- Joined
- May 15, 2012
- Messages
- 320
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I got this cool 1W flashlight today, and I really liked it. So I promptly destroyed it to find out how it works. Turns out it's almost the perfect size for a 12mm module head.
I used a default 5mw red 12mm module I had from a long while ago. I first tried to fit the laser's driver in there, connecting it to the flashlight driver, but there was just no way it would fit with the diode pins.
Then I was like 'I already spent 2 hours on this let's do it', and I connected the diode directly to the flashlight driver. I measured voltage across the diode's pins whilst shining a light into it to find out which was positive and negative, and it turns out it's the opposite of a regular diode (compared to an Mxxx diode). I dabbed hot glue on the joints and screwed it in tight. It worked!
It pulls about 0.45A on 1.2v, so the efficiency is like 4-8%, so obviously I'm going to put a 100mw red diode from a cheap pointer in there when this one dies because it would reduce waste heat by a bunch. But the module has like 2mm of play so the right size copper pipe would help a lot. But be warned that this diode is a freak, and is being incredibly well behaved considering the overdrive I'm putting it through (always use a dummy load first). At 10 minutes runtime it hasn't quit yet.
It's so tiny in person, almost smaller than a AA battery. I highly encourage you to try this yourself. No expensive metalworking machines are required. Just be careful because this work is so tiny you're likely to burn yourself if you don't have alligator clip helping hands. And it's incredibly easy to forget that the battery is installed, so just make sure it's not loaded when working on it.
flashlight on ebay "cree xpe r3"
Side note: don't try to pry the driver out with a needle. The driver is in a pill that unscrews
I want to give credit to GatoX for doing it first (here), but with a real driver. I didn't know I was going to make it into a laser until I put it on my shelf next to an aixiz module
I used a default 5mw red 12mm module I had from a long while ago. I first tried to fit the laser's driver in there, connecting it to the flashlight driver, but there was just no way it would fit with the diode pins.
Then I was like 'I already spent 2 hours on this let's do it', and I connected the diode directly to the flashlight driver. I measured voltage across the diode's pins whilst shining a light into it to find out which was positive and negative, and it turns out it's the opposite of a regular diode (compared to an Mxxx diode). I dabbed hot glue on the joints and screwed it in tight. It worked!
It pulls about 0.45A on 1.2v, so the efficiency is like 4-8%, so obviously I'm going to put a 100mw red diode from a cheap pointer in there when this one dies because it would reduce waste heat by a bunch. But the module has like 2mm of play so the right size copper pipe would help a lot. But be warned that this diode is a freak, and is being incredibly well behaved considering the overdrive I'm putting it through (always use a dummy load first). At 10 minutes runtime it hasn't quit yet.
It's so tiny in person, almost smaller than a AA battery. I highly encourage you to try this yourself. No expensive metalworking machines are required. Just be careful because this work is so tiny you're likely to burn yourself if you don't have alligator clip helping hands. And it's incredibly easy to forget that the battery is installed, so just make sure it's not loaded when working on it.
flashlight on ebay "cree xpe r3"
Side note: don't try to pry the driver out with a needle. The driver is in a pill that unscrews
I want to give credit to GatoX for doing it first (here), but with a real driver. I didn't know I was going to make it into a laser until I put it on my shelf next to an aixiz module
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