832mw 405 (BW512L)

[Cenobite9]

Wow, this little guy really surprised me! This is a pic of the power reading for a laser I fixed for a friend of mine. This 405 is built in a Dorcy Jr host and originally used a diode from store bought Pioneer 12x Blu-ray writer with a FlexDrive v5.

He managed to burn the diode out after about a year of high usage so he asked me to fix it for him. I originally ordered a BDR-S0J6 as a replacement but Rayfoss informed that they were out of stock and suggested a BW512L instead. I went ahead and got the alternate replacement (and saved $10 in the process since it was cheaper) and I suggested to my friend that he change the driver to a Microboost instead since these can handle the 405s better at higher currents. He agreed to the driver replacement and after receiving the diode from Rayfoss I went about repairing the laser.

I set the new driver to 546mA (I was aiming for 550 even) just to give him a small power boost (the Flexdrive was set to 425mA). I knew the diode could handle it as I had built myself a personal 405 with a Microboost @ 575mA and have seen no issues yet. I figured the new diode and driver would give him around 700-750mW of 405 (based on my 405 @ 575mA) but when I put this guy on the power meter I received quite a surprise. It peaked at 836mW and then leveled off at 832mW!!! Wow, that was my first glimpse at over 800mW of 405!

Needless to say my friend was very happy with the repaired and upgraded laser. I told him to be very careful with it as diodes of this efficiency are hard to come by. So now I am going to order another BW512L for myself and hopefully get upgraded performance for my 405 laser .

For the record his complete laser specs are:

Dorcy Jr host
405-G-1 lens
Microboost @ 546mA
BW512L diode
Darkhorse aluminum heatsink
UltraFire RCR123A battery

 

[Cam453]

Wow that's amazing. I thought generally the output was fairly close to the mA put into the diode.

 

[danefex]

Very nice!! But if I can give you a small bit of advice from what your friend also said, use this cautiously and sparingly. <800mW of 405nm from a 12x isn't going to last too long with a lot of use, even with short, respected duty cycles. I learned this the hard way more than twice when treating 2 different <700mw 12x 405s like 1W 445s with respectable duty cycles. 12x diodes dont last too long with this much amperage, but again - nice job! :beer:

 

[Cenobite9]

Thanks danefex! I told him the 405s don't usually live very long at that power but he seems ok knowing it may die alot sooner than his previous one. I hardly ever use my lasers so they usually last a long time. I just like to see how strong I can make 'em

 

[danefex]

Damn I can't use my lasers enough these days, but yes I also agree - I save showing off the high end 405s usually for when there's a camera or a few interested friends around :beer: