red diode on sf-aw210 sled

curious which of the 3 diodes on the sf-aw210 sled is teh red one.
-Nicholas

Can you make a close-up foto of the diodes ?

The diode with a lens in front is usually an IR-diode.

you can also usually tell the wavelength of a particular Laser Diode by looking at the AR coating on the window of the diode. A red diode will have a bluish coating when angled towards light... I think bluray diodes have a goldish tint to the window, and if I remember correctly, IR has a green tint to it. I'll check on that though.

google is your friend

Here's my extracted diodes (the short open can ones are the reds). I run it at 150-200mA, but it can handle a bit higher.

And here's a couple PIV plots:

rev0 said:

Here's my extracted diodes (the short open can ones are the reds). I run it at 150-200mA, but it can handle a bit higher.

And here's a couple PIV plots:

Click to expand...

Which one are you running at 150-200mA, the 405nm or the 650nm? I was planning on running my 405nm around 200mA and I haven't thought much about the 650nm yet.

Also, what would you say is the easiest way to extract them? I'm waiting for my sf-aw210 sled to ship so I'm trying to figure out the best way to get them out and free from the heatsink. I saw one guy saying that they're just in aluminum so you can just break the heatsink off but another guy says you need to cut some because they come in iron heatsinks. What would you suggest?

the sfaw 6xs are not very sturdy. it wont last long at 200. i have one set at 160 that has been around a while. not very efficient though. i have an aixiz ar coated lens and i only get 145mw out of it.

michael.

chipdouglas said:

the sfaw 6xs are not very sturdy. it wont last long at 200. i have one set at 160 that has been around a while. not very efficient though. i have an aixiz ar coated lens and i only get 145mw out of it.

michael.

Click to expand...

Well what would you consider "long"? I don't plan on using it extremely often so sacrificing a little life to improve the power seems like an acceptable option assuming the life loss isn't drastic. I thought that they don't fry until about 350mW so pushing 200mA didn't seem that bad.

GT273 said:

Which one are you running at 150-200mA, the 405nm or the 650nm? I was planning on running my 405nm around 200mA and I haven't thought much about the 650nm yet.

Also, what would you say is the easiest way to extract them? I'm waiting for my sf-aw210 sled to ship so I'm trying to figure out the best way to get them out and free from the heatsink. I saw one guy saying that they're just in aluminum so you can just break the heatsink off but another guy says you need to cut some because they come in iron heatsinks. What would you suggest?

Click to expand...

I was referring to the 650nm. I run the SF-AW210 405nm at around 130-150mA.

I don't remember since it's been almost a year, but I'm pretty sure I just used a pair of pliers and a vice to break the heatsink. It's a brittle alloy of aluminum and magnesium, most likely.

GT273 said:

I thought that they don't fry until about 350mW so pushing 200mA didn't seem that bad.

Click to expand...

Thats the wrong info You'd be lucky to get ~200mW before it fried. I'd set it 170mA max. Even then it could die in hours.

the sfaw's are not good. but they are cheap in price. if you want a beast then then spend the 50 bucks and get a 12x.


michael.

Tech_Junkie said:

Thats the wrong info You'd be lucky to get ~200mW before it fried. I'd set it 170mA max. Even then it could die in hours.

Click to expand...

Ok, it's just frustrating because it seems like I get different info on every single thread I click. These guys are saying that you should just keep it under 350 mA and you're set - LINK

chipdouglas said:

the sfaw's are not good. but they are cheap in price. if you want a beast then then spend the 50 bucks and get a 12x.


michael.

Click to expand...

Well I got the whole sled so I'm mainly doing this for the 405nm. The 650nm is just a bonus at this point.

my info has only been for the violet in the sfaw. i don't know anything about the red in that sled. but you will kill your violet very quickly if not instantly if you set it at 350ma.

michael.

I guess we have mixed communication going. We were talking about the Blu-Ray diode.

Anywho, in the other thread it went of topic a little. They were talking about SOC (small open can) which is on the 12X sled. I dont think the AW-SF sled has a SOC.

Correct me if I'm wrong here.

Okay, well I see why you guys aren't fans of the SF-AW 405 nm... I just fried mine Only at 165 mA too. I'm not really sure what went wrong, it was weird from the beginning. At first it was very dim. Then I turned it off and back on and it really lit up then. Powered it for 30 seconds and then turned it off. After a couple minutes I powered it back up and started adjusting the lens and as I was tightening it the diode just died on me. Is it possible to overtighten the lens somehow? If not then I guess it just fried... I felt like I wasn't going to crazy on the power and even checked it after it died and it was only 165-170 mA. Well I can say that while not the brightest laser I've ever seen, it was definitely pretty for the minute it was alive. I'll probably go for a more reliable 405 nm build in the future.

But it's not a complete disappointment because the red diode is in and nice. It is an open can just like the pictures above show. I'm running it at around 200 mA and it seems pretty powerful. Not sure exactly what the output would be. I haven't tried burning too many things yet and I haven't messed with the focus too much but I was burning holes in plastic bags and cutting electrical tape with it. I tried popping a balloon but it didn't have much air in it and I don't think I had the focus quite down yet so it didn't pop. Overall I'm pleased and glad I had two diodes in the sled because I would be bummed if I didn't end the day with a laser.

Here are some pics:








LINK

Its possible that you had a bad solder joint, and it fried the diode.