BlitzBuck Driver Blinking Issue

Hello friends. So I've run into an issue with a BlitzBuck driver. I'm running it at 2.4A to drive an NDB7875, and it appears to be going into thermal protection mode. After about 20 seconds, it starts blinking very rapidly, with increasing speed. I ran it without a heatsink at first, but used thermal adhesive to attach a copper heatsink after the issue started. Even after the heatsink, it is still doing the exact same thing. I have built probably about 20 or so of these same exact lasers with BlitzBuck drivers, with and without heatsinks, and have never had this issue. Thoughts?

Hi ,
There's a possibility that the driver is damaged in some way . This happened to me with me 465nm build. Chech your grounds first if not it's the diver . Well just change the driver and see what happens it can't hurt. Mine would run for 30 seconds and it started doing the same thing. I changed the driver done online once again

Rich

Yea, that's what I'm going to do. Just sucks when you've already put thermal compound on the module and got everything all set. This is the second BlitzBuck I've had go crazy on me out of 20 or 25.

Hi,
I only use the Lazeerer xdrives it's not worth to save a few bucks to power an expensive diode and have an issue ,to me it's just not worth the hassle . Let alone what could happen in the progress of the build. I won't skimp on builds no matter what i put in them. The way you build reflects on you. i still take down older builds to make them better. Lazeerer make them and he's very picky about his product , to me he's the driver God and the go to guy for them. I order drivers even if i'm not building just to have them in stock.
Well wishing you luck hope things work out. Keep us posted on your progress

Rich

Where, exactly, did you fasten the heat sink and how large is it?

Lifetime17 said:

Hi,
I only use the Lazeerer xdrives it's not worth to save a few bucks to power an expensive diode and have an issue ,to me it's just not worth the hassle . Let alone what could happen in the progress of the build. I won't skimp on builds no matter what i put in them. The way you build reflects on you. i still take down older builds to make them better. Lazeerer make them and he's very picky about his product , to me he's the driver God and the go to guy for them. I order drivers even if i'm not building just to have them in stock.
Well wishing you luck hope things work out. Keep us posted on your progress

Rich

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I use Lazeerer's drivers as well, and I'm actually about to bulk order a bunch of X-Drives, but I've had issues with a couple of them also(not counting the two that I killed by my own doing ).

But I don't think using a BlitzBuck is "skimping". They are also made by a fellow LPF member, and they are dedicated laser drivers, not LED drivers or anything. Just because something costs less doesn't necessarily mean it is of lesser quality. It very well could be made from cheaper(still, not necessarily lower quality) components, but I definitely wouldn't say something is of lesser quality unless I actually knew that the components/processes used to make it are actually inferior in some way. Or maybe you know something that I don't? Lol.

Cyparagon said:

Where, exactly, did you fasten the heat sink and how large is it?

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On the IC, and it is slightly wider than the IC and maybe 3mm or 4mm tall. I have used smaller aluminum heatsinks on these same drivers plenty of times without issue. This time, I used a copper heatsink because it appeared to be going into thermal protection.

Have you ruled out a bottleneck in the host as it may not be thermal shutdown if you say it is blinking fast. If it is struggling to get enough current it could cause it to strobe. Maybe try powering it directly from the batteries or a power supply and see if taking the host out of the equation fixes it.

TaterMay said:

I use Lazeerer's drivers as well, and I'm actually about to bulk order a bunch of X-Drives, but I've had issues with a couple of them also(not counting the two that I killed by my own doing ).

But I don't think using a BlitzBuck is "skimping". They are also made by a fellow LPF member, and they are dedicated laser drivers, not LED drivers or anything. Just because something costs less doesn't necessarily mean it is of lesser quality. It very well could be made from cheaper(still, not necessarily lower quality) components, but I definitely wouldn't say something is of lesser quality unless I actually knew that the components/processes used to make it are actually inferior in some way. Or maybe you know something that I don't? Lol.



On the IC, and it is slightly wider than the IC and maybe 3mm or 4mm tall. I have used smaller aluminum heatsinks on these same drivers plenty of times without issue. This time, I used a copper heatsink because it appeared to be going into thermal protection.

Wolfman29 makes these, right? I PM'd him, but haven't received a response.

