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Here's a good example of how much snow we have. Pic is down the street from my house. Note the bank size next the guy shovelling his driveway.

We got 52cm (20 inches) of snow over the weekend. We are close to setting a seasonal snowfall record.  The local record is 444cm and we are a little over 30cm shy, but we have a few more weeks yet.  It was lots of shovelling but we kept on top of it so we didn't have to shovel more than about...

The wiper is tied to a leg because the contact between the wiper and the resistive material is not always good.  Think it as the wiper bouncing off the surface and making intermittant contact.  Whe it does this, the resistance can go high (infinity) and the voltage can spike to try to maintain...

It was about the same. It's surviving by luck and short duty cycles. ::)

Thanks guys. I know I'm driving the hell out of this one - I'm surprised it had not fried yet. I'll attribute that to very short duty cycles (probably less shorter than 15sec). It's back in the pointer now. If my Coherent Head is 1uV/mW and my DMM is anywhere near accurate at that low end...

I was wondering and was going to ask, but you beat me to it. Great photo! What's the magnification on the loupe?

Here is a little closer pic.  There's a lot of crud on the window from taking it off.  The area to note is inside the highlighted area.  Note the heavy burn marks and the spotted radial array in the darker area.

I threw it on the Coherent thermopile head connected directly to my DMM (I don't have the amp board yet). I got 70-80uV. If it's around 1mW per uV that's about 70-80mW. I know it's being way over-driven. It stings on the skin instantly and will light a match instantly. BTW, take a close look at...

Here are some pics of a PS3 Bluray LD with the can opened up. (Still functional) Freshly opened can: The Business End Stained Glass Window (note "burned" area)

OK here are the pics: Freshly opened can: The Business End Stained Glass Window (note "burned" area)

I have some news on this one. I knew it was driving that poor little bluray LD very hard. I started noticing the output was getting a little strange so I looked at the LD and noticed that the LDs window was getting burn marks. I bit the bullet, opened it up, removed the LD and proceeded to...

The regulation scheme is definitely not perfect. Two NiMH is barely enough to run the LD so it doesn't really stay in regulation long (or never gets there to begin with). Here's some fun reading for you: http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1188440672

Most of the circuits I have seen on these use linear-type regulation. The current from the battery should be more-or-less what the LD sees. The magnitude of the current from the PD is used to provide regulation feedback. (The current from the PD is converted to a voltage and compared to a...

Good stuff!

I decided to go for a top mount for my sensor.  I don't think everything would have fit in the case (esp w/ the 9V batteries in there).  I have the sensor pointed to the side so it will be easier to see the DPM when the laser is on the target. I used the existing screw holes in the bottom of the...

Yes, mine does the same. Looks like there's a capacitor on the input. The good thing is that it is very slow to drift back down which suggests a high input impedance.

Very good point. Looks like front/top, front/front or front/external_side.

Well, I have almost all the parts now. Just waiting on the mail for the cct board. After de-soldering the op amp, I cleaned off the rest of the components. I used a heat gun - works great for mass desoldering. Upside down, apply heat and tap the board - the components fall right off for the...

Great job!

As was mentioned: 1. Yes, it's OK 2. BTW, it's not Aluminium (plated copper perhaps?) 3. Don't short it to anything 4. Doing this will reduce the upper current carrying capacity of the IC (less thermal dissipation)