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FrozenGate by Avery

1 week 1st build using PHR

U

Uberstrobe

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May 22, 2010
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So about 4 days ago at about 2:30AM I was looking around at various places for diode prices. I stumbled upon HTD's PHR-803T diode and immediately grabbed one of my flashlights and graph paper. I was going to build my first laser. :eg:

The host is a DX Superfire C1 that I bought about a year or so ago that I rarely used. It was fairly easy to make a heat sink for it. So much that I kind of rushed it and over did a few things. :P

For a driver I am using the driver that came with the host. I am rather adept with electronics and decided that it would be fine to use the driver in the host rather than buying another. It uses the PT4105 chip. I replaced the feedback resistor (R2) to 2 ohms in order to limit it to 100mA. I have load tested it with 5 1n4148 diodes and a 1 ohm resistor. It limits it to about 104mA at 4.6V(A bit low...?). I also put a 100uF electrolytic capacitor on the output for smoothing. Somehow I was able to cram the modified driver back into the pill.

Comment away. At this point I'm waiting for the module to get in and I should be ready to start lasing. :) I also have a glass lens on the way from Aixiz just for kicks.

Quick questions:
Could someone recommend me a good CR123A charger and batteries? I had a matching set of Ultrafire batteries and charger, but the charger overcharged the protected batteries. Due to this I have been feeding the driver with a 9V battery for testing.

Pictures: (Sorry for the bad quality/angles. I'll get better ones upon completion.)
 
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It uses 2x CR123As or 1x 18650. Personally, which one do you think is better?

Edit: I am using a step down driver. I must use 2x CR123A.
 
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Thats ok... because the have plenty of mah for a phr... also to save you abit of searching it is pretty safe to set the driver at 120ma.


michael
 
Alright.

Thank you. I'll go change the resistors now.

I'll go search to find the maximum and decide after that.

From what I'm looking at in the other lasers, I have a HUGE heatsink. It is about 50mm long and 20mm wide most of the time with the 26mm lip to catch the flange in the host. Am I correct?
 
i don't really get your heatsink question... are you installing a module into a heatsink? or are you trying to press fit a Laser Diode? if the first one all you need is hole big enough to fit the module and a set screw inserted from the side.

michael
 
Essentially I was asking if I overdid the heatsink. IE Could I house a 12X in it and have it run properly? Haha.
 
Thanks. Diode should be here tomorrow. I will be getting a resistor from a friend in order to finish the driver tomorrow as well.

Edit/Update:

I decided to disassemble the tail clickey switch to see how it worked and if it was modable. Luckily I had a stereo 3.5mm female jack on my work bench and decided to see if I could mount it in the hole drilled out to place the switch. It fit perfectly and I have now replaced it with a 3.5mm female jack. I am about to make a pigtail like connection as a safety precaution that has a momentary switch and a latching switch. Pretty nice if you ask me.
 
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i want pics :) the ones that come up full screen please,i want to see how good this build is .
cheeers
 
Apparently when I was machining it I thought it was a 13x30mm case and made the hole 14.25mm wide. The module sitting in there looks a bit funky because it's off center. Oh well. I made the heatsink on a whim and I'm pretty happy with the laser overall.

Thanks for the interest! I'll get pics in a few days. Right now I'm driving it at 150mA. I need to fix my 3.5mm external safety switch as it held together with Gorilla Tape. :P
 
O_o Before I took pictures, I was cleaning inside the Aixiz head assembly with canned to remove specs of dust that were on the diode's window. I put it back together and now the output is fuzzy. There is a central dot, but with a major (1" each side) fuzzy splash on the outside... I am using the standard acrylic lens, PHR driven at 133mA. It still burns etc when focused and still feels rather warm on the hand etc, but it looks much more fuzzy on the output. Did I mess something up? If so, what?
 
Uberstrobe said:
Could someone recommend me a good CR123A charger and batteries? I had a matching set of Ultrafire batteries and charger, but the charger overcharged the protected batteries.
Click to expand...

UltraFire, TrustFire, SuperFire, and any others that have the word Fire in it beside SureFire are pretty much the same quality. You do get lucky sometimes though.

Even using a not so great charger that does not do a very good job at terminating at the correct voltage, the protection circuit in the battery should at least prevent the cell from overcharging. If the protection in the cell can not even do chances are they won't reliably do their job at overdischarging or reset once the protection has kicked in. I'd be hesitant to use them.

Every single TrustFire & UltraFire 16340 I had has died. First the protection circuits failed, I removed them & use them as unprotected cells, they didn't last too long.

For a good quality protected Li-ions, get AW. His IMRs are great too but may not be necesary for a laser. They are well known in the flashlight community. I now buy nothing else, well worth the money. In the US you can get them from Lighthound.
 
Yeah, I just read some reviews on the charger that said it has a charging voltage of 4.2V. Though, after some time the charger increases voltage. I believe this is what happened. I eventually had to remove the protect circuits as well.

That being said, I opened up the charger and changed the values of the component feeding the optocoupler controlling the feedback to the VIPER12A controller. It sits at 4.18V now.

Now I just need new batteries. Thanks for the site!


I didn't have the right resistor/combination to limit it down to 120mA at the time. I need 1.667 ohms. I'll figure something out.

The important question is: What exactly happened to my diode? It was the result of something physical, but there is no physical indication that something is broken. It is not the LED effect etc. I'm sure confused...
 
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