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I need a win - Help me to NOT kill this mystery 635nm diode ?

rhd

rhd

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I think I'm going to stop here.

I have some question as to whether it's really 50mW of optical output, or merely the heat generated by the diode itself (close proximity to thermopile, since the output isn't collimated)

Going to rig up a lens on some sticky tack in order to get some distance between LPM and diode.
 





rhd

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Nope - as hypothesized, those readings were all heat.

With the diode and LPM separated, I'm reading essentially no optical output even at 300mA. Visually, this is less bright than a dollar store red.

Armed with this knowledge, I'm going to kick it above 300mA, and see what happens. Death, I'm presuming. But maybe I'll get lucky and there's something fancy to come at 600mA.... we'll see.
 
rhd

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Done. At 600mA this diode dims visibly, yet registers just 1mW or less optically on an LPM. This simply is not a powerful diode. Apparently 10 years ago, this was an amazing diode. By today's standards, this doesn't impress. It's actually hard to imagine this being able to burn a DVD, but perhaps that's why it was a 1x burner.

For what it's worth, it's clearly 635nm - that much is apparent visually.

End of story. $60 isn't a horrible expense for this experience. I got some neat fans and a reusable power supply from the casing that will be useful for something. That's for following along guys ;)
 
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joeyss

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Does this mean that there's another a IR diode in there that burns? That dosen't make any sense. Is the diode lasing material degraded? Is it a zombie? What the hell is going on?

How is this thing able to BURN????
 
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rhd

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The optics inside this thing were amazing - much nicer optics in this sled than in the 12x 405nms. My guess is that they were able to focus it so well, to such a fine point, and spun the DVD so slowly, that it was able to burn DVDs.

At 1x DVD writing, this drive only needed to lay down bits at 1/40th the rate of a 12x Blu-ray burner.
 
rhd

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Wait - is it possible that the LaserBee has a low-end threshold ?
 
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joeyss

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rhd said:
The optics inside this thing were amazing - much nicer optics in this sled than in the 12x 405nms. My guess is that they were able to focus it so well, to such a fine point, and spun the DVD so slowly, that it was able to burn DVDs.

At 1x DVD writing, this drive only needed to lay down bits at 1/40th the rate of a 12x Blu-ray burner.
Click to expand...

Yea but you do realize 1 mw cant even burn your eye after you eye focuses it 200,000 times or so. Not that I'd want to try this , but it still raises a point of concern about the dioides power. Using camera lenses I was able to get my 30mw green to barely mark dark plastic. I somehow doubt 1 or 2 mws can burn anything.
 
rhd

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joeyss said:
Yea but you do realize 1 mw cant even burn your eye after you eye focuses it 200,000 times or so. Not that I'd want to try this , but it still raises a point of concern about the dioides power. Using camera lenses I was able to get my 30mw green to barely mark dark plastic. I somehow doubt 1 or 2 mws can burn anything.
Click to expand...

Agreed - I just took a thermal label, and held it at the focal point for 15 seconds - nothing. If a thermal label won't change colour, there's no way this diode could burn a DVD.

I wonder if this is a diode that can do much higher powers pulsed for very short bursts (as it would be in a burner) but isn't capable of much CW output ?
 
rhd

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WAIT - hold up - I missed the biggest clue ever.

Gosh, you can tell I'm not on my game today. The drive box casing had a laser warning sticker on it.... for a CLASS I laser product.
 
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joeyss

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That could be the case since it survived up to 600ma. Do you have a way to test this? I mean there has to be some trick to this or it could just be dead.
 
rhd

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Good question - it's hard to imagine that this Class I laser product can burn.

Do forget though, this drive really IS eleven (11) years old.
 
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joeyss

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I mean if they know how to get a 0.5 mw dioide to burn with all those optics don't you think we'd only have 40mw 30x dvd burners by now? It just dosen't add up. Can you take a look at the driver for any other dioides? Maybe that was the reader?
 
rhd

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There weren't any other diodes on the sled. Just two pathways into the optics - and one was really just a flat sensor board.
 
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