Anyone burnt out a diode?

[laze_doctor]

Greetings fellow laser enthusiasts!

So what's the deal with diode lifespan? For example, say a diode is rated with an expected lifespans of 6000 hours.

I mean sure, that's a lot. If used an hour a day every day, that's like 16 years -- which is ages.

But if it was left on 24/7 that's less than a year.

I'm not planning to leave it on 24/7, and I do realize that most people's average long term use is probably going to be much less than an hour a day... however just wondering.

Is the 6000 hours accurate.. or is that sort of a worst case scenario? Has anyone actually ever burnt out a diode?

 

[daguin]

Greetings fellow laser enthusiasts!

So what's the deal with diode lifespan? I'm currently looking at purchasing some hardware from Laser Glow, and they've rated the expected lifespan as 6000 hours.

I mean sure, that's a lot. If I used it an hour a day every day, that's like 16 years -- which is ages.

But if I left it on 24/7 that's less than a year.

I'm not planning to leave it on 24/7, and I do realize that my average long term use is probably going to be much less than an hour a day... however just wondering.

Is the 6000 hours accurate.. or is that sort of a worst case scenario? Has anyone actually ever burnt out a diode?

Some lasers are used 24/7 or at least 9-5/7

"Has anyone ever burnt out a diode" ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Are you just talking about this week?

Peace,
dave

 

[FireMyLaser]

6000 hours, I think it's the estimated time, no one have probably burnt out a unit it the way you're talking about.
I could be o so wrong...

 

[Razako]

The 6000 hour lifespan is really only important for lab lasers or other lasers that are going to be used for 3+ hours a day. If you take care of a laser and it is driven correctly without any fundamental flaws you can expect it to last a lifetime.

I have some old keychain red pointers from almost 10 years ago and the diodes inside are still good and light up when power is applied.

 

[chido]

Hmmm, I'm not Razako but let's see here. 500mW of pure green light, you would be able to see the beam almost anywhere. I would never get tired of playing with something like that.

 

[chido]

Well I doubt you would be able to see it outside on bright daylight. What I'm trying to say is that the beam must be really bright, the human eye is most sensitive to green light, that's why you're able to see the beam of a puny 5mW green laser, imagine a 500mW. ;D Take a look here.

 

[Razako]

The herc is absolutely crazy outside at night. I sometimes shine it around late at night if there aren't any helicopters/planes in sight and the beam is amazingly bright even without any fog. You can shine it at a white wall hundreds of feet away and it fills the entire area around the wall with green light. The herc in this picture from laserglow is a 225mw..

You can look through the laserglow gallery if you want to see more pics of these things.
http://laserglow.com/index.php?picsvids
I'll post some of my own pics if I ever get a foggy night.
Here's a youtube showing what the herc and my rpl300 look like indoors in a dark room.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z28s...interforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1208807959