Advice/suggestions on partial DIY project.

A few days ago I was doing my standard look through ebay for some decent deals on 405nm lasers.  Basically, it had to be decently priced, and have a driver built on.  Well, I found this and went and purchased it. (anybody have any experience with this particular laser?).  It takes 7.2 to 9 volts, and he claims its really 150mW.   All I needed to do was find a host for it.

Here is a pic of the laser taken from the eBay page.


Anywho, I went over to dealextreme and got a few hosts, just something I could work with for now that should work.   Only problem is since the laser takes 9volts I had to get some flashlights that would be able to hold batteries that could pump up the juice to get me enough voltage. I got a few CR123 flashlights and some rechargeable CR123 batteries that are rated at 3.6 or 3.7 volts (their peak is 4.2, which is still within tolerance x2).  

I've been reading and looking at some posts here   And I really like the smaller builds some of you guys have built, they are really neat.  So I am just curious, to get me 7.2 to 9volts and be in a small package, what could I do?  I have some 10440's that are the AAA size and rated 3.7volts each, but I want to go smaller than that if I can.  So what host + batteries could I use to get a pretty small package?

Also, I should probably heatsink this thing right?

They have LM317 regs, if they have you can get away with 2 X 10440's as long as you charge them up frequently (they will put out around 8v fully charged).

There are a number of 2 X AAA hosts on here I can only say have a look at the stickies in the tutorial and help forum if you want to go smaller.

Regards rog8811

You've been a member here for a year.  You've got 89 posts.

AND YOU PAID[highlight] $90 [/highlight]FOR A PHR IN A MODULE WITH A DRIVER ATTACHED !!!!!!!!!

<shakes head and walks away>

[highlight]**EDIT**[/highlight] Almost $100 with shipping?

daguin said:

You've been a member here for a year.  You've got 89 posts.

AND YOU PAID[highlight] $90 [/highlight]FOR A PHR IN A MODULE WITH A DRIVER ATTACHED !!!!!!!!!

<shakes head and walks away>

[highlight]**EDIT**[/highlight]  Almost $100 with shipping?

Click to expand...

:-[ yeah, I just stumbled back upon this forum today and saw the deals that you have in the marketplace (just 4 days after I purchased the one on ebay :'(). Oh well, whats done is done I suppose. I know where to go next time though. And what is a PHR? Type of diode? Is it bad?

I guess I could make myself feel better by hoping its actually going to output 150mW. Coherent lasercheck will determine that one.

at 150mW it won't last long at all, anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours.

PHR is the diode out of a HDDVD reader from an xbox 360 add-on.

you can get them got about $12. $35 in a module and driver attached.

personally I would run it at about 130mA for about 100mW if you want it to last a while. I run them at 100mA for about 80mW.

leukoplast said:

:-[  yeah, I just stumbled back upon this forum today and saw the deals that you have in the marketplace (just 4 days after I purchased the one on ebay :'().   Oh well, whats done is done I suppose.  I know where to go next time though.   And what is a PHR? Type of diode?  Is it bad?
I guess I could make myself feel better by hoping its actually going to output 150mW.  Coherent lasercheck will determine that one.

Click to expand...

Sorry.  You being gone for awhile would explain it.  Eight months ago we were excited about only paying $50 for an XBOX 360 HD DVD add on player, just to get the chance to get a PHR sled.  Now we rarely pay more than about $12 for the sled alone.  "PHR" refers to the diode harvested from the PHR-803T sled.  There is very little doubt that the PHR is the diode in the deal you bought from eBay.  As you have found, you can get them here for far less.  Oh well -- Sorry for my incredulity, but it just seemed wrong (as usual for eBay).  I hope your diode last a good long time.  Some PHR's will take even more current than this, but most won't.

Peace,
dave

Guess its time for meet the seller

Your module that you will recieve has a 6month warranty on it, and outputs the specified mW.
These modules are the top picks out of a large lot of them.

I have a pointer pushing 185mW for 4 months now with 15mins of use per day. I also have ones pushing more than 150mW and havent had any die. You may find the price high but the product is firmly stood behind. Any issues are taken care of promptly, and have only recieved positive emails from buyers on everything we've sold in the year and a half on fleabay.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me here, or you can contact through ebay.