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Hi,
Hey don't get me wrong i have used the drivers you are using. There ok but i just like using the XDrives always have. Just my personal opinion I had only 1 xdrive give me trouble out of all my builds. Not a bad average , oh and yes check the diode/driver on a battery like DTR says sounds like another solution he's also correct. Thanks Jordan

Rich

I think DTR is probably correct, or it could be a battery problem, make sure both batteries are good or try a different pair of batteries. Especially if you use those cheapest blue batteries with no brand name or the red Ultrafire batteries. I had the exact same thing happen with my PL520 build, this one: http://laserpointerforums.com/f45/pl520-build-1-3-lasers-very-pic-heavy-88336.html#top
Notice what battery I used in it, I had also once put the battery in backwards once but it still worked fine after that. When it later started flashing rapidly when I turned it on I was sure something was wrong, no nothing wrong, it was the battery. Now I have a good charger with a display and can tell if the batteries are charging properly. Also my M140 build running on two 16340 was having a drop in power way to fast (6 or 7 minutes), that was due to those cheapest blue batteries.

Alan

Just checked my PMs today - about to reply ^_^

DTR said:

Have you ruled out a bottleneck in the host as it may not be thermal shutdown if you say it is blinking fast. If it is struggling to get enough current it could cause it to strobe. Maybe try powering it directly from the batteries or a power supply and see if taking the host out of the equation fixes it.

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That is almost always the first thing I do is pull it out of the host, however, I typically test it with batteries only outside the host before it ever goes in the host. Wasn't the issue here

My second thought was that maybe the batteries weren't charged enough, but that wasn't it either.

Pi R Squared said:

I think DTR is probably correct, or it could be a battery problem, make sure both batteries are good or try a different pair of batteries. Especially if you use those cheapest blue batteries with no brand name or the red Ultrafire batteries. I had the exact same thing happen with my PL520 build, this one: http://laserpointerforums.com/f45/pl520-build-1-3-lasers-very-pic-heavy-88336.html#top
Notice what battery I used in it, I had also once put the battery in backwards once but it still worked fine after that. When it later started flashing rapidly when I turned it on I was sure something was wrong, no nothing wrong, it was the battery. Now I have a good charger with a display and can tell if the batteries are charging properly. Also my M140 build running on two 16340 was having a drop in power way to fast (6 or 7 minutes), that was due to those cheapest blue batteries.

Alan

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I wish. I only use eFest batteries, and I haven't had an issue with them at all since I've been building. I took the batteries out of the equation by using some charged, healthy 18650s, which did the same thing.

I believe it is the thermal protection because the blinking starts much more slowly when the driver is completely cool, and increases speed very quickly as it heats up. Also, the fact that the heatsink on the IC chip becomes blistering hot within 30 seconds of running it seems far too quick. I have used these at 2.4A with no heatsink whatsoever, and they are still going strong with 45 second to 1 minute duty cycles. I think something with this particular driver is faulty and is causing it to overheat. Does anyone know exactly how the thermal protection works on these drivers? What component actually senses the temp?

Hi,
Save your self the headache and change the driver. put fresh cells in it you should be good to go. Relax its not that bad, if the diode is lost , now thats bad. hope this helps pal..
Rich

Lifetime17 said:

Hi,
Save your self the headache and change the driver. put fresh cells in it you should be good to go. Relax its not that bad, if the diode is lost , now thats bad. hope this helps pal..
Rich

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Oh I've already changed the driver out, and the batteries are brand new eFest cells. There isn't really a way to save the headache, as the headache was a faulty driver. Lol. I was just in a hurry when the issue occurred. Luckily, I've got several spare drivers and diodes laying around. Hopefully none of the others have the same issue. Lol.

After discussing with Wolfman, it appears that maybe there is an issue with the thermal pad under the IC chip. I'll just cross my fingers on the others.

TaterMay said:

Oh I've already changed the driver out, and the batteries are brand new eFest cells. There isn't really a way to save the headache, as the headache was a faulty driver. Lol. I was just in a hurry when the issue occurred. Luckily, I've got several spare drivers and diodes laying around. Hopefully none of the others have the same issue. Lol.

After discussing with Wolfman, it appears that maybe there is an issue with the thermal pad under the IC chip. I'll just cross my fingers on the others.

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Hi,
Thats great now wasn't that easy?? LOL!! Glad it worked out for you buddy, Now you can start another build.Well your back in business simple fix.. glad to help ..

Rich