My Budget Ophir Power Supply

scumbagatheist · May 16, 2013

I'm waiting as patiently as I can for UPS. It's still painfully slow at work, so I had the time and the extra leads, and built myself a DIY PS for my Ophir.
Includes:
1 X RS small project box
2 X 9V batteries
2 X Female banana plug connectors (packs)
1 X Male banana plug connectors (pack)
1 X Pair of 9V battery connectors
1 X Pair of left over DMM leads
1 X Tiny DPST switch
Some extra wire
Heatshrink tubing
Electrical tape

Final design with a DPST switch thrown in to cut power to the Ophir:

The circuit diagram:

The guts of the box:

I should have chosen a larger box. I had to make a little room for the 9Vs.

The important end:

And, just waiting for the sensor to arrive:

I hope everybody enjoys. I can't wait to get to work(hah!)!

norbyx · May 16, 2013

Now that is some good solution you got there. I shall copy your project if you don't mind.

scumbagatheist · May 16, 2013

That's why I shared it! Do yourself a favor and check the height of the case (better than I) with the batteries. Who needs the extra hour of modding the lid?

norbyx · May 16, 2013

Will do, I just placed an order on the ophir, I really like the laserbeeII but the time response of the ophir is just amazing. In any case I will be selling the laserbee II as soon as I get the ophir and probably will end up without any money loss...

ARG · May 16, 2013

Lookin good!
You may also want to add a DPST switch in there to cut the power to the Ophir.

norbyx · May 16, 2013

^^Good idea. Now would leaving the power on for a long period of time (say 30 min) have any consequences on the ophir head?

scumbagatheist · May 16, 2013

norbyx said:
Will do, I just placed an order on the ophir, I really like the laserbeeII but the time response of the ophir is just amazing. In any case I will be selling the laserbee II as soon as I get the ophir and probably will end up without any money loss...

Jesus, that has to be a "buyer's remorse" world record! Have you even had that thing for 30 days? Maybe Jerry has a buy-back program...Dog knows he'll be chiming in shortly with another plug for his products!

ARGLaser said:
Lookin good!
You may also want to add a DPST switch in there to cut the power to the Ophir.

ARG, I am going to do just that. I have lots of small lit switches, but they're all rated for 120VAC, and RS selection on small lit switches is awful. I may just use one of my 120VAC switches and forego the lighting. At least they're free!
I don't know which part of the circuit would be best to tie in the switch. Their isn't much room to work with. I have some extra length on one of the banana plug (Vin) wires in series. Is there any reason I cannot just tie it in there?

lasersbee · May 16, 2013

For the Power Switch read the bottom of the 1st Post
of this old Thread....

http://laserpointerforums.com/f42/diy-pre-calibrated-lpm-under-100-00-a-52861.html

Jerry

scumbagatheist · May 16, 2013

Thank you, very much, for that link, Jerry. I may have to position the switch a little differently based on my box design, but you've helped greatly.

ARG · May 16, 2013

norbyx said:
^^Good idea. Now would leaving the power on for a long period of time (say 30 min) have any consequences on the ophir head?

I doubt it, unless the 9V batteries are of different brands and drain differently giving different voltages which isn't good for the Ophir. It's best to keep them within .2V of each other.

@SBA
Add the switch in between the positive and negative connections of the Ophir head. It's okay to leave the ground connected.

ryansoh3 · May 16, 2013

Just wondering, what happens if there is a voltage difference?
Will it permanently damage the LPM?

Nice build BTW!

ARG · May 16, 2013

ryansoh3 said:
Just wondering, what happens if there is a voltage difference?
Will it permanently damage the LPM?

IIRC some of the kenometers had unstable power supplies with large ripples and that damaged permanently damaged some of the heads. This isn't a problem with batteries since they provide a very clean supply of voltage.

I doubt voltage differences on the rails will damage the LPM, but they may cause inaccurate readings. Keeping the rails within 200mV of each other will be sufficient for an accurate reading. Beyond that I have not tested.

norbyx · May 16, 2013

scumbagatheist said:
Jesus, that has to be a "buyer's remorse" world record! Have you even had that thing for 30 days? Maybe Jerry has a buy-back program...Dog knows he'll be chiming in shortly with another plug for his products!

Not at all, I like the LaserbeeII quite a bit, but there are some things that make me want a ophir.

1. I have a 3.5W laser incomming and the laserbeeII won't go over 3.2W

2. I don't need a LPM since I have a DMM with logging software and internal memory, so to make some graphs I don't even need a computer close by. Now to download the info I just hook the DMM USB port to the computer and I am set to go, make graphs ecc...ecc...

3. The ophir is has a faster response than the LaserbeeII.

4. The sale price of the used LBII would be enough to pay of just for the head, but since that is all I need than the deal makes sense.

I might just keep the laserbeeII as a backup, I really like this LPM but if you consider the 4 points above than it just makes sense to get an ophir

ryansoh3 · May 16, 2013

ARGLaser said:
IIRC some of the kenometers had unstable power supplies with large ripples and that damaged permanently damaged some of the heads. This isn't a problem with batteries since they provide a very clean supply of voltage.

I doubt voltage differences on the rails will damage the LPM, but they may cause inaccurate readings. Keeping the rails within 200mV of each other will be sufficient for an accurate reading. Beyond that I have not tested.

Thanks. It's really interesting how Ophirs need a set of 9V cells to operate.

ARG · May 16, 2013

ryansoh3 said:
Thanks. It's really interesting how Ophirs need a set of 9V cells to operate.

Yeah, having a rail splitter inside the head would have probably created too much noise for these heads.

scumbagatheist · May 16, 2013

While we are on the topic, gentlemen, should I run the sensor lead + to the DMM's 10A max port, or will the 400mA port work? This is assuming I am measuring lasers above 1W.

Thanks all for the help and cheering. I have the switch in. Pics to come.

My Budget Ophir Power Supply

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