@#!%@$@#@$$@%@#@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Things]

DAMN IT!!!!!! i think i just screwed my diode :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( it was really bright, and the awesomest colour, and it smoked electrical tape really close, but then it just went dim, and started to heat up :'( I JUST TURNED MY DIODE INTO A EXPENSIVE LED :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :-/
oh well, just have to get another and try again, it was fun while it lasted, and i love the little box you sent it in senkat! hope you guys have more luck!


:'( :'( :'(

 

[Things]

wow that's alot of smilies ;D ;D ;D

 

[Gazoo]

wow that's alot of smilies ;D ;D ;D

A lot of smilies??? Looks like a lot of weeping to me.. :'(

Ahhhhhh...damn. Well get another one...don't give up. Any idea what happened.

 

[Things]

not sure just yet? i think i got a faulty diode, i want a new one senkat ;D ;D ;Dj/k

 

[SenKat]

not sure just yet? i think i got a faulty diode, i want a new one senkat ;D ;D ;Dj/k

TURD ! LOL !!!

 

[xgeek]

Man can't wait until mine arrive so I can screw up too!!

 

[Benm]

How much current were you running through that diode when it blew up?

I'm still trying to find out the actual blow-out point for these, but don't feel like destructively testing too many of them to find out

 

[kwinchee]

lol i bet he wasent using a circuit lol and just using AA battrys

 

[Daedal]

things, welcome to the club buddy! Don't feel bad... you have to break some eggs to make an omelette ;D ;D

Ben, I think Mike will probably chime in with enough info about blowing out diodes at their maximum ratings... But from my personal experience... I pushed one up to 600mA and lit a match instantly from about 20 feet away... ;D I had it running for less than a minute total and I now use it for testing drivers. It still works, and still burns like hell. THANX SENKAT!

By the way... I had that thing cooled like a block of ice to pull that off

--DDL

 

[photongeek]

things, welcome to the club buddy! Don't feel bad... you have to break some eggs to make an omelette ;D ;D

Ben, I think Mike will probably chime in with enough info about blowing out diodes at their maximum ratings... But from my personal experience... I pushed one up to 600mA and lit a match instantly from about 20 feet away... ;D I had it running for less than a minute total and I now use it for testing drivers. It still works, and still burns like hell. THANX SENKAT!

By the way... I had that thing cooled like a block of ice to pull that off

--DDL

How did you cool it D?

 

[Benm]

I pushed one up to 600mA and lit a match instantly from about 20 feet away...

600 mA sounds like a lucky shot to me really - most of these diodes would fail way before that, right?

(Actively) cooling the diode obviously helps increasing light output for a given current (accoding to the datasheet at least), but does it also allow operation at higher currents before it fails?

I'm trying to figure out an upper safe limit for these things at ambient temperature... that is just using a (big) heatsink, but without TEC's and the like to bring it to really low temperature. Currents above recommended limits in the datasheet will reduce life, but that's no big concern to me within certain limits - just trying to prevent the instant 'poof' while getting good output power.

 

[chimo]

I pushed one up to 600mA and lit a match instantly from about 20 feet away...

600 mA sounds like a lucky shot to me really - most of these diodes would fail way before that, right?

(Actively) cooling the diode obviously helps increasing light output for a given current (accoding to the datasheet at least), but does it also allow operation at higher currents before it fails?

I'm trying to figure out an upper safe limit for these things at ambient temperature... that is just using a (big) heatsink, but without TEC's and the like to bring it to really low temperature. Currents above recommended limits in the datasheet will reduce life, but that's no big concern to me within certain limits - just trying to prevent the instant 'poof' while getting good output power.

According to Sam's Laser FAQ, active cooling will increase efficiency but may not prevent COD.

Qutoe from FAQ:
"However, the limiting factor before the LD changes into a DELD may still be Catastrophic Optical Damage (COD) and its onset will depend on the E/M field interaction at the output facet, something not affected very much by ambient temperature. So, your 5 mW LD may still be limited to 5 mW even if it is more efficient at low temperature. "

 

[AJ_Dual]

"Ammo" would be expensive, but it's been an idea for a while now kicking about in my head to have a "semi-automatic laser" that has diodes like cartridges in a magazine, or a revolver or gatling-like configuration, where you overdrive them insanely, and it just mounts a new one each time the old burns out, or drops below spec.

Have it all electrically driven, and run by a PLC where a photocell in the driver circuit activates reloading when the output falters or falls below spec. Or even simpler, just have green/yellow/red beam output status LED's and when it drops to red, the user retracts a bolt, or racks a slide to load a new diode.

Each "cartridge" would consist of a diode in a Aixiz-style optical housing. Maybe have the magazine refrigerated with a peltier junction to increase the thermal capacity.

A totally ridiculous, complex and expensive idea, but perhaps if scaled up would have some application to the military or certain industrial processes where the expense and complexity would be worth it for size savings, or if a disposable solid-state system would be cheaper/safer than volatile chemical fueled lasers etc.

 

[Gazoo]

Benm,
Nobody can really answer your question because all the diodes have different personality's. Some behave better than others, and a few will be freaks...I think the one Daedal ran at 600ma's was a freak. The only thing I believe for sure is they all will behave well when being driven with 160 ma's of current. Now that may not sound like much, but it will burn like hell and last a long time.

I will admit I am jealous... ;D A match light at 20 feet is very impressive...so far the best I have been able to do is 8 feet.

 

[Benm]

Qutoe from FAQ:
"However, the limiting factor before the LD changes into a DELD may still be Catastrophic Optical Damage (COD) and its onset will depend on the E/M field interaction at the output facet, something not affected very much by ambient temperature. So, your 5 mW LD may still be limited to 5 mW even if it is more efficient at low temperature. "

I think that should hold true for the COD failure mode, although peraps the facets can actually deal with more light when at a lower temperature. COD is still a (partly) thermal process, albeit at a very specific spot in the whole laser.

The other way these things fail should be remedied by cooling though, degeneration of the junction just as it happens in (overdriven) LEDs.

I'm not really sure which failure mode is to blaim in these diodes though. The really cheap 5 mW reds are destroyed by COD with little exception, but i have my doubts for the GB diodes since some people have been able to push them to enormous powers using TEC.

Each "cartridge" would consist of a diode in a Aixiz-style optical housing. Maybe have the magazine refrigerated with a peltier junction to increase the thermal capacity.

Err... it would probably be more effective to fling aixiz housings at your enemy, with or without laser diode installed ;p

 

[Daedal]

How did you cool it D?

A nice big TEC and a frozen block of Aluminum. It might have been a freak diode, but it works nicely still ;D

--DDL