Awlego's RGB Laser Driver Has Arrived!

[awlego]

UPDATE: The pinout on the voltage regulator in the upper right hand corner is has a mistake in the silkscreen and thus many of the shipped regulators have failing voltage regulators.

Note that this only can hurt the IC/voltage regulator itself and will not be the cause of any laser diode damage.

Here is the 7085 data sheet so you can see the correct pinout of the regulator itself.
http://61.222.192.61/mccsemi/up_pdf/MC78L05BP(TO-92).pdf

Here is the fix:
Desolder the 7805 voltage regulator and re-solder it with the pins in the following holes (shown as the appear if the driver is facing like the pictures below:
----3-----
--2---1--

New user manual: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...TEtYzlhZi00Mzg1LTllZDQtYjg4NjIwNjY4NDBl&hl=en

I have been working on a full color PWM driver that is very similar to the one FML was selling a while ago. At the time I was building my RGB setup, I was unable to buy one of his drivers, and so I designed my own. These past few months I have been designing an official version of the driver I built to sell on LPF and here is what I have come up with:

This driver has the following features:
-3x DDL drivers, each custom set to the desired maximum current
-Multi-turn potentiometers to adjust color balance
-32 different programs (ranging from psychedelic color strobe through smooth colour morphing)
-2 buttons to change programs
-Memory saves the last program
-16 million+ possible colors
-Reverse polarity protection
-Input voltage of 9-12V
-Works with both 405nm and 445nm
-Outputs of up to 1.5 Amps! (See note at bottom)
-Dimensions of 39mm x 53mm (1.25” x 1.925”) -- insanely small to fit in portable units!
-High quality professional PCB design

I have several max currents available. Below I've posted the current ranges that are available (the multi-turn pots are used to adjust the current). Instead of opting for a narrow range of color adjustment, I decided to leave a large range to allow for the user to swap out diodes in the future or greatly decrease/increase the brightness of their entire setup. With 25 turns on each pot, you should still have excellent control on each laser's current!
56mA - 101mA
63mA - 125mA
68mA - 152mA
77mA - 202mA
83mA - 251mA
89mA - 303mA
92mA - 350mA
95mA - 405mA
98mA - 446mA
100mA - 502mA
103mA - 595mA
106mA - 702mA
108mA - 791mA
110mA - 893mA
111mA - 1008mA
113mA - 1190mA
116mA - 1524mA

They cost $70 US each plus $5 for shipping to the US (one shipping charge per order). For international shipping contact me.

I have created a google form to handle my orders:
http://tinyurl.com/3q6ahqp

Feel free to ask any questions you may have

Looking forward to making these,
-Alex

Note: for high outputs (>500mA) I have found that the LM338's (higher current versions of the LM317) get hot and need some heat sinking. I recommend heat sinking them if you plan on running them at such currents. On my RGB setup I have my 445nm diode set for the range that allows the max current, and when properly heat sinked it works flawlessly. It is also important to know that each LM338 must be heat sinked individually - you CANNOT put them all on one big heat sink. They need to be electrically isolated! There is a workaround using non-conductive thermal paste and then mounting all on the same heat sink, but use at your own risk. Also - if someone has a need for an output greater than 1.5 amps, this can be arranged. The circuit can handle up to 5 amps, but I just don’t stock the resistors needed for such outputs.

 

[awlego]

Reserved space for updates and such

Update:

Building Instructions (still making more complete as I remember little hints and such. Feel free to ask questions)

Please follow the more detailed building instructions here: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...TEtYzlhZi00Mzg1LTllZDQtYjg4NjIwNjY4NDBl&hl=en

The pinout mentioned was never attached, but it can be found here: http://gaussmarkov.net/parts/opamps/dip8-pinout.png

The Effects:
The program button switches through the various programs and the option button cycles through sub-programs within each program.

There are four colour palletes used:-

Primary. A fixed selection of saturated primary colours.
Vibrant. A stunning range of saturated colours.
Bright. A range of bright saturated and pastel shades.
Full Spectrum. Every colour that can be achieved from black to white.


