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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Spyder S3 Arctic - Broken wiring :(

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So I was trying to do..

YouTube - How to fix the "rectangle beam" on your Wicked Lasers Arctic Spyder III

at 0:28'ish. And this is what I ended up with:

(overview)
IMG_2149.JPG



I was supposed to unscrew this piece? After all, this was the only place where I could find thermal paste and it was mentioned in the YouTube video.
IMG_2151.JPG


IMG_2152.JPG


IMG_2155.JPG


It's times like this when I desire the world to just end. All my life I just seem to literally break every flippin' thing I touch. EVERYTHING. Almost as if I'm not meant to enjoy anything/life/etc. :yabbem:
 
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Edit: Thank you.

You should contact someone about resoldering it, maybe Daguin, if he's not too busy.
 
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It's times like this when I desire suicide. All my life I just seem to literally break every flippin' thing I touch. EVERYTHING. Almost as if I'm not meant to enjoy anything/life/etc. :yabbem:

You are meant to enjoy things, you're not meant to tinker. You'll have better luck leaving well enough alone. Some things work that way for me too. I learned to not do them anymore, and focus on the stuff I excel in.
 
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You are meant to enjoy things, you're not meant to tinker. You'll have better luck leaving well enough alone. Some things work that way for me too. I learned to not do them anymore, and focus on the stuff I excel in.
Dude, I'm like cursed or something. I'm the kid that puts his hand on the stove, cries like a whiny girl, moves on and literally forgets that it ever happened (event deleted from system event logs), and does it again, and keeps doing it again until psychological and emotional scarring occurs to the point where ... I 'unno. Some things I have managed to get over (or not really?), but other things I still do since forever.

(EDIT: It's almost unbelievable. It's like a "learned helplessness" or "psychological helplessness" -- natural curiosity takes the lead without me being aware of it, and before you know it, I've got one huge often-unrepairable mess. Recently I disassembled my laptop and reassembled it for the 2nd or 3rd time; I mean, I have been with computers since age 5 taking them apart and having one extremely and unrealistically emotional trauma after the next when things I couldn't recover from or fix or undo happened at my own hands. My laptop's LCD didn't want to turn on this time after reassembling, and I thought I broke my laptop. Like always, I swore that if I ever came out of this problem I would never ever ever ever disassemble a laptop or "sensitive" thing again -- except the problem is that this is never true and I know it and there's absolutely nothing I can do about it to prevent it in the future.)

I think I'm screwed up for good. I spent $350 for only a few minutes of ooh'ing and ahh'ing at a 5mm blue laser being pointed straight up at the sky for half the time. My $130 Fluke multimeter no longer indicates that there is a complete loop through positive and negative pins on the back of the laser housing.

http://i.ehow.com/images/a04/oo/q6/make-burning-laser-pen-1.4-800X800.jpg

I was successful the first time, but the problem was getting the thing back into the tube (the screwing part) without having the solder break off or either wire making direct contact with each other.
 
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If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

It looks like it can be repaired, though. Now that it is broke.

BTW, you can't possibly "fix the rectangle beam" without additional optics.
The best you can get is a smaller rectangle or "bar."
The rectangular or bar-line output profile is due to the emitter's construction.
 
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BTW, you can't possibly "fix the rectangle beam" without additional optics.
The problem isn't this. The cause of the problem is that I unscrewed the entire laser housing instead of the SMALL CYLINDER in the very middle. The image at 0:28 looks misleading because it points an arrow to the large black ring (which is the housing to the entire laser).

If you unscrew it, which is what I did, it twists the wires and eventually, as you get towards the final unscrewing, both solder points (positive and neg) break.

In the YouTube video, look closely at the very center part. You see those two little groves in that center small cylinder? I think I was supposed to put a flathead there and unscrew that (it looks like it's meant to be unscrewed there).

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Of course! If only natural curiosity didn't exist! *sigh*

You should contact someone about resoldering it, maybe Daguin, if he's not too busy.
Unfortunately I'm not rich in any way shape or form and it cost me a lot to buy this laser. I shouldn't have bought it, but I did, and that was because someone at HardForum already had the laser (they bought two and received two and wanted to sell one of them). What will it be: $320 with a month+ backorder versus $350 and at your doorstep in 3 days, guaranteed (since it already made it into the country)?

