Dying laser?

Back in 2009 I built a laser with a PHR-803T diode mounted in an aluminum sink and a MicroFlex Drive V4 (preset to 120mA) with Aixis optics and all buttoned up in an Ultrafire C3 flashlight body. It was powered with an Ultrafire 900mAh LC14500 Li-ion battery and it has worked flawlessly for years...until recently. I first noticed something was wrong when the laser no longer popped balloons and lit match heads a couple months ago. Since then it has been getting dimmer and dimmer to the point that it's just now one stage over a purple LED.

I though it was maybe the battery dying, so I bought a new one and fully charged it. I put it in and it still barely lases. I took out the module and started playing with the pot on the board. I was able to get a little more light out of it, but still nowhere near where it used to be.

My question is what happened? Is the diode failing or maybe the FlexDrive? I only used the laser for plinking around, making stuff fluoresce, burning a couple matches here and there, etc. I NEVER kept it on for more than 30 seconds or so at a time and the flashlight body barely got warm. I'm kinda bummed. I just got a coated glass lens set for it earlier in the year too for more light transmission.

Is there a way to maybe get another flexdrive and another diode and put everything back in the C3 flashlight body or have lasers moved on to brighter and better? I haven't been in the forum for awhile but it appears that there are a lot of 445nm diode lasers being built all the way up to 1W and beyond. I'd love to build one of those, but it would still be nice to get my old 405nm C3 up and running once again. Seems like I have some catching up to do.

Thanks for your insight and guidance.

Maybe your diode got LED.That will be easily solved by just replacing it.In fact 2 years are great lifespan on the diode.Did you dropped the laser that would b a reason that its not working. :yh:

Honestly, it could be either. If for some reason the current has been reduced to the point of it barely lasing, you'd get an LED effect, too.

However with as cheap as PHRs are now, I'd try that first. Replace that, (or you could likely have someone here on the forum do it for you if you don't feel comfortable) - and you'll likely be back in business. Yeah, things have progressed, but there's no reason to not get that build back up and running with how inexpensive PHRs are now.