I've got an "Open Can" LD that came from an 18x drive. Been using it recklessly in a MagLite with no protection whatsoever. I'm planning to pull it out of there and use Daedal's regulator circuit, but I'm wondering... How does anybody find the max current for their diode without having two and blowing one first?
Does anybody have a spec-sheet for an open-can diode? (That's hard to search for on Google.) I suspect they'll tolerate more than 3V, and I don't know how much current.
I don't really want to turn up the current till the brightness seems to plateau, because that's almost certainly going to damage it. On the other hand, if I go really conservative, maybe I'm only getting half power.
Thoughts anybody?
:-/
Does anybody have a spec-sheet for an open-can diode? (That's hard to search for on Google.) I suspect they'll tolerate more than 3V, and I don't know how much current.
I don't really want to turn up the current till the brightness seems to plateau, because that's almost certainly going to damage it. On the other hand, if I go really conservative, maybe I'm only getting half power.
Thoughts anybody?
:-/