dx true 5

[Greendream]

uhh.. you put it back in the same way to took it out..? slide in the module straight in and aligned so the button is well.. supposed to go where it is.

Suffering a temporary mental block there... for some reason I was thinking button in first, then push the module lol.

By the sound of it you got a bad diode perhaps?

 

[Shogoki]

i dunno.. it still works.. so..

i dunno... *sigh*.. still got 3 left to play with as one of the 5 i got, i gave to my brother.

ugh.. bad diode...?! bah.

 

[bryce007]

i dunno.. it still works.. so..

i dunno... *sigh*.. still got 3 left to play with as one of the 5 i got, i gave to my brother.

ugh.. bad diode...?! bah.

Have you tried yelling at it? Works for me most of the time.

 

[Shogoki]

dunno.. but now i suspect my batteries are dying.. i've seen it shine brighter.. and i played with it... quite a bit yesterday.. so.. until i get home to put fresh batteries in.. i can't really do much..

it still has a pretty bright dot though with good batteries.

 

[seoguy]

Let me know if the parts that you wanted to see are not clearly visible, and I'll grab a few more shots while the laser is still in bits.

Yes, thanks, from that perspective in 2nd photo, is hard to tell size of crystals. Can you get a pic from the side, so that we can see how long the crystals are? Like this -

Also, see if you can get a shot of diode (may need to put some light on it) inside hole. Like this -

Ok, I hooked up the laser to a multimeter, and it was reading around 200mA whilst outputting 14mW.

That seems a little high, perhaps they had to set it higher because this unit has crystal alignment problems?

After a bit of playing around, I set it to 303mA with a max output of 40mW

Cool! But should be a bit brighter, sounds like this one might have similar problem to Pen #1 that Bob_Boyce mentioned in his first post in this thread -

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

BTW, I would NOT try to re-align the crystals like he did unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing! One of the other members tried to do that on a high-power module, and killed it! 40mw is still a good laser for that price! :yh:

Now can anyone tell me HTH I put this thing back together lol

The three parts of the module just screw back together!

BTW, if you can get them apart without destroying the dang things, you might want to mod the other two, as you may be able to get up to 70mw or more out of them!

If you do mod them, compare them with this one (driver, crystals, diode), and see if they are all identical!

Did your LPM readings include IR?

Is hard to tell from angle of photo - if you look dead-on at top of that tiny crystal, is it perfect square shape on end?

If you look down into hole below crystals with magnifying glass, is the top of the diode an open-case type?

If you look at back of diode from resistor side (like in 1st photo), those two non-ground (have black around them) pins coming-out of diode, do those bend-out, bend-in, or straight to connect to driver? In other words, is the spacing between those pins on the diode narrower, wider, or the same as the spacing between them where they solder to the driver?

Thanks! :thanks:

@Shogoki:

At these current levels, strong batteries are pretty important. With my new DX high-power module, even brand-new alkaline AAA's aren't strong enough to power it fully!

@bryce007:

These "drivers" don't seem to keep a constant current at varying voltages. I'm using mine in a waterproof rayfoss host, with one 16340, and it made a huge difference in the current output. I plugged it in the first time, and it said over 500ma out of box.

There was a big discussion about this in another thread. The problem is that these drivers are not designed to go above ~3V. The driver was designed to provide high current, with low voltage in, and not require an expensive buck/boost regulator. The flip side is that if you feed this design more voltage than it was designed to handle, the driver malfunctions! :cryyy: It also severely overheats / destroys some of the parts!

If you want to run this with higher-voltage batteries, you will need to use diodes or something similar to bring the voltage down to a safe level.

BTW, I think I found out why my laser is now brighter. At a distance of 2', I now get a total spot size about 1' across! :huh:

No worries, though - the beam width, and the actual "intense" part of the beam, are still thin. What I appear to be looking at is a Gaussian distribution pattern! :yh: I suppose this extra stuff is what the aperture is designed to block?

 

[pa1ntbru5h]

i successfully potmodded one to 310ma today.
beam and dot are significantly brighter

 

[seoguy]

Cool! :yh:

What was the current set to before you changed it?

Any access to an LPM to see what it's putting-out now?

Did the insides of yours look the same as Greendream's pictures?

I ordered another one today...hopefully I will be able to figure-out how to get these open without dynamite before the new one arrives!

 

[pa1ntbru5h]

yup same one.
current was set at 200ma before potmodding.

 

[seoguy]

OK, thanks! :yh:

Added it to my chart!

Let me know if/when you get a chance to check it on an LPM.

BTW, I just checked the web page for the True 5 - it was "In Stock" when I ordered that today...it's now changed to "Back Ordered"!!! :yabbmad:

Damn! :cryyy:

 

[bryce007]

OK, thanks! :yh:

Added it to my chart!

Let me know if/when you get a chance to check it on an LPM.

