About a month ago I started my venture to create my own laser pointer. After doing a bit of research and finding out exactly what was needed, I went fourth and purchased some diodes and a driver.
For the LD's i bought 4 of these from eBay looks like they are SLD1236VL
250mw 650nm Burning Red Laser Diode USA 3 Day Ship - eBay (item 270498428772 end time Dec-18-09 13:06:50 PST)
and
two of these blue rays
405nm 280mw burning blu-ray laser diode. USA 3 day ship - eBay (item 270494380406 end time Dec-11-09 17:50:28 PST)
for the driver I decided to go with the MicroFlexDrive V5 so I got two of them to start with.
For my host I decided to use a AA Mag light since I may offer a kit in the future and also because mag lights can be found everywhere.
Now instead of using the existing mag light head I designed a new head to fit on the Mag light and had my Machinist friend make it for me out of aluminum. the new head accepts the Aixiz LD housing and then mounts on the mag light using 3 set screws.
i also purchased a new tail cap switch from Night Eyes so that I could turn my pointer on and off as needed. (link below)
AA MINI MAGLITE PUSH BUTTON TAIL CAP ON OFF SWITCH NEW - eBay (item 390118647345 end time Dec-14-09 12:32:57 PST)
WOW, I assembled the pointer and started burning stuff and showing my friends, everything worked great.
But after a couple of days I burned out one red LD Then I decided to replace it with a blue ray to see what that would be like. WOW I like the blue ray. But it too burned out two days later.
So here is my dilemma Im burning out LD's and need to figure out why.
the current in on this drive was set to 322mA I used a dummy load and preset it myself using my fluke 88 multimeter. I don't think I'm over heating the diodes since the new head/heat sink is definitely large enough to dissipate the heat. I think it may be and electrostatic problem, because the Blue ray died right after I changed the batteries in the flashlight.
After looking at the diagrams of the MicroFlexDrive V5 here a second time
http://hacylon.case.edu/ebay/laser_diode/MicroFlexDrive_V5_manual.pdf
I think I may have figured the problem but I need some insight and guidance from this forum.
if you look at the PDF wiring diagrams for the MicroFlexDrive V5 drive
you will see 4 diagrams. one for case negative(top) the next two are for case positive isolated and just case positive, the last one is for case neutral blue ray. I followed the case negative digram since I was working with a red LD and then a Blue ray.
Now I know most of you have seen or have a AA Mag Light. when you remove the head you are left with a tiny krypton bulb, when you remove the bulb you have two tiny holes one is + and one -.
Coming out of my new head I have two wires that are connected to the MicroFlexDrive V5. one is positive and one is negative....when I assemble my pointer I simply tin the ends of the wires and insert them into the two holes of the mag light housing then i set the head in place with the set screws and wallah mag light laser pointer.
My question is do you think I am burning out diodes because the negative wire from the MicroFlexDrive V5 is connected to the housing should I leave this negative unconnected like it is shown in the MicroFlexDrive V5 PDF diagrams. the only other difference I can see between my design and the diagram is that the negative is being switched on/off instead of the positive like in the diagram, but i don't think this should be a problem.
if not can you give me some insight to help me trouble shoot this problem.
i don't want to burn up any more LD's :cryyy:
Thanks in advance for any help
Noros7
For the LD's i bought 4 of these from eBay looks like they are SLD1236VL
250mw 650nm Burning Red Laser Diode USA 3 Day Ship - eBay (item 270498428772 end time Dec-18-09 13:06:50 PST)
and
two of these blue rays
405nm 280mw burning blu-ray laser diode. USA 3 day ship - eBay (item 270494380406 end time Dec-11-09 17:50:28 PST)
for the driver I decided to go with the MicroFlexDrive V5 so I got two of them to start with.
For my host I decided to use a AA Mag light since I may offer a kit in the future and also because mag lights can be found everywhere.
Now instead of using the existing mag light head I designed a new head to fit on the Mag light and had my Machinist friend make it for me out of aluminum. the new head accepts the Aixiz LD housing and then mounts on the mag light using 3 set screws.
i also purchased a new tail cap switch from Night Eyes so that I could turn my pointer on and off as needed. (link below)
AA MINI MAGLITE PUSH BUTTON TAIL CAP ON OFF SWITCH NEW - eBay (item 390118647345 end time Dec-14-09 12:32:57 PST)
WOW, I assembled the pointer and started burning stuff and showing my friends, everything worked great.
But after a couple of days I burned out one red LD Then I decided to replace it with a blue ray to see what that would be like. WOW I like the blue ray. But it too burned out two days later.
So here is my dilemma Im burning out LD's and need to figure out why.
the current in on this drive was set to 322mA I used a dummy load and preset it myself using my fluke 88 multimeter. I don't think I'm over heating the diodes since the new head/heat sink is definitely large enough to dissipate the heat. I think it may be and electrostatic problem, because the Blue ray died right after I changed the batteries in the flashlight.
After looking at the diagrams of the MicroFlexDrive V5 here a second time
http://hacylon.case.edu/ebay/laser_diode/MicroFlexDrive_V5_manual.pdf
I think I may have figured the problem but I need some insight and guidance from this forum.
if you look at the PDF wiring diagrams for the MicroFlexDrive V5 drive
you will see 4 diagrams. one for case negative(top) the next two are for case positive isolated and just case positive, the last one is for case neutral blue ray. I followed the case negative digram since I was working with a red LD and then a Blue ray.
Now I know most of you have seen or have a AA Mag Light. when you remove the head you are left with a tiny krypton bulb, when you remove the bulb you have two tiny holes one is + and one -.
Coming out of my new head I have two wires that are connected to the MicroFlexDrive V5. one is positive and one is negative....when I assemble my pointer I simply tin the ends of the wires and insert them into the two holes of the mag light housing then i set the head in place with the set screws and wallah mag light laser pointer.
My question is do you think I am burning out diodes because the negative wire from the MicroFlexDrive V5 is connected to the housing should I leave this negative unconnected like it is shown in the MicroFlexDrive V5 PDF diagrams. the only other difference I can see between my design and the diagram is that the negative is being switched on/off instead of the positive like in the diagram, but i don't think this should be a problem.
if not can you give me some insight to help me trouble shoot this problem.
i don't want to burn up any more LD's :cryyy:
Thanks in advance for any help
Noros7
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