Uh-oh.. deep fried laser pointer!

Hey guys, I just frantically registered here. I've been creeping around for a while learning from all of you, but never really had anything to offer so I didn't join. But now I suppose I do.. so hi! Anyway, cutting to the chase. Got my first laser in the mail, a 1W 445nm o-like. Right from the start, it was kind of squirly, not running for more than 15 seconds, and not turning on / off properly. I figured it was the tailcap because after a while it didn't even click right. I did the usual aluminum foil bypass test and it worked brilliantly... Now of course rather than leaving it on a shelf while I wait 2 weeks for a replacement tailcap, I decided to go play! I used it here and there, no more than 15 seconds at a time, when it started getting kind of funky again. Got worse and worse and then, KAPUT, no more blue. Pulled out the battery, and a little puff of smoke came out with it... YIKES!!!!! RIP laser am I right?

What I want to know is, is this my fault? Dare I contact custome service? I thought the tailcap is a simple switch (it was on-off, no other modes), with the driver being up near the diode. Can anyone offer an explanation as to just what happened there? It might even save a few noobs like me from killing their own, because I searched the archives and didn't find anything.

Matt

Edit: Okay I took a good look inside the housing and I can see the driver is, like I expected, up near the diode. But what does that mean? That the driver was faulty all along, or that there is a very necessary resistance inside the tailcap switch?

The smoke went from where exactly ?

Tail switch can die easily. It's usually not problem of duty cycle. You do that so the laser diode or driver do not overheat. Good switch should have no problems with that.
So either the switch is dead. That can happen, it's mechanical part, anything inside can crack and/or burn. Those lasers suck some serious currents. You can check the switch with any digital multimeter (DMM) or simply with wire, battery and small bulb.

Another common problem is poor contact between parts. Aluminum on aluminum almost never works perfectly. And it often get worse gradually. Check connections between all screwable parts. Tightening works usually, or you can scratch the metal inside the screw a bit, and/or add some conductive lubricant. DMM can again help to measure the resistance between individual parts. Should be basically zero, under 1 ohm.

Last, but the most often - the battery. Usually it's just empty. Sometimes it's empty and cannot be recharged again. In this case sometimes the battery shows it's recharged on the charger .. and DMM shows full voltage .. but under load it will immediately drop. Sometimes the battery has overcharge protection .. which is basically small circuit on top of it .. which can burn out. Buttery problem also shows up gradually, just as you described. Definitely try different battery.

I don't own one of those, so I can't help you very specifically. It sounds like it could be a battery problem, but let's try the usual troubleshooting approach shall we?

EDIT: Please do a check on the contacts first like what DrSid recommends. That should be the first check. It's known as a continuity check. Then follow on with my questions below.

Is the laser very hot? (like you can't bear to hold the head of the laser in your hands).
If it is, chances are high that you might have burned the diode or driver due to overheating.

Was the battery very hot when you took it out?
If it was, the battery might be dead. And it might have died due to overheating. Regardless see the next question.

Is the battery dead?
Look for burn marks, white powder, leaks, etc, anything on the battery to see if the battery had any problems. Measure the voltage of the battery. A weak Lithium is <3.0V, and a fully charged one is 4.2V. If the voltage you measure is below 2.3V, it's a dead battery. Don't recharge it again.

DO NOT RECHARGE THE BATTERY FOR NOW
Report your result here first. (Just in case the battery went bad, recharging it might cause it to catch fire or explode, so please be careful)

Try using another 18650 lithium battery that you KNOW works well.
If the laser doesn't work, then it's not a battery fault. If it lases with the new battery, and the old battery isn't below 3V, then throw the old battery away. It is no longer reusable if that is the case.

Is the driver still ok?
If it's not the battery fault, and your laser still won't turn on, try dismantling the head (don't damage it in the process!) and try to see if there are any signs of overheating on the driver or any component that may have failed. Charred or burn marks might indicate a driver issue.

End of troubleshooting steps
Report what you see here, and the rest of the members should be able to help you. It'll also be best if you take a load of pictures if you can't figure out the problem yourself (like picture of the battery, the interior of the laser where the battery goes in, and if you dismantle the head, a picture of the driver).
If at the end, you don't see anything unusual, you'll probably want to contact o-like and try to claim the warranty.

Let us know how it goes. If o-like doesn't follow up on their warranty, not all hope is lost. You could rig up a simple circuit to test the diode, and if it works, you have the most essential part. The rest would be relatively easy to reconstruct and have yourself a new laser.

It came from deep inside, so either the driver, the diode, the negative terminal of the battery. I get what you mean about loose connections, but that usually doesn't result in smoke, right? I don't have my DMM on me (or any other 18650's) so I can't test the battery, but I can tell you it was running nice and strong before it died. It didn't fade so much as it just started flashing on and off erratically. Right after which the smoke thing happened. Nothing was hot, just a little warm. That goes for the housing and the battery. No burn marks on the battery - it looks mint. I can't see all that well inside the housing, and I don't have one of those 2-pin tools for removing those parts. I'll take some photos and upload when I have a chance, and I'll keep you guys posted on how things unfold. Sucks to be an example, but C'est Le Vie when ordering cheap stuff

If the battery looks mint, and smoke came out, it sounds like it's likely a driver problem. If you can't dismantle to see what's inside, then the best step would be to contact o-like to claim on the warranty.

I am hopeful for you that the diode didn't die. Usually diodes don't die by flickering. They usually die by just dying in one go without warning.

Okay, so just to clarify, tailcap-bypassing should NOT result in a burnout? (meaning electrical burnout, not overheat from leaving it running too long)

I've had those oversees laser have such a week spring that it would rub the side of the host. I'm thinking that pushing that foil up there might have repeated that issue.

No, it should not, unless the tailcap contained electronics that did some current limiting function which is extremely unlikely.

Okay, well thanks guys you've been a ton of help One last question though, any idea where I can get that tool for removing those.. whatever they are.. heatsinks? There are 2 small holes 180 degrees apart, I've tried googling for '2 pin tool' and whatnot but haven't come up with anything.

Oh.... I have that kind of configuration in one of my torchlights. I use a pair of needle-nosed pliers. It should work.

Makes sense, thanks! Anyway, I'll post an update in here when O-Like get back to me, for anyone who is interested in their customer service.

Cheers!

Tw15t3r said:

No, it should not, unless the tailcap contained electronics that did some current limiting function which is extremely unlikely.

Click to expand...

I'm talking about the driver end.:na:

jander6442 said:

I'm talking about the driver end.:na:

Click to expand...

I was actually referring to superhornet's question. We posted at the exact same time, so I hadn't noticed your reply

Hello Matt
It may be caused by your frequent on and off ,You should wait new switches then use it ,
Anyway we will send you a new replacement module and a new switch ,hope it help you

Thanks
Susie

Click to expand...

Ah see, great customer service! Before I bought, I read some reviews here on LPF and all I heard were great things, but later I did some more reading and saw bad things. Don't know what that's about, but so far, they've done right by me

This is good news! Once the replacement parts arrive, do post a review up in the review section! This will help other members in the future.

Frequent switching should never cause such a malfunction. Tail cap switches should be able to handle thousands of switches and the driver should be at least a descent enough quality to handle turning it on and off every 15 seconds.

I highly doubt the problem was caused by you in any way but rather from the grade of the components that were used.

When you get the parts in, if you snap us a few pictures of the replacement parts and the dis-assembly of the laser we could help you figure things out and help future people with the same issue.