210mW red laser broken?

I bought a red laser months ago that i must say worked out very well for the time it worked, but i brought it on vacation last week and the output suddenly dropped to 20 mW for the last few days. I checked the batteries, and theyre fine.

But a strange thing is the laser itself heats up the same amount as it always did when it still did the 210mW (it doesnt cool well, but i dont use it for over a minute at a time so heat isnt an issue). is this common for diodes that reach their expected lifetime to heat up the same? Even if the lifetime didnt last as long as it was advertised to?

Sounds like your diode went LED. It's dead. Time for a new laser!

Yeah, thought so. Oh well, at least i can take apart the host, maybe i can just get a new diode for a fraction of the price.

Yeah, You can get LOC diodes for 10$, so if you have the tools try it.

I personally prefer the LCC diodes to the LOC, they can handle alot more abuse than their open can counter parts, and rumor has it that they can even take more current for longer periods of time. All the reds that I build myself all use the LCC and all are great lasers, my newest one is in a chrome pocket mini host with a flex driving at 500mA! When using high performance CR123 cells I get 325+mW with a G1 and 303mW with regular CR123's...

I think i found the replacement diode im gonna use. Lot 3 250mW 650nm Red High Power burning Laser Diode - eBay (item 280525572571 end time Jul-01-10 03:35:49 PDT)

The current one in the laser was a 5.6mm diode, running on two 3V CR2 batteries. thank god the laser wasnt made by chinese, not too much superglue holding it in... Would these be proper replacements? (PS the reason im getting the three is in case i mess up)

The best advice has already been given by going for an LOC, (from the LPC-815 sled), or an LCC, (from the GGW-H20L sled). Both these diode have higher potential outputs than the ones in the link; are cheaper; and you can buy them from reputable members on this site. Having said this, 16x red diodes are a reasonable diode when bought from a known source, (This seller may well be member of LPF but I do not know this for sure).

Check this thread for some figures on the LOCs and LCCs - http://laserpointerforums.com/f51/diodes-compilation-all-diodes-data-one-thread-45042.html - and then see my sig for a comparative price. Then you can make an informed purchase.

M