in it.
Probably about to order a usb>serial convertor off amazon so I can try to get this thing at least spitting out numbers.

EDIT: convertor ordered. Will have it in my hands sunday at some point according to amazon.

My experience with spectrometer software is that it should just sit there waiting for a spectrometer to be scanned into the system. If you are getting all kinds of errors with it after loading, it likely won't work with the spectro attached. That has been my fear after reading what the seller or their company has done in an effort to get one running. It sounds very screwy.

paul1598419 said:

My experience with spectrometer software is that it should just sit there waiting for a spectrometer to be scanned into the system. If you are getting all kinds of errors with it after loading, it likely won't work with the spectro attached. That has been my fear after reading what the seller or their company has done in an effort to get one running. It sounds very screwy.

Click to expand...

Error 1 (ocurrs on launch) is complaining about a missing image.
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: 390to650.png

EDIT: Took random image of ~800-400 size and named it as that name and this error is now gone and that image became the background image.

Error 2 (occurs on trying to take reading) is complaining about the port being closed.
System.InvalidOperationException: The port is closed.
Seems there may still be some luck after all.

It strikes me as odd that an image that suggests the range is supposed to be 390nm to 650nm is missing when these were supposedly narrow range spectros in these assemblies.

Attached a debugger to the program and it's name is "BWSpectro" This is most likely the software from the manufacturer just modified to hide that fact on the surface.

EDIT FOR CLARIFICATION: The software is most certainly not the manufacturer software. Editing this post to keep misinformation out while retaining the original post.

Awesome build CB,
Very nice host, didn't realize they are so small
I would love to know just how many of the ~475nm diodes there where!

O and I've created another thread for all the talk/info/results/mods for the 473nm B&W units......just easier for future reference having its own thread, or so i'm thinking

Gathered what quotes i could from members so far :beer:

here it is:

http://laserpointerforums.com/f42/b-wtech-473nm-unit-spectrometer-mods-info-101467.html#post1494375

I think 50-70 of them passed through my supplier. Lasertack didn't have a whole lot either... guessing 100-200 were made?

I'm glad you didn't kill the diode... nice build!

CynicalBrad said:

So...
Shotgundrums posted the following which got me drooling:
520 Streamlight
I saw this and immediately knew I needed to have something in this host and thus this beauty was born.

477nm goodness in the smallest host I have ever worked with. Also the hardest build I have done thus far. Almost lost my precious diode in the process of building this one too!! I'm going with don't ask, don't tell on that incident. All I will say is that I made a terrible mistake not related to the host of choice.

Thanks Shotgundrums, for posting your amazing 520nm build in this host and for getting me inspired to challenge myself just a little. I really needed something to do between other projects and this fit the bill perfectly.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the shoutout, buddy!! I'm glad you got it all put together. And a 477nm too, wow! What a beautiful blue. Challenging little sucker huh? Great Job

CynicalBrad said:

Error 1 (ocurrs on launch) is complaining about a missing image.
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: 390to650.png

EDIT: Took random image of ~800-400 size and named it as that name and this error is now gone and that image became the background image.

Error 2 (occurs on trying to take reading) is complaining about the port being closed.
System.InvalidOperationException: The port is closed.
Seems there may still be some luck after all.

It strikes me as odd that an image that suggests the range is supposed to be 390nm to 650nm is missing when these were supposedly narrow range spectros in these assemblies.

Attached a debugger to the program and it's name is "BWSpectro" This is most likely the software from the manufacturer just modified to hide that fact on the surface.

Click to expand...

Were you able to scan the device into the software? If not, the 390nm to 650nm range probably has nothing to do with these spectrometers. If this is a version of BWSpec that is encouraging as that is the software I found on their website that would work with this spectrometer. I wonder why all the errors codes, though. I may have to wait until I get the other five coming to me as the one I got is incomplete and may have some missing plugs. Did you get a schematic to this laser? That would be very helpful to me at this point.

That it was. My driver was actually a little too big so I had to friction fit it vs a retaining ring. I also reused the stock contact board with a spot of solder on the center contact to make it case positive. If I did it again, I would use a flexdrive and a module with the front mm or two machined off.


EDITED: Getting rid of double post.

paul1598419 said:

Were you able to scan the device into the software? If not, the 390nm to 650nm range probably has nothing to do with these spectrometers. If this is a version of BWSpec that is encouraging as that is the software I found on their website that would work with this spectrometer. I wonder why all the errors codes, though. I may have to wait until I get the other five coming to me as the one I got is incomplete and may have some missing plugs. Did you get a schematic to this laser? That would be very helpful to me at this point.

Click to expand...

I have to wait on my serial convertor having lost mine and at this point I will have to wait to see what I can do when I receive my new cable.. Mine had "missing" cables aswell running to the spectro. I had only one of the three 10 pins headers with anything connected. Im assuming that those other two are for a different usage or even JTAG ports as they are labeled JT1 and JT2. The control board for the 473nm units was also "missing" a few cables yet operates the laser just fine as is without the spectro or the small power supply for the spectro hooked up to the harness.

And it seems the error codes at this point are literally "missing background image" and if I try to take a reading with no spectro hooked up "no spectro connected, the port is closed" so I still think there is a good chance these are good to go as is unless they have a restrictive firmware flashed onto them.
Im going to copy this to the thread jnrpop created for these assemblies.
Thread is located:HERE