think i messed up on "the pocket mini"

Hey guys, gonja make it short, purchased my host and diodes and driver and all the goods from cajunlasers, everything came packaged good. I assembled everything, put battery in, turned it on and no light, just heat from the host. Like alot of heat, almost as if I created a ticking time bomb.

Any ideas? Clearly I made some wrong connections. Also I am using a flexdrive v5 turned up to the max for full 900mah.


Forgot to mention, it gets hot without it being turned on but with the battery inside and jost screwed together.

Sounds like you have a short somewhere on the board or at a connection.
If it gets hot when you screw it together,.. are you sure the tail/switch is off?
Does the laser work outside of the host, or just when it's all put together?

pictures of your solder connections may help

I didn test the diode outside the host for fear of blowing it, I've heard too many bad stories.
I do think there's a short on the board or somewhere in the host. Could it be that its because I have a negative connection to both the inside of the pill and to the negative lead on the diode. The negatve lead of the diode is also connected to the case lead of the diode.

Ash: the host gets hot when the clicky is off as well.

Yup definitely shorting the battery somehow.

The first place i would look is the pill area.

I'm assuming you have the flex drive inside the pill compartment and you're using the stock driver that came with the flashlight to get your + and - battery feed??

Check to make sure nothing is shorting out on that board, that the outter ring and inner circle are not connecting somehow.

has the stock driver from the flashlight had all of it's components removed? if so, make sure none of your wiring is shorting out on a wrong pad left over from that PCB.
you could easily have one pad that goes to the battery + sitting right next to a pad that goes to the battery - and they are just being shorted out.

and do what Ash asked and find out if the laser works outside of the host.

just a process of elimination to find the problem.

Pictures are always very helpful too

These 445nm diodes are pretty tough as long as you don't make a catastrophic mistake. I've had a single diode in about 15 different hosts now, each time it's pins are resolder. I've also busted the window out of its can because it had a smudge on it that wouldn't come off.
right now it's laying on the floor not hooked up to anything as i was testing amc7135 chips on it, but otherwise it still works great.

I just looked carefully at the pill, and there is a bit of solder touching from the outside ring, to the inner circle. Of the stock driver. Also I'm sure since I was in a hurry to play with this new laser there are contacts touching inside the pill. I need a new soldering iron, mine gets way too hot. I will do a thorough 're-do' tomorrow. Time for bed



Thanks guys, I knew my questions would get answered here. Hope I didn't fry the driver or diode!

I highly doubt it did if that's the problem. Let us know how things turn out tomorrow.

One last question. I couldn't wait til tommorow, so I got the solder that was connecting the inner and outter ring off the stock drive board. But still gets hot wether the clicky is on or off. Could it be because I have the negative and case pins of the diode soldered together with a negative lead on the driver and also a negative lead soldered to the inside of the pill and not the golden stock driver? I jumped in the deep end for my first build but couldn't resist the challenge lol. I have another host and a few diodes coming from china from a previous order so I may have to just moth-ball this build until I'm somewhat seasoned. Will update tommorow. Thanks again.

Yep, blew the diode. Gonna order a few open can reds and practice with those. Can't afford to blow another $50 diode. Wish I could just go pick up diodes and drivers at a local shop instead of waiting for shipping. I'm the most impatient person on the planet

That sucks.

are you positive you blew the diode?
the host should not be getting hot like that.

I tried powering the diode with 2 aa and then tried a variable power supply and no light no matter how high I turned it up. Unless the case and negative pins being soldered together are the issue. I'm not sure how else to test the diode without giving it too much current.

I did it! Completed my first build thanks to LPF. Thanks for uour input everyone.
not great pics and only one using 'fog' which is just vapor from my electronic cigarette lol.




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Awesome! I'm glad you got it to work. Is this using a new diode than the one before?

Nope, this is the original diode. Turns out my original batteries weren't even putting out 3volts. I don't think the diode is operating at the full 900mah. The driver is set to that but it seems like the diode may have lost some its power?

Edit: either that or these batteries lose charge quicker than I thought.

steve48135 said:

Nope, this is the original diode. Turns out my original batteries weren't even putting out 3volts. I don't think the diode is operating at the full 900mah. The driver is set to that but it seems like the diode may have lost some its power?

Edit: either that or these batteries lose charge quicker than I thought.

Click to expand...

Congratulations for your sucess building your laser. :beer:
Maybe a component on the driver fried when it was shorting out before, reducing the output. :undecided:
What makes you think it's not 900mA, how long until the laser gets warm, and how long does your battery last?

Thanks. The longest I've ran it is for a minute after I felt it was slightly warm to the touch. It really hasn't gotten warm with 30sec cycles. The beam just seems to get somewhat more faint after a few cycles. They are 1000mah batteries that I'm using. Maybe 1800's would be a better option

Edit: does light a normal stick match in about 3 seconds without having to color it black