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My reading suggests that laser diodes need to be run in series in order to achieve a balanced load across both LDs, so as not to overdrive one and underdrive the other - with catastrophic results. This may not be so much of an issue if the diodes are similar (same substrate and electrical characteristics).
However, the blue laser arrays seem to be operating with several strings in parallel, so I'm confused about what is going on here...
I am working on a project where I want to run 2 laser diodes (case isolated) simultaneously. If I can power them both with a single driver, that would be great. So, in order to do that, I need to know if I should be driving the diodes in series or parallel.
Additional context: I want to implement a high/low power setting.
The drivers I have on hand (Flex V5 and Groove V2) are set with tiny potentiometers. I don't want to adjust power settings externally using the pot (bad idea) so my alternative was to use 2 drivers - one set high and one set low - and wire these to a 3-position switch to select between high and low mode.
This is a clunky design, but easy and effective. So if I can power both diodes from a single driver, I only need 2 drivers (one for high power and one for low power). If both diodes need their own driver, I'd need to have 4 drivers which is far from ideal.
The Flex V5 is a buck/boost but only capable of boosting reliably to 5.5V. So, I would prefer parallel operation to reduce the forward voltage and still have respectable drive current (1.5 A max from the Flex, divided among 2 diodes that's a max of 750mA each).
If you have any better suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
What I'm trying to accomplish:
However, the blue laser arrays seem to be operating with several strings in parallel, so I'm confused about what is going on here...
I am working on a project where I want to run 2 laser diodes (case isolated) simultaneously. If I can power them both with a single driver, that would be great. So, in order to do that, I need to know if I should be driving the diodes in series or parallel.
Additional context: I want to implement a high/low power setting.
The drivers I have on hand (Flex V5 and Groove V2) are set with tiny potentiometers. I don't want to adjust power settings externally using the pot (bad idea) so my alternative was to use 2 drivers - one set high and one set low - and wire these to a 3-position switch to select between high and low mode.
This is a clunky design, but easy and effective. So if I can power both diodes from a single driver, I only need 2 drivers (one for high power and one for low power). If both diodes need their own driver, I'd need to have 4 drivers which is far from ideal.
The Flex V5 is a buck/boost but only capable of boosting reliably to 5.5V. So, I would prefer parallel operation to reduce the forward voltage and still have respectable drive current (1.5 A max from the Flex, divided among 2 diodes that's a max of 750mA each).
If you have any better suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
What I'm trying to accomplish:
- Run 2 diodes simultaneously (series or parallel?)
- High and low power modes (2 separate drivers?)
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