I can't afford to pay someone to fix this laser -- I mean, maybe for some of you enthusiasts it would be worth it, but at this point I think I have already spent enough as it is. Spending more is like.. my Creative Zen Vision:M (30GB-60GB MP3 player). I spent about $500 on a <$200 Creative Zen Vision:M because I kept needing to replace parts (I bought used ones at eBay, etc), and even at one point stripped a wire out of the circuit board for which I had to pay my cousin to fix (who is very experienced and good at soldering, but is unfortunately on the other side of the planet right now).

I just have one bad luck curse.
 
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Hey! Toast! Alright now I am a little confused at what happened. Don't whine or complain. Shit happens, like when I was hacking my PSP and bricked it. I looked around and found something called Pandoras Battery and I fixed it.

Now, did you pill a pin out of the diode what exactly got taken apart from what?

Also, don't EVER talk about suicide. Even if you are kidding. People can report you, track you down and pull you in. Seriously don't joke about it.

Edit: Oh It is not bad luck, there is no such thing. It's called impatience and carelessness. Read and make damn sure you know what you are doing before you do it. Even if you gotta make yourself look like a complete fool, asking questions simply to confirm what you think you know. Trust me, the first build I did was a 445nm Diode at 1A. And I did it, because I was sure of what I was doing.
 
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Well of the three private messages I got, one said...
it looks like you fried the diode, and maybe the driver too.

I have my fluke set to the "sound" mode (where it makes a beep if a circuit or loop can be made between the positive and negative probes of the multimeter). Initially, it would make beeps when I touched the positive and negative pins of the back of the laser. But now it doesn't. Also, on the back of the laser, as a result of the original breaking of contact due to unscrewing the housing, the positive pin is decently long but the negative pin is short; the positive pin seems now that it can be rotated in its place (but not pulled out or pushed in).

According to a private message I received elsewhere...
Just got home from our late night fiber move and had one last thought for the night. Maybe the Fluke isn't showing a complete circuit due to that smart switch. Have you thought about putting alligator clips on the leads to it and bypassing it?
But I don't think that is it.
 
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Don't you love T_J's nonsense posts? That's how his post count got so high.

Ok, dude you need to just start making sense so we can understand what the hell you are talking about.

This should be in the 445nm section or the help section as well.

Do you have the pieces or did you send them to Joe Blow on the forums? Try disconnecting your broken wires are letting us see what the hell you are looking at. All the pictures show are two wire filled sections. Take the broken stuff off so we can see the real problem.

Its like if a doctor got a patient that said he didn't feel well, and then when the doctor tried to look, he had a 20kg tumor. Get rid of the wires and lets see what the real problem is rather than whining.

Also, when you are typing, please try to use the best language you can. Broken English and poor explanation make it hard to understand what you are saying and it just looks like a wall of text. Try to stay away from pronouns. Don't use "it" and "thing" because we don't know what 'it" and "thing" are.

The pictures. I am trying to see what is the problem with it but I can even see the pins. There is just black stuff on it. Are those wires? I doubt you fried anything because it worked when you yanked it apart. Also, the picture down the host, we can't see anything but paste and some wires.

Final thoughts: You should have done more reading before you bought your Arctic. Everyone knows that there is a million and one problems with it. You could have had me or someone else build you one for under $210. With a battery and charger.

Jayrob SS18650 w/Copper Heatsink ~80
Module ~5$
445 Glass lens ~15$
Flexdrive ~28$
XJ-A140 Diode ~40$
WF-139 ~15$
AW Protected 2900mAh ~20$

That would have been ~1.2W Smaller better quality WAY better battery faster cheaper.
Your Arctic probably put out somewhere around 900mW
That was my first build except with a BoostDrive. I love it.

Show us a better picture and people will probably try to help you. Take the broken stuff off and show us what you have.

Cheers
 
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Don't you love T_J's nonsense posts? That's how his post count got so high.

Dude I could care less about post count. They mean nothing. I have a high post count because I talk to my friends here daily. Is that OK with you? Oh yeah, you only have one friend. Maybe get some more and you can have a high post count too.

I was making a joke, duh. You're the only useless one here man. If you left right this minute people would not even noticed you left. What are you mister lasers helper now? You couldn't even build a dummy load. So why dont you STFU, and let the pros help. Effen n00b.
 
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Don't you love T_J's nonsense posts? That's how his post count got so high.

Ok, dude you need to just start making sense so we can understand what the hell you are talking about.

This should be in the 445nm section or the help section as well.

Do you have the pieces or did you send them to Joe Blow on the forums? Try disconnecting your broken wires are letting us see what the hell you are looking at. All the pictures show are two wire filled sections. Take the broken stuff off so we can see the real problem.

