Dr Lava Krpton Barrel Red Laser died

Hi

I recently bought a set of laser from a fellow forumer and it was great!

The Krpton Barrel red laser was bright and burning but all out of a sudden, it went dim with a horizontal line across the dot.
I change batteries almost immediately and in my excitement, I might have put in the batteries with wrong polarity.
Now it is permanently dim. I think something was killed.

I want to find out:

1. Does the drlava driver has reverse polarity protection?

2. Can it take 2 x rechargeable CR123 batteries at 3.6 volts each
I asked because I when I go to the lavadrive page, it says 2.5-6 V combination
2 x 3.6 volts is well above 6 V!

3. If I got a din red dot with a short horizontal line across the dot, would it be the LD or lavadrive or both that died?

Thanks! Hope to hear from you guys soon.

You can't use rechargeable cr123, but you can use primary cr123. Not sure if it has reverse polarity. The diode is dead if it is dim.

If the diode actually lit up before it burned out it usually doesn't indicate that a battery was put in backwards, but rather the diode received too much current and burnt out. It sounds like you might've used rechargeable batteries in that laser, which can damage the driver and likewise the diode too. Those rechargeables can actually go as high as 4.2V when fully charged. Since the Lavadrive has such a large input range, you can even get away with using one rechargeable battery instead of two.

Bionic-Badger said:

If the diode actually lit up before it burned out it usually doesn't indicate that a battery was put in backwards, but rather the diode received too much current and burnt out.  It sounds like you might've used rechargeable batteries in that laser, which can damage the driver and likewise the diode too.  Those rechargeables can actually go as high as 4.2V when fully charged.  Since the Lavadrive has such a large input range, you can even get away with using one rechargeable battery instead of two.

Click to expand...

The flexdrive can only handle up to 5.5V.  In order to use 6V (2 x 3V battery combination) you have to place a current limiting diode (1N4001)  in series with the battery.  
You can see the diode between the flexdrive and the contact spring in this picture. 


Having said diode in series will NOT allow you to use two rechargeable batteries with it.

Sounds like you fried your driver at least.

Peace,
dave

Thanks...

I despair :'(

Before I put in 2 x rechargeable CR123 rated 3.6 V into the Kypton, I asked around and everyone said Ok.
(I wanted to be safe before I try anything)

Now I got what I was trying to avoid in the first place.... :'(

Price to pay for me lacking of experience.....

Now I dun even know what to replace.. LD or driver?
If driver, I also do not know what mA to set...

LiveRock said:

Thanks...
I despair  :'(
Before I put in 2 x rechargeable CR123 rated 3.6 V into the Kypton, I asked around and everyone said Ok.
(I wanted to be safe before I try anything)
Now I got what I was trying to avoid in the first place....  :'(
Price to pay for me lacking of experience.....
Now I dun even know what to replace.. LD or driver?
If driver, I also do not know what mA to set...

Click to expand...

I'm sorry someone told you the wrong information. The driver is probably toast. The diode MAY be toast as well. The only way to tell is to hook it to a new driver.

If the diode is a PHR, I would limit it to no more than 130mA. I used to drive my PHR's harder, but with the availability of the 4X now and the 6X's starting to show up in our hands, there is no reason to have to drive them to get 150mW anymore. If you go with a 4X you can get that 150mW out of it. If you go with a 6X you can get 190-200mW out of it.

Peace,
dave

hey, thanks, daguin

It was a red laser using 2 CR123. Do you have mA values for this?

I think it was 400mA for 250mW.

300 mA still safe?

LiveRock said:

300 mA still safe?

Click to expand...

Yeah 300ma is more than safe, it is quite conservative. I run my LOC laser at 510ma which gives 296mw through standard acrylic lens, it has seen quite a lot of run time lately and it seems to be doing quite well. (Though this is considered way above "safe" and there is no guarantee it will not blow the next time I turn it on, I am waiting for the custom IgorT lenses, which should get me around 360mw at the level I am driving it at [smiley=evil.gif]).

420ma is currently considered a very reasonable current and most builders set their LOC lasers to this current. This current would be my suggestion for a safe long life.

Ok, I think I'll set it at 450 mA but lavadrive is out of stock :-(

450 ma is a good choice.

I think you should check your lavadrive and diode first though, to see which one is actually dead (or both). I had a lavadrive come back from the dead, after is was shorted due to my cat jumping on the workbench. I blew a 803t diode and the lavadrive was not working. A couple of days later I performed and autopsy to confirm its death and to my surprise it worked!? This is the lavadrive that is in use in the LOC laser.

Here is what I would do in your case (it might be a while before new lavadrives are available):

1st: make a LM317 driver and connect it to the diode (diode is probably dead though, never hurts to check or have an extra driver though).

2nd: make a test load using a couple of diodes in series (3 would be good for setting up a red laser) and test the current, there might be a chance it is working.

3rd: If lavadrive is dead, you can use the lm317 driver with those 2x3.6v rechargables and run the laser like that until more flexdrives come.

4th: If you cannot make the lm317 driver small enough or are not a fan of soldering, the lava groove driver (5bucks+shipping IIRC), would work very well it has a low drop-out of 1v. However I do not know if it will fit into the original kryton barrel (never seen one in person), so you would have to confirm with a member who has worked with both, I know daguin is one such member.

This will allow you to finish your laser while waiting for the flexdrive, if you are as impatient as me.


Thanks
brtaman

Hi brtaman

Thanks for all the suggestion. Yes, I am a 'soldering' person; would like to try experimenting...

The LM317 will not fit the kryton barrel because of very tight space.

I do hope that the lavadrive is still alive as I've got spare Open Can red LD that I bought from jake that is still tlying around...
It is the lavadrive that is hard to obtain now.

Hi guys

I was wondering... the lavadrive and the LD were hot-glued to the laser head. How do you get this stuff off?

LiveRock said:

Hi guys

I was wondering... the lavadrive and the LD were hot-glued to the laser head. How do you get this stuff off?

Click to expand...

With a sharp blade.

Peace,
dave

Thanks! Finally I got the hot glue out but I noticed there is no connection to the negative side of the battery.

there is only a spring connecting to the +ve side but where is the negative side connected to?