- Joined
- Nov 22, 2008
- Messages
- 1,506
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- 48
HI all,
I was just wondering what the "symptoms" of hitting the FlexDrive V5's thermal limiter are. I built a 445nm earlier, set at 1.3A in a custom host. (Build thread will probably appear at some point...) When the laser's been running for a minute or so, the output will blink at about 2hz, until I get nervous and switch it off. When it's cooled off, it will have another minute of perfect operation. At that point the heatsink/head of the torch (single 18650) is warm but not hot to the touch. I suspect this is the driver's chip limiting itself due to excess heat, rather than anything else.
Is this consistent with what other people have experienced? Would smothering it in ceramic heat-paste be ill-advised (due to any conductivity etc)? I saw the coin sanded and cut to heatsink the driver, but I have more tight size constraints in this build.
Thanks
Charlie
I was just wondering what the "symptoms" of hitting the FlexDrive V5's thermal limiter are. I built a 445nm earlier, set at 1.3A in a custom host. (Build thread will probably appear at some point...) When the laser's been running for a minute or so, the output will blink at about 2hz, until I get nervous and switch it off. When it's cooled off, it will have another minute of perfect operation. At that point the heatsink/head of the torch (single 18650) is warm but not hot to the touch. I suspect this is the driver's chip limiting itself due to excess heat, rather than anything else.
Is this consistent with what other people have experienced? Would smothering it in ceramic heat-paste be ill-advised (due to any conductivity etc)? I saw the coin sanded and cut to heatsink the driver, but I have more tight size constraints in this build.
Thanks
Charlie