Blu-ray SUNBURN! whoops!

[apex007]

Nice power now thats a laser hehe

on a side note how is the diode handling the 125ma, I am currently in the waiting process for my parts to arrive and am not exactly positive on the mA i will be running through it. Based on klimbaks experiments (1 month at 90ma no prob...), I am thinking that 95 mA would be pretty good (long-term wise), but it seems the power you are getting at 125 is pretty substantial so I might be increasing my somewhat conservative current value when I am putting the laser together, it seems that these diodes are pretty capable well built and can take much more than was initially thought...?

Thanks
brtaman

I took the same approach as you plan to, starting off at ~90ma and seeing how it does. I want mine to last a long time too and I didn't want to immediately ramp it up to a higher current. I think most things need a little "breaking in" and my theory was that if I "eased" the diode into a higher current level over time it would do better than being cranked up right out of the box.

90ma is nice, it's stable and will give the diode a nice long life. But to me it's like having a car that has a 7000rpm redline and refusing to rev the engine over 5000rpms so it can "have a long life". Well, that's how I feel about the diode. The output is substantially brighter at 125ma, which to me, makes it worth the risk.

I stopped at 125ma because I felt that at that point, it wasn't going to get much brighter and all I would be doing beyond that point would be overheating the little diode. But the brightness increase from 90 to 125ma was so dramatic that I felt it was meant to be up there.

If it fizzles, I'll let everyone know. But I've run it for a minute straight while holding the Aixis module between my fingers, and it hardly heated up at all. Heat is what kills these things and it wasn't getting hot. So I think we're good.

 

[Bionic-Badger]

Don't worry, those hacks at those Australian newspapers will pick this up and claim people are creating skin-cancer causing laser weapons. Soon all consoles and optical media players will be banned from the Regressive Union of Australia.

 

[Maelstrom]

Don't worry, those hacks at those Australian newspapers will pick this up and claim people are creating skin-cancer causing laser weapons.  Soon all consoles and optical media players will be banned from the Regressive Union of Australia.

Lol its just a matter of time

 

[Murudai]

Don't worry, those hacks at those Australian newspapers will pick this up and claim people are creating skin-cancer causing laser weapons. Soon all consoles and optical media players will be banned from the Regressive Union of Australia.

 

[usakicksass]

That "burn" is done with mirrors. Its an old trick :-?

 

[apex007]

That "burn" is done with mirrors. Its an old trick :-?

You have a 100mw blu-ray, try it out!

I had mine focused down to about 8' for balloon popping, which is where I happened to be kneeling. Right at that focal point. It was a really boneheaded thing to do in retrospect.

 

[tone1132]

what kind of host is it? Looks great!

 

[apex007]

what kind of host is it? Looks great!

It's a light I bought from Deal Extreme over a year ago: MTE 6 watt 2-mode Cree. I just looked and I don't see them on the site any more but I'm sure they're out on the internet somewhere. Any single 1CR123A host with a decent width and depth in the head will do. It just takes some creativity cramming everything in without breaking something or shorting something. The trick is, work reaaaaallly slowly. The moment you feel like you're rushing or getting frustrated, put the project down, walk away, and come back later.

I'm in the midst of rearranging the works inside and adding some aluminum bars for additional heat sinking. When I get done I'll share some pics.

 

[Maelstrom]

Pretty sure this is it, or atleast close
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.725

 

[apex007]

That's the one, thanks for finding it!

 

[xts5000]

How long was the beam on your skin to produce a sunburn? How long would it take a 90mW blu-ray to give a burn like that?

 

[apex007]

How long was the beam on your skin to produce a sunburn? How long would it take a 90mW blu-ray to give a burn like that?

With my laser it took less than 5 seconds, but I was running in the 150ma range. I don't know if 90mw of blu-ray would do that type of damage or not. Probably, but over a longer period of time. I wouldn't recommend burning your skin on purpose, or anyone elses

 

[Canuke]

Past 470nm or so, photons are energetic enough to fragment DNA at the molecular level.  That's why near-UV light and shorter cause sunburn (and skin cancer).

 

[laserterd]

soon we'll be seeing "Blu-ray Melanoma whoops!!" threads

 

[wicked1]