not enough POWER please help :D

ok guys so i recently purchased a 1 watt 445nm laser diode and a rkscstr drive Micro-Drive V3 adjustable driver (assembled) - $13.00 : rkcstr.com, Micro-Drive and laser diode electronics
anyway i hooked this bad boy up but then i realized the driver on goes up to 450ma and im looking to push it to at least 1amp any idea on how i could mod this driver or make my own because i really dont want to have to buy a new driver
thanks a lot

Swap it out for a LM317 driver... search button is your friend!

bobhaha said:

Swap it out for a LM317 driver... search button is your friend!

Click to expand...

but the lm317 driver only cant put out 1.5 amps can it?
sorry about this im such a noob when it come to making electronics

Well a google search is easy enough even if you are not good at electronics, you could look up the spec sheet for the LM317... and you would find that it max current is 1.5A for the LM317.

lm317 has relatives. Look 'em up.

And in case it isn't obvious, you will need a relatively BIG heatsink when using a linear regulator. At 1A output, every volt of input beyond the forward drop of the LD means a Watt dissipated in the regulator. You need 3V overhead to ensure stable regulation but you should minimize the excess. I find that 9V works well when using the LM317 to drive a high power laser diode. 12V is ok with a big heatsink. Some of the low dropout relatives of the 317 *may* work with something as low as a 5V input.

What host are you using?

RandyRox; unfortunately that little Rckstr driver it too inefficent to drive the diode at 1 amp without a heatsink. If I were you I'd save it for another laser and make a LM317 based current regulated driver.



If you don't have the 1n4001 diode or capacitor you can omit them. The diode is there to protect the laser if you accidentally connect the battery the wrong way. The capacitor protects the diode from any voltage spikes that may occur. They're recommended but not imperative. Make sure your voltage doesn't drop below 7v.

I hope this helped.

-Tony