my first success, from lg blu ray bd530

Ok, so I took the drive portion of my bd530 apart for the diode and I am getting light from the normal looking diode from the device, (there was another diode of sorts that was square with 5 pins in a row??) I am hooking it up to a breadboard with a button and 7805 using a 9v battery from a drill.. :undecided: I have it housed in the lens housing for one of those cheap dollar store pointers for the moment just for the use of the lens and all but I'm curious how I can get it to possibly burn things, pop balloons that sort of stuff... it is getting 4.9 volts currently. not sure on amperage, but it doesn't get warm in short usage (10-20 seconds tops)

also, the cool thing about it is the player still operates as a smart device which is awesome.. (youtube and such) :beer:

Wait....directly from 7805 to diode ?

yes, pretty much... at least from the bread board, output to the same row that the diode + is on.. so, power to button switch, to in on 7805 gnd to gnd and out put to the board with a ground connected to the board connecting to the - of diode... it seems to work fine.. ?

Why would you do that... A laser diode is a DIODE! it needs current limiting! The diode is most likely dead. Take a photo of the beam.
The reader diodes work at very small currents <100mA.

Oh.. everything I had read seemed like that was the way to do it with a 7805.. I'm not really very studied on circuitry and all that yet... I'm starting to absorb it all though.. what is the correct way?...

the beam is really weak honestly.. I expected it to be quite a bit brighter..

I can only presume that is working for you cause of the foreword voltage drop. If the diode is below its operating voltage,it will draw very little current. So you have maybe found that point... Where did you read about that kind of driver ? Also,dont look at the beam,and dont point it on skin. Safety goggles are recommended.

right, yea.. I'm taking the precautions I can for my budget.. haha.. but the 7805 was the only thing I could find from scrounging my junk.. I've been trying (somewhat) to get a laser to work for a while now, I guess from the sounds of it I got lucky with this one.

You can make a driver with your 7805, use the circuit bellow:



For the resistor use: I=5/R

Since you're not using any good module with heatsink, I recommend about 50mA, just for your tests, what will need a 100R resistor.

Good luck! :beer: