(lpc-815): max current for > 100 hour life?>\

20x DVD burner diode

I looked at the power graphs for the lpc-815 diode. Most of the time it appears to be kink free up to ~420mA. Unfortunately these graphs tell one nothing about the lifespan of the part at a given power output. From what little information I could glean most of these diodes do not survive longer than 24 hours > 400mA. The manufacturers spec is for no more than 200mA.. however this is not CW but pulsed duty cycle (?)

My guess is no more than 125-150mA of current for > 100 hour lifespan. (meaning 50-80 mW power output).

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Generally, 400mA should give you ETERNAL LIFE! XD I wouldn't know though - I pushed one to 424mA and it lived for a decent amount of time.

Crank that sucker up to 500mA

Seriously though, I'd be happy with 24 hours from an $8, high power diode.

100 hours is quite a long time for the average hobbiest. Your typical 420mA lpc-815 like the ones I have experience will last a LONG time at 250mA-300mA at ~150mws. These are the parameters that the diode was designed to run at. It should be equivalent to some 10,000 hours of lasing.

I imagine that 350ma would last you on the order of hundreds of hours.

I've heard that LPC815 at 380mA is stable and the output is around 200-300mw

TuhOz said:

I've heard that LPC815 at 380mA is stable and the output is around 200-300mw

Click to expand...

I boosted mine up to 480mA last night. It's a pretty mean machine now. I'll let you know if/when it dies.

It depends on the diode, but keeping it before the knee is usually okay. Having the diode last a long time is good for setups, like in a projector, where you don't want to be replacing diodes often, even $8 ones.