DVD Laser help

[Xplorer877]

I need to know what does all this 8x 16x 18x stuff mean? Does it reflect the power of the diode?

What voltage and current do typical burner diodes run on? Lets say enough to light a match.

Thanks
-Tony

 

[Tw15t3r]

these 8x 16x 18x 20x 22x thingies are the burning speed of the DVD writer. Higher speed means it can burn faster.

From this it can be concluded that the faster the speed, the stronger the diode in there. The numbers were not meant as a direct reflection of the power of the laser diodes in the DVD writers.

As for voltage, these run on red laser diodes, so around 3v would work. (more specific is 2.7 i think).
Current varies with the power of the diode. 16x usually can take 300ma while a 20x/22x would go up to 400ma. (Good heatsinking required)

Lighting a match, I'm not sure about how much power is needed at least, but i think 100mw would be enough to burn a match. Maybe not very fast, but will still do it.

 

[Xplorer877]

Cool Thanks ;D

 

[diachi]

these 8x 16x 18x 20x 22x thingies are the burning speed of the DVD writer. Higher speed means it can burn faster.

From this it can be concluded that the faster the speed, the stronger the diode in there. The numbers were not meant as a direct reflection of the power of the laser diodes in the DVD writers.

As for voltage, these run on red laser diodes, [highlight]so around 3v would work. (more specific is 2.7 i think)[/highlight].
Current varies with the power of the diode. 16x usually can take 300ma while a 20x/22x would go up to 400ma. (Good heatsinking required)

Lighting a match, I'm not sure about how much power is needed at least, but i think 100mw would be enough to burn a match. Maybe not very fast, but will still do it.

The voltage depends on what current you want to run it at ! for a 16X you might want to run it at 300mA, and you might need a voltage of 3.1V , but then again you might only want to run it at 230mA , in which case you'll want a lower voltage. this is partially why we use drivers, so that we can set the current to whatever we want, and the voltage will be regulated so that the set current can be achieved and stay the same constantly.

Also good heatsinking is advisable for most DVD lasers that we build, as we tend to overpower our diodes, we need heatsinks to keep them cool and stop them from dying. I've seen 22X diodes run past 525mA with a large heatsink and thermoelectric cooling. At that current it was nearly outputting 400mW !

Most of us however tend to run 22X diodes at 380-420mA, with a TEC I would be willing to push it to 450mA.

-Adam