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FrozenGate by Avery

Fried my Arctic Spyder 3 G2 - Diode Replacement?

Fried Chicken

Fried Chicken

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Joined
May 24, 2011
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I think I fried my laser.

I stupidly put 2 CR18350 batteries for some dingdong reason causing the laser to glow faintly (despite not being on). Then eventually fry itself. I don't remember if I actually clicked it on or not.

Now the diode won't power on at all. The rest of the laser seems to be working, however, suggesting to me the diode may be fried.

Is there a way for me to test this? Is there a diode replacement I can do, and if so is it possible for me to increase the output power?


I want to tear apart the laser assembly, however the only threads that i've found close to that have described how they broke the wires to their diode. Does anyone have experience tearing apart the arctic spyder? Where can I get replacement diodes?

What exactly is a driver, and is it possible I fried that and not the diode?
 





I never can understand why people do that to a laser. Just because it fits does not mean you should put double the voltage. Not trying to be mean but most lasers can only handle up to about a 20% boost, not double.
The Arctic laser is possible to disassemble but most of it is press fit and cemented together. It is not threaded together so if you try twisting it around and around you are going to rip out leads, pins, wires and so on.
So patience, a heat gun, a vice with soft jaws or rubber pads and elbow grease is needed.
Smeerworst I believe is the pro around here for ripping apart S3 Spyder series lasers.
Good Luck!!
 
Google with the google bar at the bottom of the page to find the disassembly process. You should be able to find threads on it
 
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Laser Chick said:
I never can understand why people do that to a laser. Just because it fits does not mean you should put double the voltage. Not trying to be mean but most lasers can only handle up to about a 20% boost, not double.
The Arctic laser is possible to disassemble but most of it is press fit and cemented together. It is not threaded together so if you try twisting it around and around you are going to rip out leads, pins, wires and so on.
So patience, a heat gun, a vice with soft jaws or rubber pads and elbow grease is needed.
Smeerworst I believe is the pro around here for ripping apart S3 Spyder series lasers.
Good Luck!!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know the battery thing was stupid, but I was feeling reckless as the thing hasn't run properly in years.

I will message smeerworst, hopefully he can help me out.

Thanks!
 
marcuspeh said:
Google with the google bar at the bottom of the page to find the disassembly process. You should be able to find threads on it
Click to expand...

Thanks for this tip!

I found exactly what I was looking for here.

I still haven't found a thread on the G2 shutting off as soon as it hits high power mode.
 
Laser Chick said:
I never can understand why people do that to a laser. Just because it fits does not mean you should put double the voltage. Not trying to be mean but most lasers can only handle up to about a 20% boost, not double.

Good Luck!!
Click to expand...

Accidents happen and it's a pretty common mistake myself and many others have made. Keep in mind not everyone has the same understanding of electronics as most here do. Some of us are still learning the hard way.

To the OP, most likely you only fried the driver. Smeerworst and Ultimate Kaiser should be able to help,you. Since it sounds like you don't have the working knowledge drivers and such it would probably be best to no try to do this yourself.
You should have better chances of repairing this since it's not a DPSS. those drivers in other laser manufactures like CNI are pretty specific and as is in the case of CNI, you need to get a driver from the manufacture. But I would immagine the 450 diode driver should be replaceable with what you can buy from FlaminPyros. He would also be a good person to ask.

Don't beat yourself up. Like I said it happens. Lesson learned.
I almost fried my crown upgrade inserting the battery in the wrong way, and blew my first build, an m140 putting in double the voltage as you did. Good luck. I have a bunch of extra x drives if you need one, or Flamingoyri has them in stick as well.
 
What battery are you using? Is it fully charged? Some of the batteries/chargers can unfortunately take 5 to 7 hours to charge.
The Arctic turns off/hibernates if it is not getting the power it needs when it goes to high power mode.
 
By freash do you mean that it is all cleaned up by you?
Usually there is a bunch of cement, paste and glue.
 
Laser Chick said:
By freash do you mean that it is all cleaned up by you?
Usually there is a bunch of cement, paste and glue.
Click to expand...

This is fresh from the factory...

It has never bin assembled.

Indeed most parts are glued and pasted wich is almost impossible to remove when buying one complete working handheld.
 
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Where can I get a replacement driver? Also if I wanted to upgrade my diode, which diode should I buy?
 
Laser Chick said:
I never can understand why people do that to a laser. Just because it fits does not mean you should put double the voltage. Not trying to be mean but most lasers can only handle up to about a 20% boost, not double.
Click to expand...

Most boost topologies are such that the output voltage cannot be stable below the input voltage, and are -at least- the input voltage minus 0.7 volts dropped over a diode or so.

At this point the driver is not regulating anything anymore, the diode is just physically in series with input and output and nothing can be done about it. In this case you just slammed a solid 7 volts onto the laser diode from batteries that can supply enough current to destroy it, which is what happened.

The -driver- could actually be okay after this ordeal though, you should test it with a proper input voltage and test load. As it probably did not kick in at all i doubt it would be damaged unless it was unable to handle the input voltage (check the driver chip used for that) or actually fried the skottky diode (not that likely, easy to measure).
 
Dont fell bad OP I fried 2 3 watt 445s by ixing up the polarity.



it happens.
 
Olympus, I also almost screwed up my Crown upgrade. Wasn't paying a ought attention and accidentally put 2 16340 in it. Turned it on for a second before it dawned on me and man was it bright. Somehow I managed not to blow anything (pretty much a miracle in my opinion) and it didn't drop in output.
Will say that the most output increase I have ever seen with an increase in voltage is with laserbtb pens. There's a dramatic increase in output going from the recommended (2) AAA to (2) regular lithium AAA to a single 10440 with spacer. You can get a 50-75% output increase with the 10440. Of course anyone who does this is taking the chance of blowing their laser but it hasn't happened to any of min yet (think I have at least 6 of them). Their 532nm get the largest increase.
 
I keep wanting to ask this battery question again even though there are multiple threads already. Pman have you tried many times to put those Everyready high voltage lithium AAA in a 3V fastech module or pens in general. I put them in one of my first cheapie ebay 532 pen and it made a world of difference in output and is still kicking strong after 8 months. But how much of a crap shoot is it? Im guessing 2 AAA lithium new would put out around 3.4v which is very nice but to go with a 10440 at max 4.2v is pushing it. Has anyone had issues with these lithium.
 
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