DX Driver $2.19 works great for LOC

Hey all, in my never ending quest to find boost driver alternatives until the flex's are back in stock, i've stumbled upon a very nice driver capable of running a LOC with 1 li-ion battery and a diode in between.

Driver is here

its says its a 1.5V - 4.2V boost driver

when attached to a test load set for red and an additional diode in between the driver and the test load, i was measuring 520mA. thats right about the highest to run a LOC with decent life.

i couldnt help myself so i bought an LG 22x dvd burner (only 15 bucks at a local shop here) and I built a pocket red build. works great, lpm's at 290~300mW.

It seems like a constant current design. why I say this is because using my regulated power supply with adjustable current and voltage, I set current to max, and then slowly ramped up the voltage. between 3.2V all the way up to 4.15V the current stayed the same at 520mA. below that it had to boost a bit more and current was slightly lower. from 1.5V it was at 350mA.

I dont reeally care for all that "LED drivers are bad" crap, this driver is a winner for LOC's in my book.

I hope you typo'd 420mA, because 520mA is seriously pushing these diodes. Nice find though.

500mA should be the highest to run the LOC but not recommended...

I use 431mA MAX cheers

change the resistor of the driver to lower your current.

If you're adventurous, you can push LOCs beyond 500mA. I have one that ran forever at 625, and I built an LPC826 a few days ago with a simple 625mA LM317.

The returns are barely useful though. I'm still only getting like 360mW from the LPC 826.

If you're adventurous, yes. But it's still not worth it, a good 660nm coated lens (because these diodes aren't 650nm) can get you >300mW at ~500mA or a little less. Another thing to take into account is the point where the diodes don't do anything more than just get hotter. Take a look at the lifetime of your diode at 625mA versus the life at 420mA. Is it really worth maybe 60mW more for such a reduced lifetime?