Recent content by LazyBeam

I don't want to use a rechargeable Li-ion battery in an IR illuminator that's mounted on a rifle. They self discharge at much higher rates than standard lithium primaries. Not well suited to long term storage or emergency planning. A protected li-ion cell loses about 5% in the first 24 hours...

The driver would have to be <14mm in length and/or width to fit where I need it. Most of the pen-style drivers are too long in one direction. I'm trying to keep everything fitting in the head of a Surefir M600 scout flashlight head, I would like to use 2X CR123A (primary, not rechargeable...

So I have here a HLD980300H4T diode that should produce 300mW 980nm @ 1.6V/450mA. I have a 2X CR123A LED flashlight host. What is going to be the best tiny driver? Where can I get it? Do any places offer preset current service? I don't think I'll need any boost function because the 2X CR123A...

you can see iridescence on the curved surface of the lenses in the light, so it looks like they are coated with something. I'm not sure how to tell which without a spectrophotometer, or something similar. I'd be willing to bet that the ebay lenses are these exact lenses. Ignore the aliexpress...

Simply defocusing the collimating lens on an adjustable laser with 3:1 ratio in axis divergence will only produce a giant bar. I don't want a bar because that is less useful for use as an illuminator. If I can get the shape much closer to a circular or square output, that will be ideal... it...

I'm not trying to collimate the beam. I only want it to be relatively round or square instead of a bar. I'm going for more a "flashlight" with a tight beam for excellent throw. Ideally, I want the beam to have a divergence of around 5-16 degrees. The $22 diode I'm looking at seems pretty perfect...

The reason for 980nm is that this is one part of a two part project. Part one is to make a picatinny rail adapter mount for a SiOnyx Aurora night vision camera. Part two is to make a laser illuminator to compliment the night vision. Rather than buy an off the shelf laser for this purpose, I...

After some experiments with round light beams through a round plano-convex lenses at home and doing more reading, I think I had a bit of a mental breakthrough... I realize my initial assumptions above were wrong. I need a plano-convex cylindrical lens and I need to place the LD emitter INSIDE...

Here's an illustration of my problem... because everything's better with an MS Paint Diagram:

I want to to correct the fast axis of a diode to slow it down and match the divergence of the slow axis. I basically want both divergences to be close 12 degrees so I can create a sort of handheld laser "flashlight" that has a mostly circular/square shape. I've spent a day and a half reading...

so "full width" being the full angle of divergence... "half-maximum" being as measured roughly where the beam radius is half-the-max brightness.

When looking at a specification sheet for a laser diode (like this one, for example: https://www.laserlands.net/datasheet/11091055.pdf) is the angle listed the FULL angle of the beam exiting the diode or the HALF angle, as measured from the beam center-line? I'm wanting to make a homemade...

black silicon strongly absorbs light from 400-2500nm. For example, the Sionyx Aurora NV handheld camera has been shown to see wavelengths exceeding 1150nm. 1000-1050nm should be no problem for it. Moreover, it's monocle sized and can mount to a helmet much like a traditional NVG unit. Except...

TIRs generally have a tighter beam throw on a same-size basis. I'm looking for 15-20 degrees out the front. It will come with some kind of reflector that I can try out just to see if it'd be good, but I'd like it to reach out over 100-150+ meters. I want to stay over 950nm (ideally even over...

That's what I was worried about with the 9XXnm LEDs... wavelengths below 940/950nm. So I think I'm definitely going with a long pass filter and if I can use a 1050nm emitter that will put more of the power curve over the cut filter cut frequency. Is there a particular place to pick up...