EVER KILLED A DIODE?? see this..

This is a very helpful & informative info link from Pangolin/Lasorb.
Many pages of info all DIY builders NEED to know.

Go forth and kill no more (or hopefully a lot less!!)


http://www.lasorb.com/02_we-destroyed-hundreds.htm
Lots of pages once you get there-Dont forget to take the quiz and NO CHEATING!!

Sorry, but that doesn't seem to be as much of an "informative info link" as it does a sales pitch. In fact, each of their "reviews" of common ESD protection approaches is basically put forward as a way to say "this is not a good approach, buy our product instead"

Is there really any info at that site that will allow us to "go forth and kill no more", without buying their products?

Thumbs down. Not on their product, but on their site being put forward as an info resource. It's a sales site. If they gave us a hobbyist circuit, or something similar we could DIY, I'd feel differently about it being proposed as a knowledge resource.

EDIT: Sorry, I'm cranky tonight.

hakzaw1 said:

This is a very helpful & informative info link from Pangolin/Lasorb.
Many pages of info all DIY builders NEED to know.

Go forth and kill no more (or hopefully a lot less!!)

https://www.pangolin.com/orders/lasorb.php

Lots of pages once you get there-Dont forget to take the quiz and NO CHEATING!!

Click to expand...

Yeah I got to agree with RHD...
It looks more like this Thread should be in the Companies
or Sales sections....
This is not a Tutorial or Help & Repair.....:thinking:
Sorry Hak... I don't see it relevant to this section....:beer:

Jerry

If I were building an expensive build, I wouldn't mind incorporating a lasorb into the build.

rhd said:

If they gave us a hobbyist circuit, or something similar we could DIY, I'd feel differently about it being proposed as a knowledge resource.

Click to expand...

Here is your resource for cheap ESD and transient protection, forget pangolin:

Transient Voltage Suppression, TVS Diodes, Automotive Circuit Protection - Littelfuse.com

Go buy a 0.25 cent Transient Voltage Suppression diode with clamping voltage slightly higher then your diode's Vfwd. (bipolar or single, doesn't really matter) and solder it to your laser diode. (Ive been using thier SMAJ series, works great and has a variety of voltage ranges to select from, bieng in a surface mount package thats only a few MM across, makes it ideal for that.) If you are so inclined to, you can add an RC snubber if you really wish to. (although I don't see it too nessasary for low powered systems)

Ive been using these diodes in my designs, and hell, the whole damn electronics industry too, these inexpensive suppression diodes are all too common (more applications then I can name, from consumer electronics to industrial equipment)

http://www.littelfuse.com/data/en/Data_Sheets/Littelfuse_TVS-Diode_SMAJ.pdf

From what I understood, a lasorb is just a fancly packaged varistor and a anti-parralel diode(dont have time to read thorugh pangolin's site, so if Im wrong there, feel free to point it out), while varistors are great for suppressing surges at higher powers (Eg: mains surges), they have a slower responce time then TVS diodes, but no worries, you can always buy TVS diodes at higher powers. As per the anti-parralel diode? Go find any rectifier diode and solder it as so. (will give you the same reverse bais protection so long the forward voltage of the diode is lower the then the reverse bais voltage of the laser diode, which im sure it is, even the 1N4007 series of rectifier diodes have <1Vfwd.)

BShanahan14rulz said:

If I were building an expensive build, I wouldn't mind incorporating a lasorb into the build.

Click to expand...

Why pay more then you have to though? Isn't the point of production to drive the cost down, not up?

Im not paying 8$+ for some fancy packaged device that does the same fucking thing that a 0.25 cent component can do.

Cheers

GBD said:

Why pay more then you have to though? Isn't the point of production to drive the cost down, not up?

Im not paying 8$+ for some fancy packaged device that does the same fucking thing that a 0.25 cent component can do.

Cheers

Click to expand...

Ahmen!

I'm so sick of hearing people complain about "everbody always wanting to get something for nothing". Honestly, it's often vets that spout this mantra ad nauseam.

I agree with the perspective that people shouldn't be expecting to get something for nothing, but one of the core defining features of a hobbyist community is that they try to find more affording ways for non-professionals to do some of the cool stuff professionals do at a cost they can afford, either through DIY, or by sourcing analogues that are less pricing.

GBD:
I'm not familiar with TVS diodes at all. But if you would give me some guidance as to appropriate SMD parts from Digikey for each of RED/BLUE/BR diodes, I'll whip together a tiny little PCB and get it fab'd in the January 5 DorkBot order. I can either just give the PCB design itself to the forum, or do a small run of 20 or 30 and shoot them over to one of the forum sellers like Clif or Moh at cost. If these are really like $0.25 each, then I could probably put a bunch together in a free hour once the PCBs arrive, toss them in Clif or Moh's direction (if they're interested) for like a buck a piece, and then I'm sure either of those members would be able to sell them through their store at super low cost.

rhd said:

Ahmen!

I'm so sick of hearing people complain about "everbody always wanting to get something for nothing". Honestly, it's often vets that spout this mantra ad nauseam.

.

Click to expand...

I hope thats not the tone I gave off (didn't quite understand your post), I have no issues with someone making a profit from a product, thats just how it works. What I do have a problem with, when there are blant, right-in-your-face products that will do the same thing the more expensive product does, but at fractions of the cost.

