Group buy for 16X dvd burner diodes !

Yeah, and don't give it a confused stare for too long either, you don't want to hurt its feelings.

Don't boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew...

<silence>

oh whatever, I need some rest.

</silence>

00304 said:

how do u handle these i dont have a lot of money to keep ordering them so what should i be shore to do and not to do?

Click to expand...

I will supply a short how-to guide on how to wire these properly... It would take a little bit of experimenting with the electronics and a bit of soldering, and would be good practice Once done with the controller, the diode would be a much easier experiment to handle.

GL;
DDL

pseudonomen137 said:

Yeah, and don't give it a confused stare for too long either, you don't want to hurt its feelings.

Don't boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew...

<silence>

oh whatever, I need some rest.

Click to expand...

I like to stare at the diodes... Confused or not... I like to look inside their 'jacket' too... But I'm guess I'm perverted like that :-[

;D ;D
DDL

should i use rubber gloves lol also i was thinking of using liquid solder instead of regular solder because the heat. good or bad?

do i have to have it hooked up to a board or can i hook it up to the battery pack?

Prolly want to use a cap and resistor... AFAIK, if you are using 2 alkalines,(3v) then you want to use about a 2.7 ohm, .17 watt (1/6 watt) resistor. Just ask for one at radio shack or something. As for the capacitor, again, AFKAIK, prolly a 50 uF, 3v cap.

I actually came to this thread to verify those numbers, so await the response of those with experience beyond formulas, numbers, and estimations.

Hello Xenodius,
Remember there will be voltage spikes and surges. I recommend a 16 volt capacitor. They are easy to find and as far a uf it is not critical. But I think at least a 50uf would be fine.

I did a test using 2 alkaline batteries. Using a 1 ohm resistor I was driving the diode with around 200ma. I guess I was getting around 100mw output. This was using a diode for which I have no specs. Of course 2 lithium primary batteries would improve the output considerably. However 2 Nimh batteries will not be enough.

Using a 5 ohm resistor connected to 3 Nimh batteries, I was driving the diode with 175ma. It had no trouble lighting safety matches and burning tape. I am 100% certain the diodes we will be receiving from the GB will provide better results than the diodes I was using.

Ultimately, it would be great if someone would do a GB for driver boards. Roithner makes some that are reasonably priced:

http://www.roithner-laser.com/Drivers.htm

But I understand shipping is sort of expensive which is why a GB would be good.

whats wrong with the board the old diode was on?

Okay, to me, thats really, really confusing-- I thought the voltage rating on a cap was how much is could output, and uF was how much it could store-- so a 3v cap would put out a flat 3v. So... I suck at electronics, so how does a capacitor regulate spikes? Does it just "smooth" out the spike, as in it still puts out more voltage total, but over a few seconds instead of ms?

So then thats why driver boards are preferred over cap/resistor? Cause those just smooth out the current/power, instead of provide nearly perfectly consistent power?

Sorry, every sentence has a question mark... ;D

Honestly, electricity and 'common knowledge' of it has always been elusive to me. Then again, I am only 15, and Wikipedia is somewhat wordy and simultaneously vague... But thats no excuse

Thanks for the help guys ;D


Edit: What do you mean "the board the old diode was on?" They don't come with one...

Is it too late to buy diodes ? I'd like 2 of them, but right now i'm not home for another 2 weeks, i could pay them right now but just want to know if you could hold them for me and ship when I'm at home, thanks!

i have a module that has a board soldered to a diode i was going to unsolder the old diode and liquid solder the new one in. i am using 650nm 10mw 12mm X 30mm case.

Xenodius said:

Okay, to me, thats really, really confusing-- I thought the voltage rating on a cap was how much is could output, and uF was how much it could store-- so a 3v cap would put out a flat 3v. So... I suck at electronics, so how does a capacitor regulate spikes? Does it just "smooth" out the spike, as in it still puts out more voltage total, but over a few seconds instead of ms?

So then thats why driver boards are preferred over cap/resistor? Cause those just smooth out the current/power, instead of provide nearly perfectly consistent power?

Sorry, every sentence has a question mark... ;D

Honestly, electricity and 'common knowledge' of it has always been elusive to me. Then again, I am only 15, and Wikipedia is somewhat wordy and simultaneously vague... But thats no excuse

Thanks for the help guys ;D


Edit: What do you mean "the board the old diode was on?" They don't come with one...

Click to expand...

3 volts is cutting it close. And I am thinking as in what is the easiest to find..i.e. Radio Shack. A capacitor is not going to regulate voltage. It will absorb a surge when power is applied to the diode. The voltage rating of a capacitor is the maximum amount of voltage it can handle, not how much voltage it will put out.

