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DX100mW Red Module - Mini-Review

kake

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Dec 6, 2007
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Do they? Arent they just plastic and some metal, nothing else? How can they kill diodes?
Would aligator clips or something be a better idea than sockets?
 





roSSco

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Dec 5, 2007
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IF (and they will) loose connection for just a fraction of a second the voltage spike can kill it. Many of us have been there, done that, bought the t-shirt and the post card. ;D
 
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Nov 28, 2007
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Woohoo! I popped my laser-burning cherry last night! woot!

I had ordered a USB battery pack from DX (SKU 3060) and obviously the 70mW laser. I spliced an old USB cable and connected it up, adjusted the focal point to around 8" and voila, I was cutting through binbags and smoking electrical tape as soon as the laser hit.

Didn't have any balloons, but it would have spelt instant death to them at the focal point. What was even better is that the rechargable battery pack was running constantly for over 2.5 hours with 100% duty cycle on the laser without any problems whatsoever.

Time now to make a nice enclosure....

Ah, I'll never forget my firstfirst......
 
Joined
Dec 5, 2007
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100
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18
I ordered the 100mw version because it was not that more expensive for the extra power.
i ordered it on Xmas day and now it being the 18th of Jan it still has not came. i really wish DX had better shipping.
 
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Jul 24, 2007
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I am using a SenKat red in my RGB scanner and decided to connect it to the DX power supply, It worked fine until I tried to adjust it to match my green (which is driven from the same board :)).
As soon as I touched the pot with my pot twiddler the LD went to LED mode :(
Investigation shows I have a dodgy pot that goes open circuit as soon as any pressure is put on it....the effect of the fault is that the LD got whacked with 5v.

@ Mike
Also the extra cable is the TTL blanking for each channel. It's off at 0.20 volts and full on at 0.30 volts. Very narrow analog range ....

I dont understand what I have to do to get the blanking, I assume the three wires are red/ground/green. do I have to put voltage across 2 of the wires, i.e. across red and ground? I seem to remember that TTL logic is 5v but this works at a much lower level, would I need to put a resistor across the TTL output to get the level closer to 1v or less?????

Regards rog8811
 
Joined
Jan 7, 2007
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Grounded and its off -- It turns on with about 0.3 volts up to 5 volts. It must have a pull up resistor because it's on when open.

Mike
 
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*update* I tried a second DX driver board for my scanner build, hoping it would be of better quality...... I powered it up through a LM317 constant voltage supply, it killed 2 reds in quick succession....As far as I am concerned the circuit is carp :mad:

I have now gone back to LM317 constant current drives for red and green (supplied from the same CV LM317 I used with the DX driver) they are working fine.
I have, of course now lost the easy blanking option that was built into the DX drivers but I still feel I am better off this way.

Regards rog8811
 

Ref

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Nov 25, 2007
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Hemlock Mike said:
Breaking news !  I finally got my DX 70 mW module today !!!

The 100 mW module outputs 100 mW at 300 mA.   The 70 mW module when turned up, outputs 100 mW at 280 mA.   Go figure  ;D

They appear to be the same unit.

Mike
So the 70mW should output up to 100mW with no mods other than a turn of the pot? I might buy 5. lol
 
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Nov 4, 2007
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Ref said:
[quote author=Hemlock Mike link=1196123930/75#77 date=1199747817]Breaking news !  I finally got my DX 70 mW module today !!!

The 100 mW module outputs 100 mW at 300 mA.   The 70 mW module when turned up, outputs 100 mW at 280 mA.   Go figure  ;D

They appear to be the same unit.

Mike
So the 70mW should output up to 100mW with no mods other than a turn of the pot? I might buy 5. lol[/quote]

I received my 70mW module recently and had the same experience. As delivered the output was 71mW at 6V. A slight turn of the pot achieved 100mW at 280mA.
 

Ref

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Nov 25, 2007
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Nice :). Lets hope DX doesn't catch on and up the price. ;)
 

Benm

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Aug 16, 2007
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I got the 100 mW unit recently - seems to work okay.

The maximum range on the pot is about 260 mA (measured input, not diode), enough to light a match in the focal point of the beam. I don't have a power meter, but i think the ouput from these is a bit lower than the sony GB diodes at a given current. I'll try modding the range with the additional resistor later on.

I like the heatsink, but it came quite badly gauged and mangled.. still works as it should obviously, but doesnt look all that nice.
 

kake

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Dec 6, 2007
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Got mine todag. powering it with a 3.7v 355mA Nokia charger :cool: That was the closest adapter i had.
It does lase, and it does cut electrical tape, but it doesnt light red matches. It smokes them.
When i sharpied one, it did ignite, but it did take a long time!
Im gonna post a update when i get a better power adapter :p
 
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Oct 23, 2007
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No matter how hard I try I cannot get sharpied matches to light with the 70mw version with the pot cranked all the way up.
 

Ref

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Joined
Nov 25, 2007
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178
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Theoretically, how long could you run one of these things in a room temperature environment continuously? I have no experience with lab-style modules, and I recently registered at PL and saw a guy running 2 open cans mounted in blocks of aluminum for 5 weeks straight. What would you expect the duty cycle for one of these to be?
 




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