16x confusion

[Richie89]

Okay so now I'm confused, I purchased all the parts to put together a 16x using a 530ma driver from SL and DTR of course but when I put it all together the way I always do when I build one, and the 530ma driver along with what DTR site says they say it is to only be used with a single 3.7 volt cell. I put a 18650 (fully charged) and it was super dim. I know all about how dim 405s are in general I just meant it looked to be in the 10-20mw range since my sky lasers 80mw pen was much brighter. So I didn't know what else to do so I went ahead and popped a couple of tenergy LiFePo4s in there which are a little lower in voltage than standard 16340s and now it's def hitting the half watt range like I expected. It's running great. So I guess my question is that you guys think it's okay to run these cells?
Thanks for the help.
This is my first 405 build

 

[WizardG]

What driver did you get with the diode?

 

[Richie89]

What driver did you get with the diode?

I just went with the 530ma fixed current round buck driver. Basically the one from survival.

 

[dden4012]

2 cells then. As long as you have vf plus driver dropout from your batteries you are good. The ones dtr sells as a complete module have a boost driver so they take 1 cell.

 

[grainde]

If it's a buck you'll need 2 batteries in series to run it. If it were a boost, you'd need only one cell.:beer:

 

[Richie89]

2 cells then. As long as you have vf plus driver dropout from your batteries you are good. The ones dtr sells as a complete module have a boost driver so they take 1 cell.

I was afraid of that. I'm probably better off getting a new driver, it might have failed somehow and I'm probably over pushing it. I know the diode is okay I believe it's just the driver. I wonder if I should just keep using it normally till it finally dies if it does.

 

[dden4012]

6v may be exactly what you want. Extra voltage is wasted as heat from the driver. You may have shorter run times.

 

[Richie89]

If it's a buck you'll need 2 batteries in series to run it. If it were a boost, you'd need only one cell.:beer:

Oh I see. I'm glad you told me this because I to be honest was always a little confused of the difference between buck/boost/xdrive/blitz/and SXD. I tried studying them all on here but got lost somehow. All I really knew was that super X drives were for extreme power, I think I didn't know much about drivers simply because I haven't built much.

 

[Richie89]

6v may be exactly what you want. Extra voltage is wasted as heat from the driver. You may have shorter run times.

Okay that's good, I guess it's a good thing these LiFePo4s have less voltage than 16340s otherwise it would probably already be toast I imagine. I'll just keep it at 30-40sec and I'm sure I'll be fine. Thanks again Dan

 

[grainde]

It's ok in this case, running a buck like that means it's running out of regulation. This is effectively bypassing the driver all together. The reason the laser works though and doesn't get damaged is because the battery voltage limits the current through the diode. If you were to use a diode with a lower Vf you may will kill it as it could draw more current than it can handle (depends on the IV curve though). Here the Vf is probably around 6 V at the current the driver was set at, but you only have 4.2 V available. This would mean the diode will draw much less current and hence why you saw a much lower output.:beer:

 

[Richie89]

It's ok in this case, running a buck like that means it's running out of regulation. This is effectively bypassing the driver all together. The reason the laser works though and doesn't get damaged is because the battery voltage limits the current through the diode. If you were to use a diode with a lower Vf you may will kill it as it could draw more current than it can handle (depends on the IV curve though). Here the Vf is probably around 6 V at the current the driver was set at, but you only have 4.2 V available. This would mean the diode will draw much less current and hence why you saw a much lower output.:beer:

Oh that's helpful. I gota say, it amazes me that a lot of you all know this much. Impressive in deed, and much appreciated.