Did I ruin my DPSS laser?

[thebouljello]

Im trying to build a yellow laser by combining red and green laser pens from ebay. After soldering a lead to the green laser, the dot was very dim and I thought the heat from soldering ruined the laser. Then I upped the voltage from 3v to 9v and the brightness increased significantly. Will the 9v eventually ruin the laser or will this work? It seems fine for now.

 

[Razako]

Need more details about what you soldered to what. 9v Will most definitely ruin a laser that was meant for 3v normally.

 

[ElectricPlasma]

Im trying to build a yellow laser by combining red and green laser pens from ebay. After soldering a lead to the green laser, the dot was very dim and I thought the heat from soldering ruined the laser. Then I upped the voltage from 3v to 9v and the brightness increased significantly. Will the 9v eventually ruin the laser or will this work? It seems fine for now.

My guess is the heat got to the DPSS module, and decreased the output as the module is quite temperature-sensitive. When I'm soldering a DPSS module I always wait for a while to let it cool down just in case. And you're most definitely going to blow a circuit if you run a 3v rated module at 9v

 

[paul1598419]

Really depends on what you soldered the positive supply to. If it is the driver, then it should be okay as that regulates the current to the 808nm pump diode. It may have been that you were adding the positive supply in a way that kept the input voltage too low and the increase was necessary to supply the driver. But, this is all speculation as you haven't given enough information.

 

[thebouljello]

New 2in1 Green Laser Star Cap Pointer Pen 532nm Constellation 5mW Stage Light F5 | eBay
This is the laser I used. I soldered the positive terminal to the metal side of the host. I believe the driver circuit comes after where I made the connection because the metal side of the host is connected directly to the battery. I said the pen handles 3v because it takes two AAA batteries, but these laser pens are over spec and could probably handle more than 3v. The metal pins on the sides of the tactile switch were used to bypass it because I want to control the module with a push button switch.

 

[paul1598419]

This is probably the cheapest of all the 532nm DPSSLs. IIRC, they output a maximum of 50 mW if you get a hot one. Can't really say what the maximum supply voltage would be for one of these as I have never tried to do anything with them.

 

[thebouljello]

This is probably the cheapest of all the 532nm DPSSLs. IIRC, they output a maximum of 50 mW if you get a hot one. Can't really say what the maximum supply voltage would be for one of these as I have never tried to do anything with them.

I got it because I wanted to make a yellow laser but I didn't want to spend too much because its my first one. If this goes well, I may make a yellow laser with higher quality diodes.

 

[Benm]

My guess is the heat got to the DPSS module, and decreased the output as the module is quite temperature-sensitive. When I'm soldering a DPSS module I always wait for a while to let it cool down just in case. And you're most definitely going to blow a circuit if you run a 3v rated module at 9v

DPSS can be quite picky about their temperature of operation, but you can solder onto the pump diode like you would on any other.

If you operate them at too high or too low a temperature what will result in a lower amount of green light produced, but this does not damage the system in any way - just wait for it to cool down and it will work as it did before.

One thing that is possible is that you soldered it so hot the driver got damaged one way or another and now doesn't run properly anymore.

It's not very likely though if you used a soldering iron intended for electronics work and didn't keep heating it until the whole thing was hot enough to melt solder onto. Most electronic components can take quite a thermal beating when powered off. The spec sheet will tell you the minimum abuse it must be able to survive, but practically it often is much higher: I've seen plenty of transistor still work even after clinging to the soldering iron for several seconds adhered to those by molten lead-tin solder.

 

[thebouljello]

DPSS can be quite picky about their temperature of operation, but you can solder onto the pump diode like you would on any other.

If you operate them at too high or too low a temperature what will result in a lower amount of green light produced, but this does not damage the system in any way - just wait for it to cool down and it will work as it did before.

One thing that is possible is that you soldered it so hot the driver got damaged one way or another and now doesn't run properly anymore.

It's not very likely though if you used a soldering iron intended for electronics work and didn't keep heating it until the whole thing was hot enough to melt solder onto. Most electronic components can take quite a thermal beating when powered off. The spec sheet will tell you the minimum abuse it must be able to survive, but practically it often is much higher: I've seen plenty of transistor still work even after clinging to the soldering iron for several seconds adhered to those by molten lead-tin solder.

I just tested it again with 3v and the brightness increased, but not completely. Il give it more time to see if the brightness will increase completely.

 

[thebouljello]

On the driver circuit there are op amps with input voltages up to 30v according to their datasheet. These modules should be able to handle a 9v.