I give up!

I give up! I just don't get it! I've gone through five PHR's, and I've managed to break all five of them. Two I admit I was just getting into the hobby and was careless. The last three though I did everything right (or so I thought). I set the driver to 120mA, shorted the driver out, soldered the case pin to the negative, then both of them to the board, and the + pin to the board. I held the soldering iron on the pins for an extremely short amount of time, like a second or two at most. All of them are LED's!!

ARGH!

I'm just going to stick to pre-built lasers from now on...I can't take it anymore...

Set the current to lower than 120mA. Try 90-100. Also remember to not touch the diodes with your fingers or any metal, because of ESD. Let it cool after soldering before testing it.
Don't give up, man!

Dont give up..

i felt like that when i first started and had diodes die on me. that will go away real fast the first time you get one working. it is much more satisfying to have done it yourself. i know it sucks to have failed projects but don't let that discourage you. im sure we have all felt that way at some time or another. just be patient.

Are you harvesting from sleds yourself or buying diodes?
also when you solder are you using flux? it makes a world of a difference.

I wish you luck
dont give up

5 diodes is still cheaper than buying a pre-made laser, don't stop yet. I had the same problem when I started, and learned to buy the sled and do my own harvesting. Then I must have ruined my first driver and didn't know it until I tried a different one. Eventually I got it right and only kill the diodes when I torture them now.

PHR's are cheap, imagine if you were doing this with PS3 diodes 2 years ago ... Thats a very expensive diode to kill!

I killed 6 PHR's in a day, even at 95ma, they are known to be very fussy diodes.

PHRs are unpredictable above 100mA.. that's your problem.

ElektroFreak said:

PHRs are unpredictable above 100mA.. that's your problem.

Click to expand...

Well I tested one of them before soldering it into place, it was working...

I guess I will give it one more shot with the mA set to 95...Can anyone give me tips? Like I honestly don't know wtf I'm doing wrong...

What driver are you using and are you sure you are supplying it with enough volts?

Ive thought diodes were dead just because i was using a rkcstr and not enough voltage...

jeffd said:

What driver are you using and are you sure you are supplying it with enough volts?

Ive thought diodes were dead just because i was using a rkcstr and not enough voltage...

Click to expand...

I am using a rkcstr driver. I had the driver set to 120mA. I am using two 10440's for power. I set my driver using test load, and even connected it to ammemeter for verification. Could the driver some how be messed up? I'm thinking no since it measured correctly.

mfo said:

Well I tested one of them before soldering it into place, it was working...

I guess I will give it one more shot with the mA set to 95...Can anyone give me tips? Like I honestly don't know wtf I'm doing wrong...

Click to expand...

Here is my tip for you....Cut the case pin off...it is not necessary to solder it to the negative pin.(only with blu-rays) Then again it all depends on how you wire up the driver
Also, be sure to short out the leads on the drivers before connecting it to the diode

One last tip...buy the diodes all ready pre-installed into a module. THen go on from there.

iskor12 said:

Here is my tip for you....Cut the case pin off...it is not necessary to solder it to the negative pin.(only with blu-rays)

Click to expand...

Instead of cutting the case pin off, connect it to the negative pin. These blu-rays have floating diodes (ungrounded) which puts the diode at risk to death by ESD (static). That could be part of your problem also. I haven't lost a blu-ray diode to static since I started connecting the case and negative pins together.

maybe i'm just lucky, i rarely have diodes die on me, i can do almost everything short of eating it and crapping it back out and they still work.

that being said, i think it took me like 5 of the 16x sony diodes before i got a working red....i think the first one is the hardest.

how are you harvesting your diodes? what techniques ect are you using?
i'd say the easiest way, with phr anyways is to remove the ribbon (use an xacto knife and some fingernail clippers as opposed to to the solder blob method)
and crack the heatsink by twisting it on each side in different directions with pliers.

if you ever just want a phr in module with the rkcstr already attached look me up.
i can do it for free if your willing to supply the parts and pay the $1.50 to ship it back to you.

I buy the diodes pre-installed inside of aixiz modules to avoid the hastle of harversting.

Let me help sir... this is somewhat like a jogger hitting that wall.

Get yourself a constant power supply that can run between 3.0v to 12.v 1amp stable.

Turn the pot on that driver counterclockwise and leave it there. There is no capacitor to discharge on that unit, but you should practice it anyhows. Power supply should be set on 9volts min.

Put your DVM in the mA mode with the + end of the meter on the + end of the power supply.
then put the - end of the voltmeter on the + side of that driver. Then use the neg on the power supply to the module shell.

At this point you should be seeing a reading of about 50mAish on the meter. The diode should appear as a dim LED slowly turn the pot up clockwise until you get
around 100mA give or take. Take you time on the ramping up of current set and use nimble fingers. This might not be the most conventional way of doing the driver current set, but after 30 of these same diodes I haven't fried a PHR yet.

this should get you through your first couple of builds, and is only good for linear type of drivers.

I hope that this helps and please fellow forum members add to my reply to help this new member.

two seconds with the soldering iron? what power is your soldering iron? I think a normal 40W soldering iron will kill your diode in 2 seconds

If you dont have a PSU use a new 9v battery. 2 10440s may not be enough if they are under charged. Its recommended to use 3 10440s and a SI diode to keep the driver in regulation. Also, like others said, start off low and work your way up. Stepping up the currant in small increments has also been rumored (not proved yet) to lengthen the diodes life.