dx true 5

[john_lawson]

well so far no failure complaints of the 20+ units i pot-modded for friends all still going strong

 

[bryce007]

well so far no failure complaints of the 20+ units i pot-modded for friends all still going strong

Good to hear. I wish we could run these to death like we are for the 8x's. To see how long they will live at certain currents. I thought about sending one to Igor, but I figured his customs would take it. Mine are still going strong also.

 

[jamiphar]

I got one of these lasers about a month ago. I was plenty happy with how bright it already was, but I wanted to see if mine could be modded. Mine had the threaded head, not press-fit, so I did quite a bit of searching before I tried anything. I wanted to make sure I didn't bend anything or leave scratches. I finally found this video that shows how to do it: YouTube - HOW TO TAKE APART YOUR GREEN EBAY LASER

The video doesn't mention anything about taking the button out. If you don't have the resistor, you should have any trouble pushing the driver out of the way and taking the button out. Mine had the big resistor, so I basically squashed the pushbutton switch to get the little button out (I later replaced this with another momentary switch). After that, I was able to unscrew the assembly just like the guy did in the video. To make reassembly easier, I relocated the resistor to a spot directly behind the diode and module. I also have the resistor mounted horizontally instead of vertically.

After doing this, I decided to try pot-modding the laser. I hooked up my DMM between a pair of batteries and the laser, and it was pulling about 230ma without any mod. I upped the current until the brightness seemed to peak, which was at 390ma. I wanted this to be the maximum setting, so I put two 1ohm resistors in parallel (thus 1/2ohm) between the switch and the ground. This caps the current at 420ma, which is very close to the peak brightness. I then drilled a hole near the button hole in order to give me access to the pot after I put it back together.

I have it all back together now and I've been having some fun with the souped-up laser. The beam and dot are very very bright and I can feel it burn my skin if I hold it still for ten seconds.

I hope this info helps! I'll try to get some photos soon.

 

[Prototype]

That's a dangerously high current for the diode in the True 5, 300mA is as high as you should go, it's only a 250mW 808nm diode, and it IS in a pen after all. There's a review thread by Bob_Boyce, very extensive, he's done this to many of them, you can get a very nice power level from it. If you want high powers like that, you'll need to get a True 50, 100, or 200, as they use a 9mm 500mW 808nm diode and can take the higher current. I shant expect the laser to survive very long at that high of a setting. My $0.02.


Edit: http://laserpointerforums.com/f52/dx-true-5mw-green-review-43006.html

 

[hakzaw1]

Update- buddy Dave re set mine to 300mA and put into a Jasper host w/3.6v rechargeable--thanks Dave --now outputs 70mWs!!!!

 

[hakzaw1]

I also have a second one that is 42mWs-- I use a 30 seconds max on and a rest cycle of 60 seconds and both are still working fine.--and if it dies--whadda want for ten bucks-- a rubber chicken??