IIRC thats called competition.

rhd said:

GBD:
I'm not familiar with TVS diodes at all. But if you would give me some guidance as to appropriate SMD parts from Digikey for each of RED/BLUE/BR diodes, I'll whip together a tiny little PCB and get it fab'd in the January 5 DorkBot order. I can either just give the PCB design itself to the forum, or do a small run of 20 or 30 and shoot them over to one of the forum sellers like Clif or Moh at cost. If these are really like $0.25 each, then I could probably put a bunch together in a free hour once the PCBs arrive, toss them in Clif or Moh's direction (if they're interested) for like a buck a piece, and then I'm sure either of those members would be able to sell them through their store at super low cost.

Click to expand...

Not a problem, Id be happy to help.
The theory behind these lasorbs as I see it, is just a TVS diode and an anti-parralel rectifier diode for reverse protection, both function on very basic electronic theory, so if you are intested, we can talk over PM and I will explain in detail.

Im sure you know yourself how bulk quantaties work, that 0.25c part can quickly become, much, much less.

GBD said:

I hope thats not the tone I gave off (didn't quite understand your post), I have no issues with someone making a profit from a product, thats just how it works. What I do have a problem with, when there are blant, right-in-your-face products that will do the same thing the more expensive product does, but at fractions of the cost.

IIRC thats called competition, which is how a capitalist economy works.

Click to expand...

No no no! I was agreeing with your perspective. My comment was aimed in support of what you said, not against it. Elsewhere on the forum I constantly see the perspective being regurgitated over and over and over again that "everyone is looking to get something for free", as if the whole world (or at least the whole laser community) were made up of a bunch of spoiled children looking for a handout, who deserved a reprimand for it. I think that perspective is nuts (even though sometimes we do see some obnoxious "I want a 1W Green for $23" demands).

I was showing my support for your comment that there's no reason to pay more than you need to

100% NOT criticizing your post!

Oh, my bad, I misunderstood the post

Still, yeah..

Hope the grouchies are gone
++seems that many ARE killing a lot of diodes

I am not expert like all you (think you are)

But if you pay 50 to100$ for a diode
$8 seem little to protect it

most all the Pros use these in thier PJs
They must be stupid like me --uh?

hakzaw1 said:

Hope the grouchies are gone
++seems that many ARE killing a lot of diodes

I am not expert like all you (think you are)

But if you pay 50 to100$ for a diode
$8 seem little to protect it

Click to expand...

Grouchies are gone!

And it motivated us to get off our arses and do some "innovation" (haha, not so much innovation, as it was GBD sharing his already-existing knowledge with me).

Came up with this design:


It's 10mm in diameter, and it just slips right onto the diode leads. It shouldn't interfere with mounting a driver onto the diode leads poking through the top, or with soldering wires onto the diode leads and then into a driver. I've even added two through-hole wirepads so that you can attach wires to the "Protector" itself (instead of soldering to the diode's leads twice).

Using a reverse polarity protector diode, and a TVS. This revision will work for RED or for BLURAY. The end user just places some solder across a solder bridge to select between the two.

It costs about a buck ($1) to make. I'll get 20 or so done up, and then send them off to some forum vets with scopes to check out for solid data. Assuming it works as envisioned, I don't mind taking a day to pop out 100 of these and pass them along to the "net" of community sellers (at basically cost) to toss in with their customer's purchases (hopefully with not-terrible markup on their end).

Thats great-- but most here have no fricken idea about most of all that stuff.
Send me some and I will sell them-- nobody else offered any & AixiZ gave me a discount on 20- so drag me out in the ditch and shoot me!! yall get off my thread

Ya for sure - if they work, and they're this inexpensive, then it's a no brainer to have as many people as possible using them

I know that I rarely think about this type of diode protection.

.......
I have no answer as to why these and laserbugs get used so much on DIY labs quad builds etc.on PL and Lasershowsforums
no mention there of other cheaper ways to protect

you would think that nobody would use them but... you are wrong

hakzaw1 said:

.......
I have no answer as to why these and laserbugs get used so much on DIY labs quad builds etc.on PL and Lasershowsforums
no mention there of other cheaper ways to protect

you would think that nobody would use them but... you are wrong

Click to expand...

In the projector field, there seems to be a bit more of a focus on the "visual appearance" of the internal guts. This is not a critique. Rather, I think the difference probably stems from the fact that our pointer builds are generally sealed up, whereas projectors are something that you really want to see the guts of.

Thus, a true DIY approach (soldering a TVS across leads) doesn't look as appropriate in a projector. But the appearance might be just fine inside a pointer.

There's also some relativity at play. We frequently drop $150 on a pointer build, both those projectors are often several $k investments. I can imagine that if you had $1,000 tied up in a machine, you'd think nothing of tossing another $8 bucks at something that looked cooler.

a lasorb and laserbug would not fit in pen or most handheld host lasers.
I think mainly lab builders will want these. I like the ability to swapout a diode without a soldering iron. makes testing WAY easier to.

The info at the Lasorb site about ESD is informative just disregard the sales pitch there. I suspect not all got 100 on the quiz//maybe?