Its like if a doctor got a patient that said he didn't feel well, and then when the doctor tried to look, he had a 20kg tumor. Get rid of the wires and lets see what the real problem is rather than whining.

Also, when you are typing, please try to use the best language you can. Broken English and poor explanation make it hard to understand what you are saying and it just looks like a wall of text. Try to stay away from pronouns. Don't use "it" and "thing" because we don't know what 'it" and "thing" are.

The pictures. I am trying to see what is the problem with it but I can even see the pins. There is just black stuff on it. Are those wires? I doubt you fried anything because it worked when you yanked it apart. Also, the picture down the host, we can't see anything but paste and some wires.

Final thoughts: You should have done more reading before you bought your Arctic. Everyone knows that there is a million and one problems with it. You could have had me or someone else build you one for under $210. With a battery and charger.

Jayrob SS18650 w/Copper Heatsink ~80
Module ~5$
445 Glass lens ~15$
Flexdrive ~28$
XJ-A140 Diode ~40$
WF-139 ~15$
AW Protected 2900mAh ~20$

That would have been ~1.2W Smaller better quality WAY better battery faster cheaper.
Your Arctic probably put out somewhere around 900mW
That was my first build except with a BoostDrive. I love it.

Show us a better picture and people will probably try to help you. Take the broken stuff off and show us what you have.

Cheers
Well, I didn't know these forums "existed" (I did know, but it never crossed my mind to search for alternatives or anything). But since now I'm a member here and have an entry for these forums in KeePass, this place will be interesting.

Alright, so let me establish some facts:

1) Current does run through the positive and negative wires from the device, so the problem isn't internal

2) If I had success in soldering (which I did once thus far, and was the initial soldering job), the challenge would be to screw the housing back into the tube without breaking the soldering (which is how it broke in the first place when I unscrewed it for the first time in my life). The wires are stiff, hard to shove into the tube under the circuit board, ...

3) Unfortunately, as a result of resoldering and so forth after the initial try, the positive and negative pins on the laser itself no longer form a circuit (according to my Fluke, because it doesn't beep any more when I touch positive-to-positive and negative-to-negative, or vice versa)

Providing pics soon.
 
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WEll use some flexible wire from FlayminPyro counter twist the wires and then screw in. If it is a diode problem you can use a new diode for a fix so you at least have something.

To TJ, Im glad you are such a mature community member.
 
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Sound like your driver is ok. How many mA is it registering?

PM Daguin. He can provide you a new diode and put it back together again. It should cost you around $100 give or take, dont quote me. Which is a lot cheaper than building a whole new laser. If you do it yourself, you run the risk of frying the diode again, and maybe even the driver.
 
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Sound like your driver is ok. How many mA is it registering?

PM Daguin. He can provide you a new diode and put it back together again. It should cost you around $100 give or take, dont quote me. Which is a lot cheaper than building a whole new laser. If you do it yourself, you run the risk of frying the diode again, and maybe even the driver.
I don't know if you can take apart the housing.. it appears to be a single piece with solid walls as thick as ~8mm, and the diode/circuit board thing inside it. Here are some high quality pictures in chronological order of time (1024x768 thumbnails, click to see 2048x1536 full size):

Old picture from last night; since then the shrinktube was removed, and the wire cut and stripped fresh.


Old picture; same as previous.


Old picture; I think this was the second solder attempt, and thought "oh man, this is going to work now and I'll be able to show people pictures of repair procedure." Turns out I was wrong.


Old picture.


Old picture.


I burned myself with the suction tool (which didn't help me as much as I was hoping due to the much larger, less pin-pointed, open-holed tip). Device heated up surroundings a lot, hence *some* (but not majority) of the surface of the red plastic triangle thing melted.


Old.


New as of writing this reply (in response to request for more/better pictures).


Slightly different angle.


Ohm mode - no contact.


Ohm mode - contact.


Ohm mode - no contact from circuit of diode/laser thing. :(


Circuit beep mode - no contact.


Circuit beep mode - contact (plus solid beep).


Circuit beep mode - no loop/connection in laser thing. :(


VDC of positive and negative wires from tube with battery; powered, unlocked, and set to maximum power and solid beam. We know this at least works.


Better picture of inside. This is the best I can do with the lowend consumer camera I have. :(


Another one of those pictures you have already seen.


Again. Slightly different angle.


Also, what exactly is the "driver"? :?
 
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It is the current regulating chip in the host that connects to the diode.

It also looks like you hooked the diode up backwards which mean your probably roasted it.
 




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