- Joined
- Jul 4, 2014
- Messages
- 48
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Yes, I am very new to the forums, so please call me an idiot gently
I am mostly self-taught when it comes to electronics and I have been building circuits for about 5 years. So I'm not inexperienced as far as electronics and electricity goes, BUT I am getting more and more confused by these darned lasers each passing day. Ha. I read the "Complete Guide to Owning Lasers" sticky which was good information, but I still need help with one thing. Watts = Volts * Amps. We all know this. So how is it that the 445nm M140 diode is putting out 1.015 watts of power running on 4.2 volts @ 0.7 amps??? 4.2 * 0.7 = 2.94 watts... am I an idiot by thinking this? According to the image below, the M140 has 4.2V @ 700mA of power going into it, putting out 1.015 watts... is the output power of the laser measured totally differently than I understand? Are they even measuring watts in that picture?
I am going to build my second laser with the M140 diode and I am building a 1 watt driver for it as we speak. According to my calculations, I should only be putting about 240mA through it at 4.2V to make 1 watt. But someone else has told me that they built a 1 watt M140 laser driver and are putting 1250mA through it at 3.8V... but that is 4.75 watts total! Here is the full webpage with all the M140 test images https://sites.google.com/site/dtrlpf/home/diodes/445-m140-didoes (you'll need to scroll down a bit) Anyone who can help take away this headache will be loved very much I don't want to burn out my diode.
I am mostly self-taught when it comes to electronics and I have been building circuits for about 5 years. So I'm not inexperienced as far as electronics and electricity goes, BUT I am getting more and more confused by these darned lasers each passing day. Ha. I read the "Complete Guide to Owning Lasers" sticky which was good information, but I still need help with one thing. Watts = Volts * Amps. We all know this. So how is it that the 445nm M140 diode is putting out 1.015 watts of power running on 4.2 volts @ 0.7 amps??? 4.2 * 0.7 = 2.94 watts... am I an idiot by thinking this? According to the image below, the M140 has 4.2V @ 700mA of power going into it, putting out 1.015 watts... is the output power of the laser measured totally differently than I understand? Are they even measuring watts in that picture?
I am going to build my second laser with the M140 diode and I am building a 1 watt driver for it as we speak. According to my calculations, I should only be putting about 240mA through it at 4.2V to make 1 watt. But someone else has told me that they built a 1 watt M140 laser driver and are putting 1250mA through it at 3.8V... but that is 4.75 watts total! Here is the full webpage with all the M140 test images https://sites.google.com/site/dtrlpf/home/diodes/445-m140-didoes (you'll need to scroll down a bit) Anyone who can help take away this headache will be loved very much I don't want to burn out my diode.
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