Red DIY DVD laser burner.

trist-10 · Sep 19, 2007

Thanks Mountaineer, the diagram helps alot. Does the cap have to sit inside the aixiz housing, or can i solder it onto the pins where they sit outside of the housing? I'm also confused about heatsinking, in regards to how or where I should place my alligator clips. Perhaps if I saw it in diagram form....

hehe

photongeek · Sep 19, 2007

photongeek said:
Well, that's it. The diode lasted about 5 seconds and then went dim. MAN that sucks!!! Ken, I never took so many precautions with an electronic project as I did with this and it still died. As I no longer have the patience to try again, I'll be putting up for sale, my brand new pair of Wicked RED Laser Shades and the new diode I just ordered from SenKat if anyone is interested.

After Kenom examined photos of my laser, he thinks I just may have gotten a rare, fluke diode. So, I may give it one more attempt and have decided to remove from sale the above items. I'll let you guys know if I decide to sell at a later date. You will get a good deal of course. Thanks to Kenom for his wisdom and those interested in the sale.
Rob

morganclay1219 · Sep 19, 2007

Hey Trist, I'm not sure how much room there is outside of the housing for the capacitor, but they're small caps so you probably could fit it outside. As long as the cap is soldered directly on to the LD leads, you should be good - just make sure you have the polarity of the connection correct - there should be an indicator on the cap to say if it's + or -. I'm sure someone who's done this mod can verify if there's enough room for the cap outside. Also, I forgot to mention to make sure to not have anything touching the inside of the module if you put the cap inside - it could short something. I'll try to get a rough drawing out tonight, but that'll probably be a long time off - I'm at work for a little while, then I have an interview for a "real" job (graduating in December), class, then a CPA dinner thing to go to, so it may be around 10 or 11 before I can get it done. I hope that helps.

morganclay1219 · Sep 19, 2007

I had some time between the interview and class ;D, so here's the drawing. Basically, just put the clip/clamp up toward the diode (but not touching as this would transfer more heat and kind of defeat the purpose.) The solder on the leads below the clamp. If you're dexterous enough to get the iron between there, you can put a clip below the solder points as well for extra insurance. Just make sure you solder fast and don't leave the iron on the leads too long. Hope it helps and good luck!

p.s. Thanks again, Rog!

kdubbz · Sep 20, 2007

SenKat said:
[quote author=kdubbz link=1181635652/120#126 date=1190170062]Damn, I just burnt out my 2nd diode. This one lasted about 25 minutes total run time since its been installed, and it died. I guess It just cant handle the power from the batt and the resistor, looks like ill be ordering 2 more diodes and getting a cap installed. Radio shack sells this capacitor correct? I was usuing it all of a sudden it went dim, turned it off, on again and it was bright then dim again and stayed dim. Checked connections all was well, O well I know the risks with diodes i blame myself.

Were you only using a resistor ? And if so - what value ? What types of batts ?
[/quote]

I was usuing the dorcy jr. light with the CR123 lithium battery and i guess it pumps about 350 MA out of it, probably a bit much but I need to order new diodes and looks like the group buy is going to take some time to get to 150, as its at about 60 now. Later.

Kenom · Sep 20, 2007

DID YOU TRY A NEW BATTERY??? THAT SURE SOUNDS LIKE A DEAD BATTERY TO ME!!! EXACTLY THE WAY I KILLED A PERFECTLY GOOD DIODE. THOUGHT IT WAS DEAD PULLED IT OUT AND PUT IN A NEW ONE AND IT WAS SAME WAY. UHHHHHHH.

laserz · Sep 20, 2007

sorry, noob here. just curious but is there a specific product called a heatsink clamp or can u just use anything metal with a clip?

kdubbz · Sep 20, 2007

yeah, went right to walmart when it happened, poped it in and BAM still dim. There needs to be an easier way to get diodes rather then raping a DVD drive, I cant bring myself to rape a DVD Drive like that. I wish ebay had these lol

morganclay1219 · Sep 20, 2007

Laserz, a heat sink clamp is basically like a skinny aluminum clothespin that comes with some soldering irons. An alligator clip works just about as well and is a lot easier to come by.

Kdubbz, I don't know if you've seen it already but here's a way to get diodes for $17.50, much cheaper and way easier than tearing apart a DVD drive: http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1189708669 Order a bunch while you can

Kenom · Sep 20, 2007

or you can buy this at radio shack for $1.99. It works very well.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...igkw=heat+sink&kw=heat+sink&parentPage=search

photongeek · Sep 20, 2007

Hey Guys:
This may be a newbie question. While reading the LD spec sheet for the first time, I noticed the typical CW specs were 2.5vdc @ 130ma. Now if you go down to the graph you can see that anything above that current, it's talking about pulses of 40 nano seconds not CW. Are we not drastically shortening the life (or killing) of these LD's by driving them above 300ma? Thanks.
Rob

Kenom · Sep 20, 2007

Very good question. There is no doubt that running these things the way we are is shortening the life of the diodes. One of hte reasons I came up with the spacers was to help lengthen the lifespan by reducing heat. There truly isn't much that can be done to get a reasonable power level from these diodes without overdriving thm a bit so it's really up to you if you wanna sacrifice lifespan vs. power.

Kenom · Sep 20, 2007

Figured I would chime in here with the specs of the 4 I've made in the dorcy jr host so far.

138.1mw
154.2mw
167.3mw
176.9mw

AJ_Dual · Sep 20, 2007

photongeek said:
Hey Guys:
This may be a newbie question. While reading the LD spec sheet for the first time, I noticed the typical CW specs were 2.5vdc @ 130ma. Now if you go down to the graph you can see that anything above that current, it's talking about pulses of 40 nano seconds not CW. Are we not drastically shortening the life (or killing) of these LD's by driving them above 300ma? Thanks.
Rob

These diodes are rated at thousands of hours of life when properly driven by pulsed operation etc. in their intended DVD burners. If we use a extremely conservative estimate 1000 hours (very, very low.) for their pulsed operation service life, and we assume an extremely liberal estimate that driving them at around 350mA reduces the life span by 95%, that's still 50 hours.

Normally when burning tape, lighting matches, or just plain showing off we'd only leave these diodes active for a minute at a time or less. That's still 3000 activations for the high powered portable you've built, and I've probably fudged my estimates by a factor of ten in some places in favor of being conservative.

If you don't insta-flash your dode on it's first activation, or leave it on for much over a minute at a time, it'll probably last you years.

Gazoo · Sep 20, 2007

Kenom said:
Figured I would chime in here with the specs of the 4 I've made in the dorcy jr host so far.

138.1mw
154.2mw
167.3mw
176.9mw

I wonder why there is a big difference in the power output in these...I would have thought it would have been more consistent.

photongeek · Sep 20, 2007

Ken:
Could you please tell me what you've been reading as a typical voltage drop across the GB LD on the dorcy? My VOM isn't that great but I think I read about 2.25 volts. Sound right? Thanks!

Red DIY DVD laser burner.

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