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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Killed my LPC-826, any idea why?

Rifter

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So my Survival laser 660nm is no more. No sweat from Gary at survival lasers I got a reasonable solution when I talked to him and will have a new diode/driver soon.

I just want opinions on why it died.

Stats of laser:
660nm
LPC-826 driven at 530ma by Survival lasers driver.
Had about 20 Hours of runtime on it in which it never had any issues
Was never dropped, shocked in any way, never stored with batteries in it or without lens so diode was never exposed.

When it died I was installing another knock off G2 lens that's new to me to test its power on my LPM.

I turned it on few seconds with old lens to test and worked fine, installed new lens turned it on and was at full power but out of focus, as I was bringing it into focus turning the lens(still on at full power) and had it 95% into focus dot was 2" on wall and it just dropped to 1% output or less. No flicker no off then back on it stayed on the whole time just went from full power to almost no output now. It has a 3-4" round glow on wall with a brighter thin line through the middle. Total output a lot lower than a 5mw pointer. And am completely unable to focus at all no matter what I do with lens spot/line on wall are the same. I would take pics but to dim to show up.

Tried different tailcap/batteries/lens and its dead now for sure.

Any idea's?
 





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So my Survival laser 660nm is no more. No sweat from Gary at survival lasers I got a reasonable solution when I talked to him and will have a new diode/driver soon.

I just want opinions on why it died.

Stats of laser:
660nm
LPC-826 driven at 530ma by Survival lasers driver.
Had about 20 Hours of runtime on it in which it never had any issues
Was never dropped, shocked in any way, never stored with batteries in it or without lens so diode was never exposed.

When it died I was installing another knock off G2 lens that's new to me to test its power on my LPM.

I turned it on few seconds with old lens to test and worked fine, installed new lens turned it on and was at full power but out of focus, as I was bringing it into focus turning the lens(still on at full power) and had it 95% into focus dot was 2" on wall and it just dropped to 1% output or less. No flicker no off then back on it stayed on the whole time just went from full power to almost no output now. It has a 3-4" round glow on wall with a brighter thin line through the middle. Total output a lot lower than a 5mw pointer. And am completely unable to focus at all no matter what I do with lens spot/line on wall are the same. I would take pics but to dim to show up.

Tried different tailcap/batteries/lens and its dead now for sure.

Any idea's?

The G2's knock off ... did not focus it at all ? ...

To me it sounds like you screwed the lens too much in. Is that possible that you hit the diode with the lens ?

In either way ... do not feel bad. I just killed an S06J today. And it happens to me a lot ... happens to everyone :beer:
 
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Rifter

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The G2's knock off ... did not focus it at all ? ...

To me it sounds like you screwed the lens too much in. Is that possible that you hit the diode with the lens ?

In either way ... do not feel bad. I just killed an S06J today. And it happens to me a lot ... happens to everyone :beer:

I don't think that was it, Although I was screwing the lens towards the diode to get it into focus but still had some room before it contacted the diode.

I also inspected the lens after as I suspected that might have been the issue and it does not appear to have any scratches on it.
 
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I don't think that was it, Although I was screwing the lens towards the diode to get it into focus but still had some room before it contacted the diode.

I also inspected the lens after as I suspected that might have been the issue and it does not appear to have any scratches on it.

These lenses are hard to scratch.

I did broke diodes windows before ... and the lens did not get scratched at all.

The LPC does not have a window. It seem to be more easy to break.

As the single element lenses need to be screwed very close to the diode ... you can break it easily.

You can get a magnifying lens or something and look what happend to the diode it self.

:beer:
 

Rifter

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These lenses are hard to scratch.

I did broke diodes windows before ... and the lens did not get scratched at all.

The LPC does not have a window. It seem to be more easy to break.

As the single element lenses need to be screwed very close to the diode ... you can break it easily.

You can get a magnifying lens or something and look what happend to the diode it self.

