Re: 12x Blu-ray SLEDS GB! 450mW!! Sanyo 12x!!
LRMNmeyer said:
I hope these are 12x's...
What's the correct current for the 4x diodes? The reds are 16x's, right?
There is no such thing as correct current...
I just wanted to give a report on my test 4x... By now it degraded deep into the first kink, and has a badly deformed spot... This is somewhere upwards of a hundred hours now (need to check the counter)...
So this particular diode by now survived a long time of normal use. And it's still going strong, but it fell in it's own first kink. If i were to raise the current, it would once again be at it's former power, but would start degrading even faster, obviously..
Under the first kink it would have probably lived for thousands of hours. Just above it would seem to be hundred(s?)...
If you want it to live "forever", set it just bellow the first kink. No one but you can find out where this is. It's obviously different for each diode, altho most of them would seem to have it jst when they start reaching 140mW. That happens somewhere between 140-150mA so at 135mA they would probably live "forever" (= x000 hours)..
If you want to get the safe-max out of it, limit the driver to 150mA and slowly turn the pot until you see the spot deforming.
Then back off a little, until the spot is normal. Then turn it off, let it cool off, turn it back on, check that it's not mode-hopping when cold.
If you want to get the slightly less safe-max out of it, limit the driver at 170mA, and slowly turn the pot until you see the spot deforming.
Then raise the current a little more, to bring it out of mode-hopping, so that the spot is normal - just above the first kink. Turn off, let it cool off, power-up, check that the spot is not deformed when cold. Let it warm up, check that the spot is not deformed when warm = diode just above the first kink. Here it would seem to live x00 hours. Or maybe just 1x0 hours, not sure yet...
If you want even more power, raise it to just below the second kink, but don't be surprised if it pops in several tens of hours.
For the above, i would recommend using the most simple linear driver, possibly with a multiturn pot in series with a max-current-limiting resistor, to prevent overshooting the maximum currents. When you're done finding the right current, switch to the final driver, don't forget to discharge the caps.
Or you could also just look at Rkcstr's graph, and select a current from it. The kinks are visible there. If yours happans to be in a kink at a current, where the graph isn't, adjust accordingly.
The reds are 16x's, yeah, but they are 16x's on crack. They are the same diode as in Dilda, and would seem to be somewhat similar to an open can, only canned.
EDIT: The power of the test 4x at this moment is
126.6mW. If i were to lower the current a bit, the power would actually become higher, because right now, the spot is badly distorted.
Hard to say what these should be powered at. It depends on what you want.. I don't yet know how long it will live, nor what i should do. I could leave it as it is, long enough for it to degrade to just bellow the kink, so the beam returns to normal and the power goes up. I could raise the current and bring it out of the kink, but that would skew the test.
If i would have set it just bellow the kink, it would have a higher power than it has right now, and it would live for thousands of hours most likelly.
