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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Advice on laser building

Joined
May 26, 2008
Messages
185
Points
18
Hey guys.

I'm about to embark on my first DIY laser and could do with some help.

I got myself some resistors, caps, pots, diodes, a breadboard, adjustable solder iron, and a multimeter.

The main thing I'm concerned with is building my own driver.

The main problem I'm having is knowing the proper voltage and current that various diodes are supposed to run at.

Presumably, once you know the ideal voltage and current, you can design a driver circuit to deliver precisely that to the diode, in any number of circuit designs; depending on your power source, size requirements etc...

Am I right in assuming this?

If I am, does anyone know an easy and accurate way of determining the ideal voltage and current for any given laser diode?

I do like the tutorials and walk throughs, but they all seem to be very specific in that they're tied to very specific parts and settings.

I want to be able to harvest diodes from any suitable source, figure out the ideal current and voltage and find other parts to suite.

Thanks in advance for any help. :)
 





Joined
Aug 10, 2008
Messages
268
Points
18
the 2 most common lasers are built using the PHR-803T Blu-ray laser diode and the LPC-815 Red laser diode. usually with heatsinking the Blu-ray's are set at 90-130mA and the reds are set to 420-450mA. the DDL type driver is usually the easiest to build and there is a tutorial by deedal ( http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1185701612 ) this driver requires 7V i think to operate. if you go much higher on the input voltage, you may want to heatsink the LM317 voltage regulator (rise in voltage = rise in heat)the BR diodes use around 5V and the reds use around 3V. the current is what is important. if you wanted to run it off of 1.5V-3V then you will have to use a boost driver like the Flexdrive by Dr. Lava ( http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1209418066 )
 




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