:beer:

Yeah I was unable to get it mounted under my microscope to take a look as I haven't disassembled the host yet. Ill try a regular magnifying glass though that's a good idea.
 

IsaacT

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It could also be that the current you were driving it at just didn't sit well with the diode. 530mA is on the high side for that diode last time I checked.
 
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Was there teflon tape on the lens? The fact that this happened when you touched it may indicate a
possible ESD induced failure. It could also be that there was intermittent contact between the heatsink
and the host. Where was the negative attached?
 

Rifter

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It could also be that the current you were driving it at just didn't sit well with the diode. 530mA is on the high side for that diode last time I checked.

Drive current wasn't up to me its the standard current for survival lasers kit.
 

Rifter

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Was there teflon tape on the lens? The fact that this happened when you touched it may indicate a
possible ESD induced failure. It could also be that there was intermittent contact between the heatsink
and the host. Where was the negative attached?

No Teflon tape, had it on original lens but was removed I found I prefer lens springs instead. Neg was straight from the driver/pill as far as I can tell, was a kit from survival laser all I did was put it together no soldering required. There was two wires from pill to diode.
 

IsaacT

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Have you tried bypassing the tailcap? Sometimes switches fail. Just put something metal between the battery and exposed metal(not anodized) on the laser host.
 

Rifter

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Have you tried bypassing the tailcap? Sometimes switches fail. Just put something metal between the battery and exposed metal(not anodized) on the laser host.

Not the tailcap, the S4 tailcap works fine on my C6 host PL450B and PL450B tailcap has same issue with my S4 660nm.
 

Rifter

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These lenses are hard to scratch.

I did broke diodes windows before ... and the lens did not get scratched at all.

The LPC does not have a window. It seem to be more easy to break.

As the single element lenses need to be screwed very close to the diode ... you can break it easily.

You can get a magnifying lens or something and look what happend to the diode it self.

:beer:

Just checked. With the external lens spring and focus adaptor I was using the lens can't physically screw in far enough to contact the diode, the coiled spring prevents it. Also the end of the diode appears OK.
 
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Maybe the lens spring hit the diode. IIRC, springs aren't recommended with open-can diodes.

I will say that the LPC826 looks similar to the diode that was in my Lazerer 650nm, and it died the same way, i.e. dimming out with a line through the center of the dot. Output was 261mW, no idea what the drive current was.

Why on earth they thought an open can diode was a smart idea is beyond me, but I digress.
 

Rifter

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Maybe the lens spring hit the diode. IIRC, springs aren't recommended with open-can diodes.

I will say that the LPC826 looks similar to the diode that was in my Lazerer 650nm, and it died the same way, i.e. dimming out with a line through the center of the dot. Output was 261mW, no idea what the drive current was.

Why on earth they thought an open can diode was a smart idea is beyond me, but I digress.

Its a external spring not an internal spring.
 
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Oh, it's one of those springs, gotcha. I would have to say overcurrent, then, or maybe dust contamination. It's a fact of life (and death) with these open can diodes.

If you want a nice red laser, I would recommend the Opnext HL63603TG or HL63133DG. I really want to get a laser with that second one. You don't even need to overdrive it, really, to get good power. They are also closed can so none of the risks of open cans.

I like my HL63603TG. Never a problem with it.
 

Rifter

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Oh, it's one of those springs, gotcha. I would have to say overcurrent, then, or maybe dust contamination. It's a fact of life (and death) with these open can diodes.

If you want a nice red laser, I would recommend the Opnext HL63603TG or HL63133DG. I really want to get a laser with that second one. You don't even need to overdrive it, really, to get good power. They are also closed can so none of the risks of open cans.

I like my HL63603TG. Never a problem with it.

Yeah im thinking my constant lens swapping might have let some dust in or something.

Anyways how is the divergence of the Opnext diodes? Cause I must admit the thing I like the most about any of my lasers was the pencil thin beam of my LPC-826 that just doesn't diverge, it seems to have a huge divergence advantage over other diodes.
 




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