The programs available:-

1. Morph and hold with vibrant colours. (Hold delay adjustable in 3 second increments.)

2. Morph and hold with bright colours. (Hold delay adjustable.)

3. Morph and hold with full spectrum colours. (Hold delay adjustable.)

4. Red marker to help you find your way through the programs.

5. Sweep continually between vibrant colours.

6. Sweep continually between bright colours.

7. Sweep continually between full spectrum colours.

8. Green marker.

9. Indie dim with each colour "rambling" independently.

10. Indie dim pastels (all colours 25% min).

11. Blue marker.

12. Rainbow. Can be stopped and started on any colour using option button.

13. Rainbow continuous. (Speed adjustable)

14. Black marker.

FX routines below can only be accessed when unit is in FX mode.
To lock and unlock FX mode, hold both buttons in for about 15 seconds until the output changes from blue to either red (locked out) or green (unlocked).

15. Colour burst with vibrant colours. (Speed adjustable.)

16. Colour burst with bright colours. (Speed adjustable.)

17. Colour burst with full spectrum colours. (Speed adjustable.)

18. Cyan marker.

19. Colour plasma lightning. (Speed adjustable.)

20. White plasma lightning. (Speed adjustable.)

21. Colour strobe. (Speed adjustable.)

22. Windswept flame effect. (3 independent.) (Speed adjustable.)

23. Subtle flame effect. (3 independent.) (Speed adjustable.)

24. Rainbow trail. Fast cycle of primary colours to create a colourful trailing effect on fast moving reflective objects or water droplets. The colours cycle so quickly that the output appears to be static white. (Speed adjustable.)

25. Jewel fountain. Similar to rainbow trail but with random vibrant colours, especially designed for fountains to make the droplets of water sparkle with random colours. Best used where the light is not directly viewed due to a shimmering effect. (Speed adjustable.)

26. X-Fader. A standard speed adjustable cross fading effect between the red and blue channels.

27. Peppers Ghost. An automated cross fade with hold delay adjustable in 16 3-second increments.

28. Juddermeister. A wild psychedelic effect which alternates rapidly between pairs of random colours.

29. Hazard. Specifically designed for LED hazard warning lights. This effect strobes alternately between the red and blue channel with 8 speed options in one style and 8 in another style.

30. Random fixed full colour. (Reselectable with option button.)

31. Random fixed vibrant colour. (Reselectable with option button.)

32. White marker.

If both program and option buttons are pressed together briefly the unit will revert to program 1.

After any buttons have been pressed the changes will be stored to non volatile memory and the unit will power up in that mode until further changes are made.

Here is some media of the prototype of my driver in action.
Please excuse the unfinished setup. I was excited to get my RGB and new driver to work and wanted videos/pictures so I had a photo-shoot with some makeshift dichro mounts As such, alignment is not perfect and it's not super pretty. It shows that it works though.
Not all the cool effects are shown - I originally took this video just to prove my lasers worked

I would love to make some high quality videos of the final product, but am in need of some more lasers with which to build another RGB.

-Alex

 

[rocket689]

What are the dimensions of this unit?

Edit: oops, sorry, just saw it.

 

[mfo]

I'm definitely buying one of these but might not be able to until my next pay check (I get paid this Saturday, but I just returned from Hawaii and gotta pay off some of my bills first). I'll get paid again on the 23rd. Do you have a large quantity of these for sale?

 

[rhd]

I teased this a few months ago in your previous thread, but take a look at this design:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f55/c...roup-buy-2-packs-left-62604-7.html#post902803

Basically, the first piece is a housing for 3 aixiz modules. The second piece is a dichro mount, with adjustment taps on the top (They're in the wrong place on that rendering. They shouldn't be in the corners, they should be centred along each edge)

At any rate, dichros would be attached to the dichro mounts, and then the two dichro mounts would be attached upside down into the housing. Once secured in place, you'd have micro-adjustment ability via the taps in the dichro mounts.

