3W Infrared Lab Build question

[niiii]

Hello, Im gonna build 3w ir lab build. Im wondering if I can use the items below. Do you have any suggestions for me or any ideas?

C-mount Package laser diode holder+cooling Housing+Fans+Lens [OL-H-C] - $24.00 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce
Industrial Lab 980nm/850nm/808nm laser driver circuit /TTL/200-1 [OL-808-1W] - $14.00 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce
808nm 3W C Mount Laser Diode CW Semiconductor Diode | eBay
EU DC 12V 1A Power Supply Adapter 100 240V AC | eBay

I know its extremly dangerous using 3w IR laser, I will use it only for burning with glasses.

 

[Cyparagon]

Those all match quite nicely. I'm rather impressed - most people that want to build something like this start with "I wanna build a laser. How?"

12V 1A should be fine in theory, but you might want to go with a 2A wall plug to factor in chinese quality.

 

[niiii]

I know how to build cmount laser, but I wasn't sure with the o-like stuff. The driver is rated at 1A so 2A could be too much isn't it?

 

[The Lightning Stalker]

Those are all the right parts, except the
power supply isn't quite up to snuff, but
stay the hell away from o-like. People are
saying bad things about them recently. You
would be better off getting everything on
eBay.

Also stay away from those cheap replacement
power supplies. Find a good name brand
SMPS or you could end up with a bona fide
shock hazard. That diode is rated 3A, so I
recommend getting something that will do at
least 4A. Some laptop or LCD power
supplies work good.

 

[niiii]

I know the cmount is rated at 3amps, driver can output from 200mA to 10A so that's fine, but the description says that input should be 12V @ 1A, and 4A is much more than 1A

 

[The Lightning Stalker]

Yes, but 1A in and 10 out does not add up.
The diode would have to drop 1.2V and the
driver would have to be 100% efficient.
Neither one of these is going to happen.
Those crappy replacement power supplies
don't usually output their rated current
anyway and some can even electrocute you
under the right conditions.

 

[niiii]

won't it ruin the driver?

 

[The Lightning Stalker]

No, the driver only takes as much current as
it needs. The voltage is the thing to worry
about.

 

[Cyparagon]

That diode is rated 3A, so I
recommend getting something that will do at
least 4A.

It's a switching driver. Iin is not the same as Iout.

 

[niiii]

Im so confused now, so all those things will work together, but I need 12v power supply atleast at 4A?

 

[Atomicrox]

They probably work together.
You should get a 12V 2A supply (that's to guarantee the supply will be able to handle 1A properly, not because you need 2A - a good, verified, 1A supply will also work).

 

[Alaskan]

I'm testing the life of a 4W 808nm C-mount laser diode driving it directly with a 2 volt Gates battery, as long as it doesn't get too warm, it doesn't pull too much current strait from the battery but I also watch the current with a meter to turn it off if the current goes above 5 amps. So far, with the fan running, the diode hasn't gotten warm enough to start pulling more and more current but with the fan off, it DOES warm up too much and starts to do that after a few minutes... I am sure it can get warm enough even with the fan on to start pulling too much current without a diode driver, just that I don't run it that long, only running for five minutes or so at a time. No soft start, not sure how much abuse this diode can take, but I've fired it off and on a hundred times and ran it for a cumulative hour (all together, not at one time) and so far so good using one of these hosts:

33 33 80mm Housing Case Mount for Laser Diode C Mount Good Cooling | eBay

PS: It's the same host O-Like sells but at far less cost. Word: I don't recommend driving a laser diode without a constant current circuit board, but I'm doing so to see how long I can keep doing that without a problem, I bet if I had a heat sink which could keep the diode from warming up too much over an extended period of time, I wouldn't need a constant current driver at all. Even so, soft start is a good thing to have anyway. Maybe some diodes don't behave so nicely as this C-mount diode, don't risk this on other diodes unless you are willing to loose it.

I'm using this unit coupled with a vanadate and ktp crystal to produce 532nm at about 550mw output when at 3.75 amps of current, it's an inefficient conversion, but does produce some power.