Broken wicked lasers core, what to do...?

I have a wicked lasers core, which was one of my favorite little toys until it stopped working. I figured i may as well take it apart to learn something or to possibly fix or modify it, i have nothing to loose. Now i have taken it apart, but got a bit heavy handed and knocked the black plastic lens looking thing that was glued on the tip of the laser assembly with a red and black wire coming from the main board.

(we'll see if that pic works)

My questions, anyone know why this probably stopped working? What is the black lens looking thing with the wires coming off it? I'm interested in building a blue laser using a blu ray diode (who isnt?) could i swap out the green diod for a blue on this?

Hello and welcome to the forum!:wave:
I don't know what that black plastic thinggy with wires is, but I'm making a wild guess
it's a photosensor used for automatic power stabilization.
Do you have a digital multimeter? You could use it to check voltage at the diodes pins,
so you can rule out wether it's the diode or the driver that's dead.
I'm guessing it's the diode.

You could use the empty laser left behind for your BluRay build but most likely can't use any of the bits you're showing in the picture.

What exactly was wrong with it?

The black plastic thing is a photo-diode that monitors the lasers power and adjusts it automatically to keep it stable at 5mW.

It also looks like there is a lens attached. This lens would expand the beam. If you want to get this laser working again you will need to reattach and realign these components.
It takes some patience but it is possible to fix.

Well, it just stopped working one day. It is just over a year old and it died. You hit the button and there is no response. I will check around with a multi meter tomorrow.

Try powering up the module with a 3V source. Negative to spring and positive to case.
If the LED on the top of the board lights up but no green light comes out you are probably dealing with a dead diode.
If not, it could be an electrical problem.

Checked it with outside source. Powered right up. Must have been a bad battery connection inside the case. Im thinking i might make a new case for it and reglue the sensor to the front. Thanks for the advice. I kinda like being able to adjust the lens.

No you can not swap the diode in there for a blue one sorry...

Flaminpyro said:

No you can not swap the diode in there for a blue one sorry...

Click to expand...

Was this answer for an anticipated question?

OP said:

I'm interested in building a blue laser using a blu ray diode (who isnt?) could i swap out the green diod for a blue on this?

Click to expand...

Learn to read, Asherz!:evil: