First red built

I used the opnext 120mW 638 diode. Very nice beam properties. The driver is an AMC7135 (350mA).

Cool! I'm really interested in the opnext 170mW diode (HL63133DG) but its kinda expensive right now. I guess I'll just beam correct a 500mW mits...

Got any pics of your build? LPM metered?
Thanks :beer:

Here are some pics attached. Sorry for the quality I had to use my phone. It's basically the same build as the lpc-826. I use the same host but the driver is different (and the diode of course 638nm opnext 120mW). I sort of copied what Blord did in one of his builds with the amc7135 chip. It seems to work fine with the diode although 350 mA might not be the ideal current (a bit less would be better). Pictures are taken with some fog. I don't know how powerful it is don't have a LPM.
Those opnext 170mW are now "only" about 100 USD on ebay.

Freaking cool!

I got it with some discount from a supplier. Although its not $100, its still a "salty" price for me.
I just don't know what current to run mine at... maybe 500mA... or something like that.

Did anyone do some thorough testing on those 170mW diodes? 500 might be a bit much I don't know. I couldn't find much data on the forum. You would not want to LED that diode

Yeah I didn't find any big testing. IIRC the 120mW one goes dim when overdrived enough. It don't burn out... :thinking:
I'm assuming we can overdrive it almost 2x the maximum Iop. 2x typical current = 500mA

Have a look at the sheets
HL63133DG Datasheet

If the diode behaves like the 120mW variant it might be a good current indeed. The big question now is if it does actually behave like its little brother Perhaps you should set the current at 450mA first and see if it gets hot and have a look at the raw output. Usually you don't gain that much in power if you get closer to the max current it can take right?
I'd also like to get that diode but I'm afraid I might kill it since I just started building lasers.

Yeah its dangerous to start with something so expensive.
I don't know the nature of these diodes. If they are strong as a 445, or weak like a PHR. I mean, for soldering, etc.
I'll think about the host now... something small.