Sony 16x minimag mod

I recently purchased a sony diode from stonetek, and wanted to know whether i would want a 2 or 3 cell minimag.

additionally, i wanted to know whether providing smaller amounts of power to the laser would decrease the output, as well as increase the life.

so i was thinking i would basically add a potentiometer in place of one of the legs of the diode for the standard minimag mod. what value would i want?

sorry for all the questions... but i would appreciate a little of your collective knowledge.

edit: what if i were to use rechargeables, what would the effects be?

You may use a pot if you want, but it won't be much better for the diode. Daedal has made a circuit to run a diode safely and get several thousand hours of diode life. Doing a minimag design is not a good idea. You might get a minute or so, maybe even a second if your unlucky.

If you purchased a diode from senkat, then you want to make your purchase a smart one by running it safely.

so, if I get you right, the only way to really get much of any life out of my laser is to run it off of a driver circuit?

so i build a circuit, what housing can i really put in, other than some dorky project box? (I like the whole flashlightesqe design)

the other thing is, could i use a potentiometer rather than a fixed value resistor in the circuit to limit power?

If i drop amperage applied, it will reduce power of light, correct? Will this put my laser in any sort of danger? (I don't necessarily want a death ray 24/7 [/hyperbole]) (and yes, i realize that it will not necessarily be a death ray, in fact may have difficulty lighting a match...)

so i build one of these circuits, won't i have to tune it in some manner?

Yes you can use a potentiometer. However you will also need some kind of regulation or protection from spikes. You can check out my thread on how to build a laser into a dorcy Jr. or there are lots of great walkthroughs to make them into various flashlight hosts. amperage is what the diode requires there is a great thread here somewhere showing a rough approximation of hwat you can expect for output power from the diodes at specific current levels. Do a bit of homework and your' gonna be set!

READ, READ, AND READ!@!@!

okay, so the dorcy seems to be what i want... internal regulated circuit.

now, i ask again, if i place a pot in this circuit in series with the laser, will it be dimmer and longer lasting?

sorry... being quiet now...

Hello,

I have looked at a lot of options here. Once I finish my first one(almost done)to learn everything, I am going to get another Senkat diode and make this:


http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1186966870/0