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its not working, but why?

GigaNerd

GigaNerd

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hi again guys.

i bought a driver and a diode lately from o-like

diode:
300-400mW brand new red laser diode/ from LPC-826 | eBay

driver:
http://www.ebay.at/itm/180636887850?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649


they arrived today so i wanted to try it out.
i provisionally put it all together, but i tried my best at soldering the wires, the connections are very clean.

but everytime i turn the switch on, the diode is so weak, i can barely see the light from it...

can someone help me ?
 





Sigurthr

Sigurthr

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Well if you had reverse-biased the diode it would not emit any light at all, so you're probably off to an OK start. Did you try adjusting the the potentiometer on the driver? What battery are you using to power the laser?
 
Sigurthr

Sigurthr

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It should work with 4x AAA according to the specs. Well, do you have any test equipment, like a multimeter? If you do, you can determine which is the bad part (the driver or the diode).

Disconnect the diode from the driver carefully, and put the multimeter in series between the diode and the driver. Connect the positive clip from the meter to the diode's negative (-) pin, and the meter's negative clip to the driver's "diode (-)". Set the meter to Current (mA) in the 10A range. Power it up and see what it is reading, this will tell you how much current the driver is putting out.

If the driver is putting out the correct current but the diode does not light, or is very dim, the diode may be bad.
 
GigaNerd

GigaNerd

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well.... its not the diode

on 10A it stays on 0,00
when i switch to 200mA
it says about 0,3

so...what does that mean, whats wrong ?
 
Last edited:
Sigurthr

Sigurthr

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Alright then, busted driver it looks like.

Honestly for a low power red, just go with a LM317 DDL driver. It's fairly easy to make, and very reliable. They take 6V input voltage, but heck, that driver required 6V as well, lol.

Or if you want to keep with the small form factor and a premade driver, search around for other red diode drivers from reliable sources NOT on eBay. And do keep in mind that the chinese new year holiday is here and pretty much everything in china is shut down.
 
GigaNerd

GigaNerd

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ok .... so

actually i bought 2 of the diodes and 2 of the drivers....
and...

i just replaced the driver with the second one and... DAMN !!!


i just built my first (provisionally) laser pointer !

Man i am so happy right now :D




thank you so much, i love that forum ^^




EDIT: sry for double post :S
 
Last edited:
Sigurthr

Sigurthr

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There ya go, was just a bad driver! Glad to hear the second one works well! Have fun, and remember to use goggles when there can be reflections!
 
GigaNerd

GigaNerd

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yea i already got goggles ( that was the first i bought ) ^^

but the next thing i defenitely need is a heatsink cause i just burned my finger on the diode^^

i didn't believe it really gets that hot so fast xD


btw: is there a built-in heatsink in the aixiz-module ?
 
Hiemal

Hiemal

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IF your laser diode is getting that hot you CANNOT power it for very long!

Laser diodes are extremely sensitive to heat... You need to be careful...
 
GigaNerd

GigaNerd

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Le Quack said:
IF your laser diode is getting that hot you CANNOT power it for very long!

Laser diodes are extremely sensitive to heat... You need to be careful...
Click to expand...


yea i know, i will be more careful in future

but... do you know if there is a heatsink in the aixiz module ?
 
T

Things

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The Aixiz module IS a heat sink, though most of the time the module itself isn't enough of a heat sink for long run times.
 
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