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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Diode, Driver, or just a bad repair???

Joined
Feb 16, 2016
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Hey Everybody,

I am not sure if this is exactly the correct place to ask for help concerning a stupid mistake I made but I'll fill you all in and then feel free to direct me to the correct area of this forum... :undecided:

SO- I was focusing my lens to get a tighter dot on a piece of wood that I was having fun burning (behind goggles of course) and I suppose I twisted the lens too far and it seems that the module itself also twisted in the process and the lead wires pulled apart from the pill driver... I was left with short wires coming from the pill and short wires coming from the diode module.

I nearly cried and gently set the laser down and walked away from the crime scene.

A few days later I came back to the dead laser and reasoned with myself that there was enough wire left to strip it and solder it back together. So that's exactly what I did.

I carefully put everything back together and made sure the set screw was tight from the heatsink to the module.

I turned on the laser and NOTHING...

I thought "well, maybe the batteries are dead from because I could have left the switch on not knowing if it was on or off since there was no 445nm light blasting from the diode". I charged the batteries and later that day I stuck them back in and the host immediately started smoking. It was an electrical smoke smell so I quickly turned it off and took the batteries out again.

SO I'm at a loss of what to do.

ANY help would be appreciated. :thanks:
 





Pman

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Sounds like something is shorted and that can be very dangerous for the lithium batteries so take them out. If you are lucky you blew the driver and if not both the diode and driver as I would be quite shocked to find a working driver.
 
Joined
Mar 21, 2016
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If there was wire coming from driver and module, you broke a solder connection, (ie. Prewired diode module/driver) either short or reverse polarity
 
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Hi,
Smells like a driver also to me, maybe the diode survived time will tell. Sad to hear that pal test the diode thats most important of all the items involved..

Rich:)
 
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Feb 16, 2016
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So should I just basically start from scratch and order a new driver + a diode?

Thanks for the quick responses!!! :beer:
 
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Feb 16, 2016
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Okay, I'll look into doing that. Hopefully I can figure it out.

Eventually I am wanting to bump up to a 3-6W diode but I'm just dreaming... Need to focus on the task at hand.
 
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Hi Jordan,
For one try to edit your posts if asking questions you can always edit ..
Well as for the driver and diode, you need to get an DMM, and a PSU to test these the right way. These to tools and a test load and you can save some cash by not knowing which component is dead. You'll be surprised once you learn how to use them. Hope this helped a bit..

Rich:)
 
Joined
Dec 11, 2015
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Man, I can empathize with you as the pain of losing a laser can suck!! What diode was it, what host were you using, what was the output power? Got any pictures? We could probably be able to spot the short if you gave us pictures of the driver + host. :)
 
Joined
Jul 20, 2011
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Always discharge drivers before connecting or reconnecting them. I've done this before and it sucks. Now I'm overly cautious when it comes to this.
 
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Feb 16, 2016
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Thanks for your help-

I can upload pictures today but as bdgreenb said I didn't discharge the driver before reconnecting (I had no idea you had to do that) I'm a noob so I'm really lost sometimes. The host is the survival laser stainless host with a copper extended heatsink and an Aixiz diode 445nm rated at 1W. Using a pill driver from survival laser and 2X 18650 batteries.
 

diachi

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So how does one discharge and charge a driver anyway?


Short the output pins with the power input disconnected. Capacitors on the output get charged up to whatever maximum voltage the driver can supply as it ramps up the voltage trying to get to the correct output current with no load connected (I.e. open circuit).
 
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Feb 16, 2016
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The output pins on the diode?

Do I need to charge a new driver if I were to replace my old one?

Again I have to say I am a noob but am willing and eager to learn. Thanks for helping me through this. :bowdown:
 
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The output pins on the diode?

Do I need to charge a new driver if I were to replace my old one?

Again I have to say I am a noob but am willing and eager to learn. Thanks for helping me through this. :bowdown:

Diode's don't have output pins. I'm pretty sure Diachi is talking about the output pins on the driver, that connect to the diode itself.

If the diode were still connected to the driver than these pins are virtually the same, just don't do this when the driver is connected and powered on. You don't want any surprise/spiking/unstable current to the LD (Laser diode) which is why you discharge the driver before connecting.

There is no need to "charge" driver or LD, it simply powers on and provides constant current.
 
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So I most likely did blow my driver because when I soldered the wires back together I had no idea if the driver was on or off because I felt like being a dingus and turning the laser on and off after it had stopped working. I lost track on if it was on or off and thus there was a spike in power when I reconnected the wires and then blew the driver...

So if I were to get a new driver would be safe to take the batteries out- connect the diode and driver- and check the switch with a DMM to make sure it isn't powered on and then put the batteries back in and turn it on?
 




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