Drivers for green diodes

[try2die]

What drivers are use for green lasers? Does the flex5 power them? What are they set to? I have only built 445 diodes in to lasers and want something different. Also whats the highest powered green diode? And what can i set the driver to. It seems more people at the forum build more blue than any other, I wonder why that is.

my 445 blue laser collection i got the blues

 

[aryntha]

The green diodes are still rather hard to come by, and are, effectively, still mainly experimental and available as "engineering samples". (This is just beginning to change now.)

They're also very expensive for relatively low power.

Historically, red diodes were 'commonplace', but low power as well - this is starting to change (a little) lately, too.

As to why people on this forum are mostly into blue? Two answers.

1) Cheapness.
2) Power.

These, IMO are the major concerns of most folks coming into the laser hobbyist (or... purchaser) scene since the blue 445 diodes (and the WL Arctic) became available.

"Power" is what everyone is after. More and more power. And, currently, as far as direct diodes go, "power" from single diodes goes a bit like this:

• Blue (445nm) - 1000-1500mW (typical), $35-45/diode
• Violet (405nm) - 200-800mW (typical), $15-100/diode (depending on power)
• Red (660,635nm) - 200-500mW (typical), $10-250/diode (depending on power)
• Green (515-520nm) - 30-50mW, >$200/diode
  
• Green DPSS (532nm) - 100-600mW (typical), ~$1/mw ($50-$700)

So, as you can see, Blue 445nm gets you the most power for the least amount of money. So this hits the 'sweet spots' of ... a whole lot of folks coming onto the scene.

Personally, I think there's a whole lot more to lasers than that, but I know I'm in the minority. Which is why the availability of direct green diodes (and a bit before that, the availability of decent 635nm reds) didn't make nearly as much of an impact as the 445nm blues did.

As soon as you see another diode that can do, say, 3-5w for $35-50, you'll see an upsurge in the popularity of that color, whatever color it happens to be.

"And many balloons were popped."

What I'd recommend, is, if you've got a collection of all 445s, and are OK with the beam profile --- and are willing to go jsut a touch "dirtier" on beam profile, try a Mitsubishi 635nm red build. It's a "quirky" beam profile but a rather cheap way to get a decent amount of power in another color.

Or, if you don't have a 405/Violet, try that. The wavelength tends to be reactive with more materials even than 445, so if burning is what you're after, 405 will do nicely; not to mention being a rather striking color.


(...Wish I had room to list my latest lasers in my profile... and i've got a backlog of reviews to do now -- nodding to Qume, DTR and RHD...)

 

[Blord]

You can use drlave Microboost driver. It can provide higher voltage to the diode than the Flexdrive.