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Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY Laser






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pseudonyms

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

Thank you for all the great tips.
 
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Cronie88

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

I was hoping you could help me. I made my own driver, I read the tips on the first post, and I tested my driver to see if it will work with my diodes that I  got. The only problem is that I might have miscalculated something on the driver, because when I test the driver with a DMM I get a reading of .84-.85V at the diode connection point. I am using a 9v battery for the driver and I don't know if it is too much or too little. I am not sure if .8v is 800mV or not, but my guess is that it is. so I am guessing that I need a smaller battery pack to get the 250mV or 250mA that I need for the diode that I am using.

Please help if possible!!
 
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Spyderz20x6

Spyderz20x6

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

Cronie88 said:
I was hoping you could help me. I made my own driver, I read the tips on the first post, and I tested my driver to see if it will work with my diodes that I  got. The only problem is that I might have miscalculated something on the driver, because when I test the driver with a DMM I get a reading of .84-.85V at the diode connection point. I am using a 9v battery for the driver and I don't know if it is too much or too little. I am not sure if .8v is 800mV or not, but my guess is that it is. so I am guessing that I need a smaller battery pack to get the 250mV or 250mA that I need for the diode that I am using.

Please help if possible!!
Click to expand...
Are you using a potenteometer or a resistor?
Did you build a DDL style driver?
 
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Cronie88

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

Yes, I built it with a potentiometer and two resistors. The potentiometer is rated at 10k ohms and .75 watts. the resistors are rated for 10 ohms each.
 
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Cronie88

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

I just want to know what voltage I need to use for the driver. the diode I have is supposed to work at 250 mW, but I don't know what to set everything on the driver at. I am not too keen on how to set it up cuz it is my first burning laser.
 
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Cronie88

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

Well, I tried the diode I got but there seems to be no current going through the diode, because it doesn't light up at all.
I just don't know what I am doing wrong.

I have 1 35v 47uf capacitor on the driver, two 10 ohm resistors, 1 potentiometer, 1 LM317T positive adjustable voltage regulator, 1 IN4001 micromini silicon diode, and a 9V battery to power it all.

please let me know what I need and what I do not need.
 
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genocidex

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

The lavadrive is a boost driver, which means all you need to worry about is setting a current. It will take input voltages from 2.5-5.5 Volts. If you are going to use 6 volts, solder the included silicone diode to the driver (read thread for more details). For the Rckstr driver, you will need to input above 5 volts, because it is a linear driver. Don't get me wrong, his drivers are great!
If you don't have a Digital Multi Meter, you might wanna ask drlava/rckstr to preset a current on the flexdrive/rckstr driver for you. For a StoneTek diode, the current needs to be from 280mA-350mA, but I would say that 350mA is pushing it a little. 300mA is the sweet spot for these 16x diodes. For a 20x Open can, 420mA is the sweet spot.
Click to expand...

does that mean if im using the 20x diode the longest life is 420mA ? or can i drop the current down some and would that hurt or help the life of the diode. also does open or closed can really matter witch is better if it does?

thanks for your help :)
 
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Spyderz20x6

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

genocidex said:
The lavadrive is a boost driver, which means all you need to worry about is setting a current. It will take input voltages from 2.5-5.5 Volts. If you are going to use 6 volts, solder the included silicone diode to the driver (read thread for more details). For the Rckstr driver, you will need to input above 5 volts, because it is a linear driver. Don't get me wrong, his drivers are great!  
If you don't have a Digital Multi Meter, you might wanna ask drlava/rckstr to preset a current on the flexdrive/rckstr driver for you. For a StoneTek diode, the current needs to be from 280mA-350mA, but I would say that 350mA is pushing it a little. 300mA is the sweet spot for these 16x diodes. For a 20x Open can, 420mA is the sweet spot.
Click to expand...

does that mean if im using the 20x diode the longest life is 420mA ? or can i drop the current down some and would that hurt or help the life of the diode.  also does open or closed can really matter witch is better  if it does?

thanks for your help :)
Click to expand...
Hi there!
I personally drive all my open can diodes at 450mA, and not one has died.
They really are tough diodes. I would say 450mA is safe.
At 420mA, they are gonna last very long, and anything under that should last forever...
And yes, open cans are better because they can be driven to higher powers and survive.
 
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genocidex

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

ever thinking of using a ld socket so it lowers the likely hood of burning the diode when installing it? also makes it a bit easier to change the diode if it did burn
 
Spyderz20x6

Spyderz20x6

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

genocidex said:
ever thinking of using a ld socket so it lowers the likely hood of burning the diode when installing it? also makes it a bit easier to change the diode if it did burn
Click to expand...
I don't recomend it.
Those have loose connections, and it could connect and disconnect, causing the capacitor to discharge into the diode, effectively killing it.
 
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genocidex

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

glad i consulted before trying it ;) wouldn't wana waste 35$ on a laser and socket. i was thinking about that 'cause when i do sensitive ic soldering i useualy use a socket to prevent the waist of hundreds of dollars lol. well again thanks i actually forgot that sockets disconnect
 
Spyderz20x6

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

genocidex said:
glad i consulted before trying it  ;) wouldn't wana waste 35$ on a laser and socket. i was thinking about that 'cause when i do sensitive ic soldering i useualy use a socket to prevent the waist of hundreds of dollars lol.  well again thanks i actually forgot that sockets disconnect
Click to expand...
I hope you weren't on "Build-A-Blue-Laser.com"...
 
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genocidex

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

thats were i saw it yes but i was thinking about something like that before even going there lol
 
Spyderz20x6

Spyderz20x6

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

genocidex said:
thats were i saw it yes but i was thinking about something like that before even going there lol
Click to expand...
Don't buy anything from there...
It is a waste of money.
 
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AusLasersSuck

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Re: Pro Tips w/ Spyderz: Building Your First DIY L

With a LOC using this guide http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/272/94/
do I still connect negative and case pin?

Also is a 6x pinout the same as the phr803T

http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/272/94/ with that guide do i connect the case pin to the negative thing on the flexdrive and the postive diode pin to postive thing on the flexdrive cause the case pin is connected to the negative.

Please help! :)
 
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