Dual E-drive Guidesman 1.6W

Hi there.

Here is my recent build/upgrade. This handheld was initially completed a while ago. I have recently decided to upgrade its driver to get a slightly higher output.

Formalities out of the way: I do own several pairs of protective goggles for all the wavelengths that I “play” with.

Materials:
Driver: Parralled E-Drives set at 820mA each..
Diode: 445nm M140 from DTR
Module: 5.6mm brass Aixiz diode module and housing
Lens: 405-G-2
Lens holder: Extended lens holder
Host and heatsink: Guidesman from cajunlasers
Test load: 3A capable test load
Thermal compounds: Arctic Silver (for the module, capacitive)/ Arctic Alumina Epoxy (for the driver, non- conductive and non-capacitive)

The main reason for the modification was a dramatic loss in output after about a minute of operation. I believe it was due to the combination of both higher than rated current of the original driver and bad contact of the laser module with the heatsink:


Pointer:



Original guts:



Pill:



Extracted module:



Notice uneven distribution of Arctic Silver all over the module.. And here is why:




The shaft for the module is not smooth and the module fits inside with space to spare. The module has a very small contact are with the sink to transfer heat.

for comparison this is how it should look like, smooth and clean.:



The pill with bunch of silicone glue and the old driver inside:


I'm planning on changing the set resistors and using this driver in another dual driver build. The driver was set to 1.2A (<=900mA is recommended)





The E-drives with mounted heatsinks:
Technically only IC should be heatsinked, but I decided to add two more pieces to make the mounting easier.




Although during testing in boost mode the drivers barely got warm and in buck mode no temeprature change at all.

Drivers mounted onto filed nickels (arctic aluminum):





Back into the pill:


The pill in the host, top removed.



“Lubricated” the module with arctic silver and inserted back into the heatsink. I realize that heatsinking compound only works when the layer between two surfaces is very thin, but.. better than nothing at all I think.




Beamshots:
Cellphone pics:









Camera pics:





LPM measurement in buck mode:


LPM measurement in boost mode:

Cool build. First dual in a guidesman I think. What run times? Is that unit dual bucking?.

I like the potting job. Clean from outside and messy inside.
Good work for heatsinking the driver. +1

***edit*** spread rep bla bla bla...

Jander,

both drivers can be in buck or boost mode. In boost mode the drivers are slightly less efficient and generate more heat so I'm using them mostly in buck mode with two 18350 ultrafire cells from DX. In boost mode I have tested them with 18650 cell from new laptop battery and with Ultrafire 22600 from kaidomain. Little tenergy r123 or 16340 could not handle the current draw and overheated.



Blord,

Yep messy inside indeed. Well less messy now comparing to what it was. My clumsy attempt to fix the old driver to an improvised heatsink was a fiasco..

I did fix the nickels with the heatsink epoxy in the pill since I did not want to have the assembly trash around inside and perhaps having one of the drivers break loose.

Defacing government property...your going to jail!

Very nice upgrade, you do a great job on pictures aswell. Any chance you can compare runtimes for the 18650 vs 22600's for us?

TheDukeAnumber1 said:

Defacing government property...your going to jail!

Very nice upgrade, you do a great job on pictures aswell. Any chance you can compare runtimes for the 18650 vs 22600's for us?

Click to expand...

Total runtimes? or duty cycle?

If its the duty cycle you are interested in I'd say 2min/1min on/off for buck and 1min/1min on/off for boost (only because the area where the pill is placed gets warm in step up mode). The heatsink gets noticeably warm after 2-3 minutes in buck mode. I don't want to push it more than that because I doubt that I was able to improve heat transfer with all that arctic silver. The diode must be getting REALLY warm

Total runtime, I'm curious to see which batteries can keep it running for longer between the different modes and capacities. I bet the brass module isn't doing you any favors either for heat transfer but using that arctic silver should help heat flow a good bit bridging all the air gaps.

TheDukeAnumber1 said:

Total runtime, I'm curious to see which batteries can keep it running for longer between the different modes and capacities. I bet the brass module isn't doing you any favors either for heat transfer but using that arctic silver should help heat flow a good bit bridging all the air gaps.

Click to expand...

That close to the diode I don't think it's going to get any hotter than HOT.:na:

Where did that 1st sink come from if you don't mind.

I might suggest wrapping the module in 1-2 layers of aluminum foil - not tin foil. Foil can help fill the gaps IFF you wrap it nicely without any wrinkles and nasty stuff like that.

The gap is not that large. I don't thing wrapped module would fit. But in case I have this issue again in future builds I will try and see if that could help.

I also have this host with the bad sized heat sink. I drilled mine out and made a to fit a pen 532nm module. Also I think your heatsink is in backwards. If you turn it around it will be flush with the end of the benzel.

I haven't tried to put it in backwards but I believe it is in the right way. This is how the heatsink looks in the flashlight without the top part of the flashlight:

I'm sure it doesn't matter either way. There are a few designs floating around for these host but this is the same host from Cajun lasers but flipped the other way.

Interesting, I will try it if I get the second guidesman host with similar heatsink. Thanks for the advice!

gillza said:

Interesting, I will try it if I get the second guidesman host with similar heatsink. Thanks for the advice!

Click to expand...

no problem. it makes it much easier for turning the focus adapter when using the stock Aixiz piece.

Yep, that is why I got the extended lens adapter from DTR