My new 532 just stopped working.

I may have screwed up once again this time on my new 100mW 532. It takes a 18650 battery and I accidentally put in 2x 18350. It was working fine and then last night it just went dead. Did I overload the driver by using 2 batteries?

If so do you think the driver is damage or the module? What U.S. forum members will work on 532's? I would rather not have to ship this back to China.

At first I thought to said you put two 18650's in, and I was like, "How do they fit!"

I'm not sure if your driver has overdrive protection and if so, whether or not it prevented the pump diode from being subject to ~8v DC.

Best case scenario is that your driver has failed and the DPSS module remains intact.

I'm sure some resident experts will be along shortly to help!

You fried it. All the 532nm lasers in your signature are "cheap" mass produced Chinese lasers and none of them will have any sorts of protection; over or under.

Live and learn

Livinloud said:

You fried it. All the 532nm lasers in your signature are "cheap" mass produced Chinese lasers and none of them will have any sorts of protection; over or under.

Live and learn

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Meaning I fried the driver or the diode pump? Also see attached pic, isn't that a reverse protection capacitor?

There is no such thing as a "reverse protection capacitor". There are reverse protection diodes, but I doubt that laser had one. That blue thing on the right is a resistor.

If the driver is like most cheap green laser drivers, you essentially 2x "pot-modded" your driver and the diode or something else important was fried. It burned bright, and then not at all.

Bionic-Badger said:

There is no such thing as a "reverse protection capacitor". There are reverse protection diodes, but I doubt that laser had one. That blue thing on the right is a resistor.

If the driver is like most cheap green laser drivers, you essentially 2x "pot-modded" your driver and the diode or something else important was fried. It burned bright, and then not at all.

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Yes pretty much. It worked for a while then just stopped. I've been reading up for the past couple hours and have accepted the fact that I killed driver, diode, everything.
This has been a really disappointing week for me and lasers. My 400mW 532 rolled off the coffee table and now there is a split line up the beam and the beam seems wider. I was hoping it was debris on the lens but I cleaned it and its still there.
I'm not sure how many more stupid mistakes I can make in a couple weeks time. I'm pretty bummed right now. I really want to start building my own laser and set my own drivers so I've bought everything I will need yet I can't even properly use the ones I have without fucking them up. I'm pretty frustrated with myself atm Ill feel better if I can fix it though.

I bought 2 -100mW 532 modules recently so I want to try to fix this laser. Since I bought all this stuff, multi meter, soldering station, ESD mat, LPM, variable power source, ext I may as well give it a go. Not like I can kill it any worse.

Can someone recommend a driver? What should it be set at?

nwfreefly said:

This has been a really disappointing week for me and lasers. My 400mW 532 rolled off the coffee table and now there is a split line up the beam and the beam seems wider. I was hoping it was debris on the lens but I cleaned it and its still there.

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Perhaps the knock dislodged the Nd:YAG module from in front of the IR pump, it looks like they're often just glued in place?

Be super careful if you plan on realigning it though as it's possible to flash the high powered IR about the place which is definitely bad news all round.

I think this driver have only reverse polarity protection, not over tension protection, without some tests we can only guess what happened, but without sure.

You should test the driver to see if it still OK, use a dummy/test load to check, if the driver didn't work, then you have a small chance that your pump diode still alive.

This has been a really disappointing week for me and lasers. My 400mW 532 rolled off the coffee table and now there is a split line up the beam and the beam seems wider. I was hoping it was debris on the lens but I cleaned it and its still there.

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Seems that the focusing lens got out of the place, if your laser still producing 400mW and are in TEM00 (perfect round beam), then seems that is repairable.

Thanks to all that replied for the tips. I contacted O_like and they are sending me another module and driver for a reasonable price. 35 dollars shipped. The 150mW modules I bought last week are too long so I'll find another use for them.

you doubled the vdc when you went with two batts.(no do). I would expect it to be toast after that.

hakzaw1 said:

you doubled the vdc when you went with two batts.(no do). I would expect it to be toast after that.

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Yeah, that was a pretty stupid mistake I made. Lesson definitely learned the hard way once again. Do you think I killed the driver as well Hak?

Yes its toast. My advice is to stay away from cheap 532nm and the expensive ones you best be careful with. They break easy, you must never drop it, you will fry it if you put the battery in backwards (true of most lasers though), they are temperature sensitive and have unstable output. Get a non DPSS like a 520nm, it is a slightly different color though not by much.

Alan

Pi R Squared said:

Yes its toast. My advice is to stay away from cheap 532nm and the expensive ones you best be careful with. They break easy, you must never drop it, you will fry it if you put the battery in backwards (true of most lasers though), they are temperature sensitive and have unstable output. Get a non DPSS like a 520nm, it is a slightly different color though not by much.

Alan

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Thanks Alan Im with you 100% on that. I have been buying diodes from DTR and drivers for a little while now for a project I am working on to build a set of RGB lasers. I have a 1W 520nm, a 2W 462nm, and next week will buy the 170mW single mode 638nm.
I purchased 3 Kryton Groove hosts with GITD from grainde to build with those diodes but I have also been working on designing my own custom host. So in the mean time I have been trying to learn as much as possible. I just bought a test load, ESD mat, and multimeter because I want to try to set the drivers myself. I have been in contact with some fellow LPF members that are willing to help me in person. Especially with the 520nm. I really don't want to kill a $400 diode by doing something wrong during the build.

I understand that O-like isn't a great maker of hand held lasers but they have served a purpose for me. I wanted to get something for the time being as I learn about building, buy all the needed equipment and tools, and get familiar with operating lasers. Although I am kicking myself for some stupid mistakes I have made, I am also glad I made the decision to buy low quality lasers first for exactly this reason. If mistakes were going to happen, as it sounds like is not all that un-common for new people to make, I would rather kill a $50 O-like than a $600 jet laser or custom build.

I know I have made dumb mistakes but I am trying to learn and figure this stuff out. I read a lot every night but its not that easy having zero background in anything electronic. Its still a lot of fun though and I needed something different as a past time other than art. I am a professional artists of 21 years so this is all quite foreign but I'm grateful for everyone's help here on the forums. You guys have been great and super helpful.
Cheers,
Jeff

your very welcome jeff- I agree with Pi RS ..

You cant go wrong with DTR..
his tutorials are excellent.

hak

A good DPSS 532 won't be so unstable it becomes a problem. The most my SKY 532 ever noticeably does is the odd flicker where I assume it changes mode. You have to be looking for it, and I'm sure there are better handhelds out there still. With respect to Alan he paints a picture that 532 behaves like 593.5, which in my experience is very picky.

Don't worry about having no electronic background and don't let anyone tell you or make you think that you have no right to be playing with gadgets because of it. I also have no electrical background and therefore little electronic knowledge to boot - I know how to wire a circuit and make it safe by earthing, but that's about it. My house looks like a science lab (single and proud!!) and is lit mostly by unconventional methods such as street lights or bare bulb circuits I've hacked together. The sky is the limit as long as you play safe!