Joe.

maxkillz said:

at 150mW it won't last long at all, anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours.

PHR is the diode out of a HDDVD reader from an xbox 360 add-on.

you can get them got about $12. $35 in a module and driver attached.

personally I would run it at about 130mA for about 100mW if you want it to last a while. I run them at 100mA for about 80mW.

Click to expand...

If your only getting 100mW from 130mA you must be consistently unlucky. Out of the 150 sleds I mounted this weekend, ive tested 10, and out of those ten 3 of them are pushing 142mW @ 140mA and others doig about 130mW +/- 5mW

Those I sell in labby's at just that 130mW. I have 1 out of ten putting out more than 150mW at the same 140mA. If any of the diodes cant handle the 140mA they get tossed, or put into 100mW pointers if the 140mA doesnt kill them first :

daguin said:

[quote author=leukoplast link=1232916795/0#3 date=1232924520]
:-[  yeah, I just stumbled back upon this forum today and saw the deals that you have in the marketplace (just 4 days after I purchased the one on ebay :'().   Oh well, whats done is done I suppose.  I know where to go next time though.   And what is a PHR? Type of diode?  Is it bad?
I guess I could make myself feel better by hoping its actually going to output 150mW.  Coherent lasercheck will determine that one.

Click to expand...

Sorry.  You being gone for awhile would explain it.  Eight months ago we were excited about only paying $50 for an XBOX 360 HD DVD add on player, just to get the chance to get a PHR sled.  Now we rarely pay more than about $12 for the sled alone.  "PHR" refers to the diode harvested from the PHR-803T sled.  There is very little doubt that the PHR is the diode in the deal you bought from eBay.  As you have found, you can get them here for far less.  Oh well -- Sorry for my incredulity, but it just seemed wrong (as usual for eBay).  I hope your diode last a good long time.  Some PHR's will take even more current than this, but most won't.

Peace,
dave[/quote]

Oh no worries, it was my fault for not looking around more.   Last time I was here, people weren't selling these kinds of things, let alone for so cheap!    Back then it was incredibly rare for somebody to have a 100mW one, most of the experienced builders were buying 1x or 2x BD burners and were wielding 60mW ones.  So It didn't even pass my mind to check here.   I hadn't realized they were so abundant now.

I just sent the seller a question...although it appears he has just posted right above me!

rog8811 said:

They have LM317 regs, if they have you can get away with 2 X 10440's as long as you charge them up frequently (they will put out around 8v fully charged).

There are a number of 2 X AAA hosts on here I can only say have a look at the stickies in the tutorial and help forum if you want to go smaller.

Regards rog8811

Click to expand...

u can put anything from 7.2 volts to 35 volts on those no problem check out the lm317 specs when in current limit mode

u can put anything from 7.2 volts to 35 volts on those no problem check out the lm317 specs when in current limit mode

Click to expand...

Correct, you can feed 30 plus volts into it but....

.......OP wants to make a small laser

So I am just curious, to get me 7.2 to 9volts and be in a small package, what could I do? I have some 10440's that are the AAA size and rated 3.7volts each, but I want to go smaller than that if I can. So what host + batteries could I use to get a pretty small package?

Click to expand...

@Leukoplast... Your problem here is that the driver you have, although a great driver, is power hungry with a 3v overhead which, in effect, means one battery just for the regulator.
Small is easier with the lava-drive which can run from 1 battery.

Regards rog8811

For those of you still insisting on using linear regulators, why not replace the old-fashioned LM317 with this low-dropout regulator and save on batteries?

http://www.national.com/ds/LM/LM2941.pdf

Check out this thread, I think this host might work because there's allot of room for the driver.  You might need to cut some of the metal heatsync off of the LM137 regulator though, but this host has lots of driver space.  Jayrob makes great heatsync for the aixiz module.  And it uses 3 AAA which is perfect for the 10440's. http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1224130203/0

But I would NOT expect more then 100mW with that diode, if you want it to be reliable.  If you want more power, then build yourself a 6x.  Check out the GB board, those diodes rock!  Plus in the BST section there're allot of cool stuff!