As far as a driver board, aside from the fact that it provides constant current, I like the fact that it can also boost current and is adjustable. I think the roithner EU-38 laser diode driver board might be perfect for our application although I am not sure it maintains the current output as the voltage goes down. The Meredith does but it is $50.00. There is another option I have been thinking about:

http://www.dimensionengineering.com/AnyVoltMicro.htm

If anyone has an opinion on the Anyvoltmicro please post.

00304 said:

i have a module that has a board soldered to a diode i was going to unsolder the old diode and liquid solder the new one in. i am using 650nm 10mw 12mm X 30mm case.

Click to expand...

Nope, it won't work. The diodes we are buying require much more current to lase than that board can provide. And you don't need to use liquid solder.

Xenodius said:

Okay, to me, thats really, really confusing-- I thought the voltage rating on a cap was how much is could output, and uF was how much it could store-- so a 3v cap would put out a flat 3v. So... I suck at electronics, so how does a capacitor regulate spikes? Does it just "smooth" out the spike, as in it still puts out more voltage total, but over a few seconds instead of ms?

So then thats why driver boards are preferred over cap/resistor? Cause those just smooth out the current/power, instead of provide nearly perfectly consistent power?

Sorry, every sentence has a question mark... ;D

Honestly, electricity and 'common knowledge' of it has always been elusive to me. Then again, I am only 15, and Wikipedia is somewhat wordy and simultaneously vague... But thats no excuse

Thanks for the help guys ;D


Edit: What do you mean "the board the old diode was on?" They don't come with one...

Click to expand...

Xenodius, don't feel bad asking question. You only learn if you ask, and there is no such thing as a stupid question... well... I can think of a few, but that only tells you where I'm drifting here ;D

Anyway, capacitors are rated with 2 different measurements:
Max voltage the capacitor can handle.
Max capacitance it can hold.

The first is basically dependent on the thickness of the capacitor material and the insulation between the internal capacitance mediums. Think of a capacitor as this --> =

It has two sheets of conductive metal elevated from each other. To make this distance shorter and make it fit in a small package we need to use an insulator. The more the insulation, the more voltage the capacitor can withstand before it starts 'breaking down.' In the electronic sense, this means that there will be HUGE leaks between the plates of the capacitor. This is easily observed by watching a video of a power station shutting down by turning off the switch. With KILO VOLTS running through the lines, when you detach the station from the grid, you see a tesla-coil kind of arch forming... that is electricity breaking down the barrier/insulation which in this case is air!

The capacitance is a measure of the size of the capacitor (area). The bigger the capacitor the more charge it can hold and the more it can discharge at a later point in time.

Since capacitors are essentially just large flat 'wires' in which positive and negative pass through, without any spikes the capacitor would not charge, and you would simply get a short-circuit through the capacitor. The capacitor is only a wire when placed right in front of a diode! It is ONLY activated and starts holding charge when there is a spike, or variation in current at a reasonable enough rate. Put a capacitor across a DC voltage source (battery), and you get a short circuit. Put a capacitor across an AC voltage source and you get an open circuit! With AC voltage you get NOTHING! It's like you have disconnected the wire! This is extremely essential for laser diodes as when you first wire something to a battery you get a minute discharge that can go up to about 10 times as much as the rated voltage. If you use a 3V capacitor then you only hold the spike up to 3V and anything past that would pass through unhindered ad would zap and kill the laser diode. Using a 16V capacitor is ideal because the 10x mark puts the battery's spike up to 12-16 volts. Thus keeping the open-circuit condition there to save our beloved diode.

I personally use a 47uF 16V capacitor in front of the LD's. I also sometimes add others across there in parallel sometimes. For example adding a nice little 22uF 22V capacitor only helps flatten that curve even more. These are all usually available at your local RadioShack. I hope I didn't ramble off too much and bore you. But this stuff is really complicated and it took me a while to get a hang of how things operate.

As about the circuit. That is basically a bunch of micro-components arranged in a specific way to hold off spikes and control the current. Most things out there can be replicated at home on the large scale. The price would be about the same, but the size would be about 10X! Honestly, a GB for the EU-38 driver wouldn't be a bad idea, and given the price and ability of these things, they are very much worth it. I also recommend adding a Capacitor after the circuit on the back of the LD. That is mainly because these units TRY to regulate current and usually have some area for breakdown to happen and zap your LD dead!

GL to all;
DDL

Thanks Daedal, that makes WAY more sense!

I am sort of used to the N*zi Regime of RougeScience.org, they pretty much require you to have perfect grammar, and only ask one question per question you answer or finding that you contribute, but you get 3 "starter" questions... LOL!

And that driverboard sounds quite appealing.... I figured about 5 bucks for misc caps and resistors at radio shack, but that thing has a pot, right? Thats sweet! I can tune my laser down for amiable pointing, or up for burnination!

Thanks again!