BTW, I just checked the web page for the True 5 - it was "In Stock" when I ordered that today...it's now changed to "Back Ordered"!!! :yabbmad:

Damn! :cryyy:

You're making a chart? Mine was 173ma out of box (using the batteries it came with), I set mine to 290ma using a 16340.

 

[Shogoki]

seoguy, even when i was adjusting the pot using a computer PSU using a wire at 3.3VDC/14.0A, the max current reading i got was about 228mA..
though, the dot was significantly brighter than before.

but is there a reason or explanation i can't get the current reading any higher?

i hope i didn't damage the driver since you mentioned it wasn't supposed to handle over 3V.. :undecided:

 

[milantheone]

well i am totaly unable to take any current readings from my green lasers..

when i am measuring my blu-ray which is set at 125ma my multimeter show me around 140ma which is i think okay, but i am unable to take measurement on my green lasers..

Why?

 

[Greendream]

Yes, thanks, from that perspective in 2nd photo, is hard to tell size of crystals. Can you get a pic from the side, so that we can see how long the crystals are? Like this -

Also, see if you can get a shot of diode (may need to put some light on it) inside hole. Like this -

Edit to add - I measured the crystal to be 2mm long, perhaps a fraction over.

How are these?

Is it me or is that obviously misaligned?

That seems a little high, perhaps they had to set it higher because this unit has crystal alignment problems?

It seems that way...

Cool! But should be a bit brighter, sounds like this one might have similar problem to Pen #1 that Bob_Boyce mentioned in his first post in this thread -

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

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm thinkin too.

BTW, I would NOT try to re-align the crystals like he did unless you know EXACTLY what you are doing! One of the other members tried to do that on a high-power module, and killed it! 40mw is still a good laser for that price! :yh:

I don't know how to exactly, but if someone could give me a basic rundown, it's worth a shot for $10

I reckon I could do a better job than they seem to have done with the alignment!

The three parts of the module just screw back together!

Haha, yeah I knew that... it was putting the button back into the case that had me stumped for some reason?!

BTW, if you can get them apart without destroying the dang things, you might want to mod the other two, as you may be able to get up to 70mw or more out of them!

Yeah, the other two are next up on the list

I'm going to order a few more too I think

If you do mod them, compare them with this one (driver, crystals, diode), and see if they are all identical!

Yep, will do.

Did your LPM readings include IR?

Yes... I had the laser within about 1 inch of the sensor, so I think that would get almost all of the IR?

Is hard to tell from angle of photo - if you look dead-on at top of that tiny crystal, is it perfect square shape on end?

Yes, near enough.

If you look down into hole below crystals with magnifying glass, is the top of the diode an open-case type?

Not exactly sure what an open can (or closed for that matter) looks like TBH, but hopefully you can tell from the pix?

If you look at back of diode from resistor side (like in 1st photo), those two non-ground (have black around them) pins coming-out of diode, do those bend-out, bend-in, or straight to connect to driver? In other words, is the spacing between those pins on the diode narrower, wider, or the same as the spacing between them where they solder to the driver?

All 3 of the wires/pins are straight.

Thanks! :thanks:

You're welcome

 

[Greendream]

well i am totaly unable to take any current readings from my green lasers..

when i am measuring my blu-ray which is set at 125ma my multimeter show me around 140ma which is i think okay, but i am unable to take measurement on my green lasers..

Why?

Not sure is it's worth trying, but perhaps your multimeter batteries are old?

 

[Greendream]

I took the other two pens apart. The first was significantly harder to pull apart, and in the process I neglected to see that I'd warn through the piece of old leather I was using, resulting in the end-piece being gouged in a few places.

The next one came apart much more easily... about 2 minutes vs 10 minutes working it for the other, so that would explain why some are finding it easier than others.

Pen 1 measured 18mW max inc. IR @ 176mA.

I had a play around with the pot and wrote down some numbers:

214/32
267/58
317/70
344/61 (probably didn't give it time to climb)

I settled on 304/62

Pen 3 measured 15mW max inc. IR @ 210mA .

This pen had an extremely volatile pot! The first small attempt to turn it a fraction clockwise resulted in 38mW @ 340mA ! It was all over the place...


329/32
338/42
360/48

I left it @ 314/26 :/

I suspect this laser may be similar to Shogoki's... it seems that the pots are very bad quality on some of these drivers. That would be my guess why Shogoki can't get any more juice out of it.

 

[Shogoki]

maybe.. or i ruined something.. :thinking:.. doubt that though..

however as i said.. i can turn it round and round without a stop (is that normal for a pot? i usually feel a stop or something on other pots i've dealt with..)

.. and as it is so.. after turning the current high enough (lowest resistance of the pot) it'll just jump to it's max resistance.. and then it'll barely pass any current at all..

then diode turns off obviously..

haven't had much time to take the remaining 3 apart yet.. just kinda putting them into a "storage" state for now while i continue to play around with the one i tore apart.