The project was too pricey for me to pursue on my own after spending ~$500 on my MOD9 eMachineShop order, but if there were 3 or 4 other people interested (perhaps some people who have shops and/or a way to sell these items), we could fairly affordably split an order of say 100 of these setups, 4 ways. I'd have to check out the math again (it has been a while), but I think that for maybe $750-ish we could end up with 100 RGB combiner units (complete with dichro mounts). Split enough ways, that might be a doable project

 

[awlego]

I'm definitely buying one of these but might not be able to until my next pay check (I get paid this Saturday, but I just returned from Hawaii and gotta pay off some of my bills first). I'll get paid again on the 23rd. Do you have a large quantity of these for sale?

I have 200 boards on hand and enough parts for 25 complete boards and I will buy more parts as needed... so it you need more than like 15-20 give me a heads up, otherwise I should have enough.

 

[Helios]

Very cool! I have too much on my plate already but I cant wait to see what others do with this. Quality and price seem great considering your getting 3 drivers and effects all in one. If you think about it just three flexdrives would run you $69 and you dont get multiturn pots or preprogramed effects.

awelgo - do you have any media of a RGB running on one?

 

[random person]

Wow, that looks very interesting! You should make a youtube video as a promotional for this. I'd be cool to see it in action.

So all your power transformation for this is linear then I assume?

 

[daguin]

Two ordered

Peace,
dave

 

[AAlasers]

What current would you suggest for the green laser module (without the driver attached to the pump diode)? And what module would you suggest? I was thinking of using the O-like 50mw module, and the 100-500ma setting. Would 500ma be too much?

Thanks,

AAlasers

 

[awlego]

awelgo - do you have any media of a RGB running on one?

I do not have any media of a RGB running with the PCB version of this driver. My RGB setup currently uses the prototype I made of this driver. I would take my RGB apart and use this version, but my prototype also has some circuitry to control the fans I use to cool the heatsinks on my lasers.

I am happy to post some of the media I took with my driver prototype back when I was testing it. I'll add it to the post when I get a chance.

If other people would like to post footage/pictures of my driver in action once they start building things with it, that would be awesome as well.

Wow, that looks very interesting! You should make a youtube video as a promotional for this. I'd be cool to see it in action.

So all your power transformation for this is linear then I assume?

Yes I should do that. Once I sell a few and have some more money I think I'm going to make a new RGB system that uses the PCB version of my driver and I will make a promo video. I really wish I had the spare lasers sitting around to make a video now, but unfortunately I do not.

Yes the power transformation is linear. As described in the initial post it uses 3 LM317 circuits (though I used the higher power LM338s).

Two ordered

Peace,
dave

Thanks! I'll make them tonight and they should ship tomorrow.

What current would you suggest for the green laser module (without the driver attached to the pump diode)? And what module would you suggest? I was thinking of using the O-like 50mw module, and the 100-500ma setting. Would 500ma be too much?

Thanks,

AAlasers

So this is kind of a tricky question. I never found a definite range for the green modules, but I use 650mA on my 100mW module. 500mA might be too much for the 50mW module, but I suspect that it would depend on the module. You could always order the higher setting, turn the pot to the highest resistance, and slowly turn it up until you achieve the brightness you wanted.

Another idea: measure the current output of the original driver and match that.

-Alex

 

[daguin]

I got mine today.

VERY nice workmanship

Peace,
dave

 

[awlego]

I got mine today.

VERY nice workmanship

Peace,
dave

I'm glad you approve

 

[AAlasers]

Just sent $75 USD. Let me know when you've shipped.

Thanks,

AAlasers

 

[awlego]

Just sent $75 USD. Let me know when you've shipped.

Thanks,

AAlasers

Just got your order!
I will build it tonight I ship first thing tomorrow morning.

-Alex

 

[AAlasers]

Awesome!

Thanks,

AAlasers

Just got your order!
I will build it tonight I ship first thing tomorrow morning.

-Alex