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FrozenGate by Avery

DealExtreme 1.25A driver?

dubious speculation

dubious speculation

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May 12, 2013
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hello all, this is my first thread so go easy on me. I'm very interested in building a 1watt 445nm blue laser into a C6 host. i have all the parts listed and know what to buy. the only thing i'm not sure about is the driver,

18V 5W Cree Circuit Board for Flashlights (16.8mm*5.5mm) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

this driver has the correct amp output and fits the C6 host. But will this driver be reliable enough to drive something as precious as an m140 diode. i've heard quite a few number of people saying that its designed for LED's and is not reliable enough. if you've read this far you may think this is just another "i cant be bothered using the search button so i'll ask someone else" kinda question. But its not, i've looked on many youtube videos and one of the suggestions was the DX driver for this build. if its not reliable than i have a second option

17mm Round Linear Driver - $8.99 : Mohgasm LLC, Have you experienced one lately?

if the mohgasm driver is a much better option whats the difference between the two drivers?

thanks so much, any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
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Hey Will Manners, welcome to LPF. :wave:

The driver from DX will do just fine if you're considering a 1 Watt build. We push M140's up to 1.8A+, so you have a lot of headroom.

This buck driver will be more efficient over the linear driver. However, if you're thinking of pumping 1.8A into the diodes, the linear driver will give a cleaner output with less noise and ripple.

Cheers! :beer:
 
ryansoh3 said:
Hey Will Manners, welcome to LPF. :wave:

The driver from DX will do just fine if you're considering a 1 Watt build. We push M140's up to 1.8A+, so you have a lot of headroom.

This buck driver will be more efficient over the linear driver. However, if you're thinking of pumping 1.8A into the diodes, the linear driver will give a cleaner output with less noise and ripple.

Cheers! :beer:
Click to expand...

Thanks so much ryan, your advice is very much appreciated, i just wasn't sure about the quality of the DX driver, but now you've shed some light on the matter i'm very grateful

Cheers mate, have a great day :D

+1
 
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Hello again, just a quick quiry regarding the driver. On the DX website they state that the driver can be run between 3-18v, theoretically this means that it can be run on either two cr123a batteries that would provide 7.4v or one 18650 that would provide 3.6v. Is it safe to assume that the DX rating of 3-18v is true or should I disregard this and just use two cr123a in my c6 build?

Thanks again for anyone's contribution

EDIT @kilter, haha sorry about that, thought I needed a profile picture so I just got a generic photo off of google, I'll most likely change it to my own photo :D
 
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kilter, MANY members use that image since its the 3rd image that comes up on google images when you search "laser"

someone pointed out a while back that it isnt even a laser lol
 
@livinloud, ha yeah I know, if you look closely you can see that it's actually a flame of some sort, like a butane torch, but at first glance it looks like a laser:D
 
hello again, i am still very unsure about this driver, i've looked all over DTR's shop and cajunlasers and can't get over the fact that this is DX driver is so cheap when compared to the drivers made by lazereer and the like, surely DX would have to sacrifice quality for price, i would much rather spend the extra 20 bucks and go with a quality lazereer round buck driver but most of the ones set to 1.8amps are out of stock, should i still trust the DX driver since the quality and price is very low, WHAT SHOULD I DO?
 
This is a buck driver, meaning that you always need a higher battery voltage than what the diode wants. Therefore, you need to have a 2x li-ion or more.

1.25A will give you a lot of headroom, as mentioned above, so there is very very little chance of damaging your diode. If you're going to push 1.8A into the diode, you should look into something proven stable with low ripple.

It's only two bucks; I say go for it! :)
 
buy a few spares just to be safe .. and test them before you decide to install..
I have recently seen 2 of them decide to stop working ..

I have several more of these in transit right now .. they're quite common around here, and on some of the other forums ..

If you're looking for 1.25A .. they seem to be a good option ..
 
ryansoh3 said:
This is a buck driver, meaning that you always need a higher battery voltage than what the diode wants. Therefore, you need to have a 2x li-ion or more.
Click to expand...

thanks ryan i knew that part already :) thanks for putting up with pretty much the same question, the main reason that i wanted to go with lazereers 1.8amp driver was that i thought i may as well get what i payed for and drive it to the max:eg: since my first thread i've also decided to go with a diy c2 with Eud's c2 heatsink, all the more reason to drive it harder:eg:

but seeing that you said on multiple occasions that the DX one will be fine i may as well run it safe and save some money, its only my first build and i can always upgrade it with a better driver if ever i wanted to when there back in stock. BTW is it hard to swap the drivers out in future if ever i wanted to? :thanks:
 
Something to keep in mind is that LED drivers are fundamentally different than LD drivers. LED's being much more roubust than LD's don't bring the same considerations into the designing of their power sources.

With an LED driver the rated current is the average current or to say the current the driver settles down to after the initial surge. On the other hand LD drivers are designed to smooth the initial surge out so it does not exceed the rated current or with some of the better quality drivers with slow start features slowly ramp the current up to the rated level which gives the diode the longest possible life at the current it is being run.

LED's can handle pretty massive surges where LD's are very sensitive to them so when they are being surged on every start for their life it will take a toll on how long that life is.

With this driver in particular I have had seen many people use them most are happy with the life they see out of them but I have also had a few that have needed diode replacement after a few months of use.:beer:
 
Thanks DTR, that's why I was skeptical about this driver, because of this I decided to spend the extra money and go with lazereers x-drive v6 buck driver coupled with an x-blank 16.8mm round pcb. I'll incorporate this configuration into my c2 driver pill. This leads me to my next question, will the x-drive v6 wih an x-blank driver board fit into the c2's driver pill?

Thanks
 
Iirc the C2 is a samller host so id say not. If it is the smaller host then use a 17mm driver
 
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