I hope this isn't too boring, but I enjoy building these things, just thought someone might want to see another person's approach to building a laser from the GB diodes and simple parts.
After building one laser in a Radio Shack battery holder, I thought it was a pretty good host - easier than using a flashlight housing. So, I built another one, slightly different. This time I used a fine GB diode from SenKat, a glass lens Aixiz module and a different driver. I looked through my parts boxes and found an old 2AA Luxeon LED driver board from a flashlight bought from Elektrolumens (I replaced that with a homemade Zetex300 buck converter and used 6AA's for the flashlight - a nice bright 1W Cyan emitter). I tested it on 1 AA cell with a Luxeon 1W LED as a load, it put out 165mA at about 3.6V, connected it to a LD (crummy one) and it put out about 180mA - perfect for driving the GB diode. I looked at the output on a scope (excuse the bad photo - I needed another hand) and there was negligible ripple, about .15V, no spikes on power-up. So I decided to go straight from the converter board to the new GB diode - no extra caps or resistors this time as the output was clean and just about where I wanted it. The result is a cool-running, not too overdriven diode with a perfectly round dot, unlike a couple of others that have lines and double dots. As for burning, it does what's expected - cuts electrical tape, smokes any black plastic, etc. This time I used the whole Aixiz module, a little extra metal for heat sinking. It's amazing how simple it is to drive these diodes with a cheap boost converter from an LED flashlight - I can't see anything that would blow the diode - current is OK, no noise or spikes, and it works on a single AA! A NiMH cell reduces the drive current to under 110mA unfortunately. Next project will be powering some type of converter with a 14500 Li-Ion cell - I picked up a few for use in flashlights, they pack quite a bit of power with a very flat discharge curve - I have a few buck converters to try out with them. Only problem is the protected cells are a bit longer than AA's, it's a very tight fit in a battery holder. Anyway, I thought someone may be interested in running the GB diodes with a single AA. I hope the photos show up!
Rob
After building one laser in a Radio Shack battery holder, I thought it was a pretty good host - easier than using a flashlight housing. So, I built another one, slightly different. This time I used a fine GB diode from SenKat, a glass lens Aixiz module and a different driver. I looked through my parts boxes and found an old 2AA Luxeon LED driver board from a flashlight bought from Elektrolumens (I replaced that with a homemade Zetex300 buck converter and used 6AA's for the flashlight - a nice bright 1W Cyan emitter). I tested it on 1 AA cell with a Luxeon 1W LED as a load, it put out 165mA at about 3.6V, connected it to a LD (crummy one) and it put out about 180mA - perfect for driving the GB diode. I looked at the output on a scope (excuse the bad photo - I needed another hand) and there was negligible ripple, about .15V, no spikes on power-up. So I decided to go straight from the converter board to the new GB diode - no extra caps or resistors this time as the output was clean and just about where I wanted it. The result is a cool-running, not too overdriven diode with a perfectly round dot, unlike a couple of others that have lines and double dots. As for burning, it does what's expected - cuts electrical tape, smokes any black plastic, etc. This time I used the whole Aixiz module, a little extra metal for heat sinking. It's amazing how simple it is to drive these diodes with a cheap boost converter from an LED flashlight - I can't see anything that would blow the diode - current is OK, no noise or spikes, and it works on a single AA! A NiMH cell reduces the drive current to under 110mA unfortunately. Next project will be powering some type of converter with a 14500 Li-Ion cell - I picked up a few for use in flashlights, they pack quite a bit of power with a very flat discharge curve - I have a few buck converters to try out with them. Only problem is the protected cells are a bit longer than AA's, it's a very tight fit in a battery holder. Anyway, I thought someone may be interested in running the GB diodes with a single AA. I hope the photos show up!
Rob
very inventive idea to use a battery holder!
