State of the Art 2009: Available powers?

After a long absence, I'm looking to grab a few new diodes. The last time I was on here the Senkat reds were among the best (200+mW) and the PHR-8X (?) BluRays were putting out around 35mw if I recall correctly.

I still have 3 Senkats running nicely and one BluRay, and I'm ready for more, but I'd like to know what the available powers are now for BluRay and Red. I see references to GGW and LPC (and still the PHRs - are they the same ones I have now?). I'm basically looking for something that I can harvest myself, as I'm trying to get maximum mW for my dollar, so sleds, etc., in the $50.00 and under range are probably my target interest.

Can anyone supplement my searchings here with a few quick tips on the items I might have the greatest interest in? I have also emailed scopeguy on his GB - are there other GBs I might be interested in?

Thanks - and hello to those of you who remember me (and those who don't!)

Dave Xanatos

PS., Are yellow diode lasers coming along to an affordable pirce yet?

BR's are available up to around 0.5W now. A 200mw red is around $35-$45. 5mw 593.5nm can be had for $600, via the CNI GB: http://laserpointerforums.com/f55/cni-gb-5th-time-42002.html

My bad. Just noticed you already found the GB. Not too sure about diodes...

Just my limited knowledge on these things...

PHR-803T's are still around, and now dirt-cheap! They are capable of around 100mw give or take (depending on how hard you drive them, how long you want them to last, and how good that particular diode is, as they tend to vary), and I believe replaced the old PS3 diodes, which sounds more like the power level you were referring to.

As Blu-Ray technology progressed, higher-speed writers became available, and along with them sleds using more powerful diodes! :yh:

You have the 4x, which you can reliably drive up to 150mw I believe, and which one member is selling now for $29? (Those may be the best 405's for your specified price range). Then came the 6x, which can do more (and some sleazy guys trying to pass-off 4x sleds as 6x ones!).

Currently you have the 8x. There have been some problems with diodes harvested from 8x sleds being defective (ouch!), but pulling the diode directly out of an actual drive seems to work well. Daguin has a laser he built from I believe a "freak" 8x diode which can actually put out over 500mw!

There are also some higher-speed Blu-Ray drives now available, but I don't know if anyone has built a laser from one yet?

On the red front, I believe the standard one is the long-open can which comes from the LPC-815 sled, and which is also dirt-cheap! It is from a high-speed 20x(?) DVD burner. They can do 300mw+.

You also now have AR-coated glass lenses, first for the reds, and now also for the 405nm's, which can significantly increase your power, as compared to the standard Aixiz lens!

Yellow & blue DPSS lasers still insanely expensive (although you can make a "fake" yellow by combining colors).

Green DPSS modules are now getting dirt-cheap, and inexpensive higher-power modules (100mw-200mw) are starting to become readily available. The latest ones include brand-new modules from DX, which I am involved with other members in testing now.

And oh, ya - they have now invented a true "green" laser diode!

That should give you at least a thumbnail sketch of what's been happening - other more knowledgeable members I am sure can fill you in with greater detail.

NOTE - by "dirt cheap", I mean the following:

For PHR sleds - around $10-$12, including shipping!
For LPC sleds - about the same, perhaps a dollar or two more.
For low-power green DPSS modules - < $10
For high-power green DPSS modules - < $50

Couldn't have explained it better myself, just note that acutally this thing of the 0.5w blurays is not that easy, I mean it has only been tested counted times for very short periods, people use to drive them at 400mW~

This is good stuff guys, thanks. Just the stuff I was looking for. From what I've read here, scopeguy20 seems like the go-to guy for all things Blu-Ray with the GGW sleds (are GGWs the same as 6x?)

I'm pretty sure I'm ready to order, just need to find out about teh new drivers out there - I've been using the rock-solid Daedal driver circuit from a few years ago, but it does have a high drop-out. Recommendations?

Thanks again all,

Dave X

There are quite a few places to buy sleds from, but Scopeguy is definitely a good one.

The DDL is still a great driver, but most people these days just buy a flexdrive for handheld builds because it is a boost driver so you can use as low as 2.5v to power up pretty much any laser diode we commonly use. They cost around $25 and they are in the BST section.

Greendream said:

A 200mw red is around $35-$45...

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lpc diodes can be pushed to ~250-300mw and they only cost ~10$.

Greendream said:

BR's are available up to around 0.5W now. A 200mw red is around $35-$45. 5mw 593.5nm can be had for $600, via the CNI GB: http://laserpointerforums.com/f55/cni-gb-5th-time-42002.html

Click to expand...

True the PGL III "flashlight style yellow laser rated 5 mW is about $600, but it will peak near twice that in mW's and the pen type yellow is under $350 shipped, also I saw the statement above that yellow and blue lasers are insanely expensive, but I must sat those who got the $315 CNI 473 nm blue "pen' lasers rated at 5 mW usually feal it's a great deal and often will be 10 even 15+ mW in output! So, many happy blue and yellow laser owners from the Group Buys! -Glenn

Sorry Glenn. I had meant to note that they were usually way overspec according to reviews when I started out writing that reply, but managed to completely forget by half way through obviously lol.

Any word from CNI regarding our cherries?

Thanks for the compliment, and the +Rep, Hallucynogenyc! :thanks:

I take it from your new icon, that you prefer Opera over Firefox?

I may try that out myself, when I get the chance! :yh:

I'm pretty sure I'm ready to order, just need to find out about teh new drivers out there - I've been using the rock-solid Daedal driver circuit from a few years ago, but it does have a high drop-out. Recommendations?

Click to expand...

Besides the Daedal (DDL) DIY design, there are two main drivers currently being used...

The rkcstr driver is a DDL-type linear driver, with a bit more protection. It is SMD-based, so it can fit into tight hosts. It also uses the more advanced LM1117T, which has a lower drop-out voltage than the LM317T used in the DDL design that you are familiar with.

It is also fairly inexpensive, < $12 I believe, with the LPF member discount.

The other main choice is the Dr. Lava Micro Flex Drive. It is a buck/boost, advanced switching regulator design. It is more efficient than a linear design. However, it has a maximum input voltage of only 5.5V (but you can use diodes to "rectify" this problem )

Due to it's higher complexity, it is also about twice as expensive as the rkcstr, ~$23 I believe. It's main benefit is allowing you to use lower-voltage batteries/host to drive higher-voltage diodes (for example, you could use it to power a PHR off a 3.6V battery).

There are other ppl working on advanced driver designs, but those are the two main contenders at present.

I havent seen a mention in this thread about lens technology either. look up jayrob or larrydfw. they both sell special lens' for blu ray that kick up the useable power by about 25%.

also scopeguy is great to do business with.