Max output for a 635 nm laser, while affordable?

Maybe it shorted with the heatsink, I don't know.

I would suggest grabbing this driver, unsoldering the two resistors on the back and soldering in a nice 4.7 ohm 2512 2W resistor in one of the positions (leaving the other one just empty).

Tested working at 250ma, 320ma, and 350ma.

(w/ coated aixiz acryllic)
250mA - 120mW
320mA - 150mW
350mA - 158mW

Sort of terrifying. I think I'm going to use 3.68 Ohms, for 340mA output. Should get me around 155mW.

Interesting. Almost forgot that the mW rating on datasheet is without lens... I think the Qumefox acrylic is the best you can get for 635, I'm pretty sure 650-G-1 is not coated for red that short. How bright it is? Does the color differ much from regular red? Photos? *cough* Beamshots?

Done, build complete. Photos later. Celebration now

Basic details:

- HL63133DG (63133 henceforth)
- 1085 DIY Driver
- Red Guidesman host with momentary cliky mod
- 340 mA Current Output
- LPM of 179mW Optical Output using RED coated acrylic lens (from Qumefox)

Objective assessment:

- Compared to 275mW LOC builds, this 63133 is clearly brighter.

- In fact, it's not a difference that you have to struggle to see. I don't know that I could say "x times brighter" because that's a difficult thing to measure. But I'll just say that it is CLEARLY more visibly bright. You could mix the two lasers up a hundred times, and a layman off the street would always identify the 63133 as noticeably brighter than the brightest LOC (815, 822 or 826) build I've seen.

- However, it does NOT push red pointers into the realm of being highly "visible" beams like 445, 532. In scenarios where you can see the beam of a 532/445, you still may not see the 63133 unless you're on-axis.

- The color is not substantially different than a LOC. You can tell them apart, but this is NOT orange. This is absolutely RED.

Final note before giving you guys photos later -

- I'm pretty sure this thing could be pushed a bit further. It wouldn't surprise me if this diode could handle closer to 400mA, and truly top 200mW output.

Side note - can anyone remind me why we haven't jumped on this 250mW 637nm for $125 ?
Opnext HL6388MG-A, -

I demand beamshots.:knight:
How warm does it get?

I am jealous right now.

If I where you, I'd rather run it around the 320mA mark for a while until you get comfortable...

As demanded. Beamshots with and without lights on in the room.

You've got a 275mW typical 660nm Red (LPC-815 I believe) in back, and the new 179mW 637nm HL63133DG in the front.

NICE! Any measurements on the divergence/diameter yet?

Well - we have the datasheet divergence measurements, so I didn't tackle measuring that manually. Having said that, I'm not against doing so next week (I'm moving Tuesday, and this was really a rushed job just to get this put together - I'll probably rebuild it in a different host later).

Although really, the beam behaves exactly like a LOC. There's really no perceivable difference. It's single mode - so it should be fairly good. It's at least on par with LOCs.

As to heat, there really isn't any noticeable heat. This was a momentary clicky build though, so it's not like I've left it running for 5 minutes. Having said that, I just kept it running for 2 minutes, and my hand couldn't feel any heat through the host. When I was initially testing in just the aixiz module, I felt warmth when experimenting with it at 350mA. However, it definitely wouldn't be what I would call "heat". Warmth really is the bext explanation, and that's after having been LPMing it first at 250, then 320, then 350 - so it had been running for ~5 minutes off and (mostly) on.

That doesn't necessarily mean we can push them higher, but it wouldn't shock me if we could.

Nice man. Glad everything went well. Looks Sick in the red GM. :gj:

Kind of makes the LOC look boring, lol

Having climbed my Everest, I'm addicted, and craving a new diode wavelength. Until we see some greens showing up, I'm left wondering where to go next.

There are some multi-mode 250 to 400mW 9mm red/oranges in 630nm, that are designed for 15 degrees C. I could pull that off in Canada for a momentary clicky.

Answer me this, knowing what you do now, and having seen 650 and own one already. Are you $200 impressed with this?

Should I still pursue this? I'm loving the pics! And to be honest, I'm really glad you did this first, so I didn't have to!

Get the 750mW 635nm CNI LD :wave: