Battery chargers as regulated current sources

[XGUY]

Today i just bought one of these simple battery chargers and i tought that it could work as a good corrent regulated supply.

i can regullate it to 50, 80, 120, 180, 240 and 300mA. I bought it to charge some batteries but then i tought it could be usefull to run diodes from it, havent tested it yet but i will after the batteries are charged.

it even says "Constant current source" in it

 

[Chris.]

Looks good for a DIY lab laser

 

[a_pyro_is]

I wouldn't trust it unless it's made for laser diodes. They are Way more picky than just about any other device.
If you have a scope, look for transients on power up/down, as well as for noise in the output.

 

[XGUY]

Sadly i dont have scope nor have acess to any, but i just tested this thing on LD's. First i tested with a LED'ed LD, to check if it turned on, or turned on fire or something.
It turned on, the current was a constant 50mw. i turned it up and down and it works good but i noticed that it had a spike on the start even after i put a capacitor, wich isnt good for a LD.
So i connected a 10 ohm resisteor in parallel with the LD wich lowers the voltage output of the suply to around 0,5v, then i turn the suply on and disconnect the resistor making the voltage go from 0.5v to the voltage needed by the LD, no spike anymore ;D

Then i connected a working LD, had to raise the current to 80mw because at 50mw there is just a weak red light.
It lased with no problem, no fried LD, no fire, not another LED on my collection . Overal it seemed stable enough to run LD's.

 

[a_pyro_is]

I'm glad it's working for you.

 

[Archane]

this is kind of along the lines of what i've been wanting to work on. i've been thinking of taking apart a CR123 battery charger and putting the parts into my next laser so I have a portable, rechargable laser.

I just haven't gotten around to gutting the charger yet. has anyone done this yet?

 

[MarioMaster]

Today i just bought one of these simple battery chargers and i tought that it could work as a good corrent regulated supply.

i can regullate it to 50, 80, 120, 180, 240 and 300mW. I bought it to charge some batteries but then i tought it could be usefull to run diodes from it, havent tested it yet but i will after the batteries are charged.

it even says "Constant current source" in it

current is measured in mA not mW - mW is what comes out of the laser diode

 

[XGUY]

current is measured in mA not mW - mW is what comes out of the laser diode

hehe... my bad, just mistyped it :-[
ill edit it, thx for pointing it out