Did I really just do this?!!!

Im very worried I just damaged my favorite laser. Its a 400mW 532nm and Im really bummed right now guys.
Trying to do the right thing and mark the inside of all my end caps with a sharpie for correct battery direction I got distracted and walked away a min when I was doing my last and most important laser and when I returned I couldn't remember the proper direction. I asked Google. Nothing much came up useful but I saw Eudaimonium youtube channel had my exact laser so I watched his review. In the video I thought I clearly saw him load the battery negative to tail cap because the end of the battery showing was smooth and without a nipple like the positive has. I followed suit and was at the ready to turn it off if I was wrong which I was. I turned the laser on and when it didn't fire I immediately shut it off. I could smell the damage and I'm really freaking pissed at myself! It is the worst smell ever. I'm such an idiot!

I turned the battery around turned it on and seems to works but the smell was pretty strong so clearly I did something bad. So guys did I just do serious damage to my favorite laser? If so what and can it be repaired?

I think the battery in the video has both ends smooth and thats where I fk'd up. This really sucks.

Sounds like a part on the driver got fried. Is the laser as bright as before? If so then all you need is to either have the driver fixed or replaced.
Hey try not to beat yourself up. We will always make mistakes like this. A lot of guys here have lost much more expensive lasers by unforeseen accidents/negligence

Yea it seems just as bright. I just went outside and turned it on for over a min. it seems the same but that smell I had to have done something I would think.

Then I wonder if the part that burned was the component of the reverse polarity protection? Your driver might no longer have the ability to protect against that from now on. But then again I'm no expert on circuit design.

All 532nm DPSS lasers use an IR pump diode, they are always case positive so the host will always be wired host positive. Remember though that doesn't apply to a 520nm, they can be wired either way. I hope there is no damage but you apparently must have come within a second or two of frying that thing.

Alan

VisibleGreen said:

Then I wonder if the part that burned was the component of the reverse polarity protection? Your driver might no longer have the ability to protect against that from now on. But then again I'm no expert on circuit design.

Click to expand...

Okay then if that was the case doesn't that mean it just did its job? I looked up reverse polarity protection and it was defined as protection from idiots like me that put their batteries in backwards. Or is it something else too?
Thanks BTW for your replies.

Could be something more complicated, but most like its just a diode. And yea, like Pi said, 532's are always going to be be case positive. Glad there was no damage.

I did the same thing with a 400mw output laser and permanently fried the driver, the manufacturer had also wiped off the identifying marks of the part I fried, unable to replace it. Seems you got off easy. Edit: If you had a simple blocking diode in series with the battery as reverse protection, it wouldn't fry, only block without getting hot because current can't flow through a reversed to polarity diode, maybe microamps, but not enough to let the smoke out or damage something.

I worry about putting my 532nm battery in the wrong way.... or even worse... someone else getting hold of it and doing it..... You sound rather lucky this time and hopefully you won't forget with how close you came to burning it out completely....

You could always ask the manufacturer if it has reverse protection....

Everyone with a few or more lasers where the batteries don't all go the same way should get some tiny stickers and mark them to show what direction the batteries go and put those on the outside of the laser or unscrew the tail cap and put it just inside.

Alan

I just did this to my 1w445 sci-fi laser. Its defenitly a feeling of "welcome to the laser club". I just pulled the driver out today to replace it so I'll let you know how that goes. But yes that is a terrible feeling when you realize you may have blown a spendy diode/driver!
Sorry for whatever loss it comes to. I am assuming you put the batteries back in the right way and nothing?

I think that anyone who has been around awhile or has lots of units has done this. Of course I've never done it....... of course I did. Had paid at least a few hundred for a 1W+ 638nm from my frI end Blord and while I was going around marking all of my units I screwed up the same way you did. In my case it was extra stupid in that I had written down how many batteries and case posted or negative in a folder for all my units and didn't bother to look it up. At the time it was my most expensive unit too and best looking host.
Panicked and contacted Blord who said I likely just killed the driver as it had reverse polarity protection. Sent it back to him and it was indeed just the driver so he replaced it for just the cost of the driver and shipping.
Many thanks to Blord for the few units he's made for me and for being a really nice person to deal with. I was also going to have him build me something else back then but the hosts he had stamped with some words came back damaged so I decided on a different host. He built me what I wanted but also took the damaged host that really was just some small nick marks on the paint into a fully working 1000+ lumen flashlight that he sent with the laser.
Interesting that yours really smelled. Think it's awesome that it still works fine just need to decide now whether to replace the driver or not. Personally I would do it just because I would wonder if it isn't going to work every time I turned it on but that's me.
just realized that unit is the same as the first class IV 532nm I purchased. Not home right now but I don't think that unit can be taken apart easily. I defiantly wouldn't return it to O-Like. Would be afraid I would never see it again. I can take a look at mine when I get home tonight. At the moment be very happy it's working

It's important that you also know how many cells too. I screwed up once and put a couple 18350 in a unit in stead of a single 18650 and got lucky it didnt blow something. Sure was bright with 2 cells lol.
I used to keep a ledger that had every single laser I owned in it that listed nm, manufacturer, lens, mW, battery type, # of cells etc. but somewhere about a year ago I stopped filling it out which was really stupid. Honestly need to do it all over again but I have so many units I can't get myself motivated to do it. Do something like that now while you can still remember what's what.
All my >100mW units have their peak output in yellow on them with a label maker and the rest are black on white label. Some people mark with the average or rated output but mine are labeled with max for danger level. Could have a 532nm that averages 79mW but peaks at 100mW so it's labeled as 106mW.
Didn't mean to write a book. Just some suggestions as your collection grows because it gets too hard to remember it all and it can be really difficult to back track and find the info. later.

I'm only at this one year (almost) and I should have started doing that right at the start! I will start to write that ledger asap! + rep for the tip that I should have been doing anyway ! LOL

Cr*p... there's a reminder to make it CLEAR how to insert a battery in any laser reviews...


So sorry I missed out pointing that detail, man. My bad.

Yeah the red 18650 cell that came with the laser and which I used in the video is flat on both ends, if you need to chain two in series you need to use a magnet or something between them because positive cap does not touch the negative cap of the next battery, due to the shrink-wrapping.

Green lasers - always case positive.

I have only ever once seen a green case negative laser, it was a very small greenie, built for 1x AAA, size of a small bullet-style red toy laser, it was sent to me to build a new driver for it so it can accept 1x 10440 rechargeable, since owner didn't want to buy batteries constantly.

It was by pure luck it was sent with battery already inside, good to go. I played around with it for a second and then went to pull out it's battery so I can take it apart. You can imagine my surprise when the battery fell out, case negative orientation.

I build a standard case-negative LM1117 driver for it, and it worked beautifully. I still can't believe that worked.

The only 532nm I've seen is the single AAA white unit that Fasttech sells with a star cap. Almost 100% sure it is case negative. I'm not home right now to verify though.
http://www.fasttech.com/products/1620/10000264/1030000-5mw-532nm-stars-light-show-green-laser-pen-
They used to ship it with the a battery but I don't think they do anymore due to shipping issues.
Yeah, kind of annoying that the + end doesn't stick out past the insulator on some of my cells. Prefer not to have to use a magnet that could potentially move and short.

EDIT: Yes, that single AAA is case -.

A little "blu-tak" around the edge of the magnet will stop it from hitting the sides.... ways and means.... think outside the box sometimes ..