Have you ever killed a Laser?

[MrMcChicken]

Hi, do you have ever killed a laser and how?
I am wondering because it is insane how powerful laser diodes are nowdays and with how much additional power they can survive.
For example: I have seen quite some 1.5W 520nm builds with 1W diodes
or how the NUBM07E 465nm diode gets punched to go up to 473nm.
So am I easy to impress or do you think linke me that this is quite insane?
I mean there are so many electric parts which will blow up almost directly after you cross the absolute maximum ratings of the datasheet.

So I killed a 120mW 405nm diode once while totaly failing on a breadboard.
I have not checked the connections and blew it up by shorting 12V with it.

 

[RedCowboy]

:crackup: Yes I have killed many lasers, they tremble a the mere mention of my name.
Here are just a few.

 

[VirtueViolater]

:crackup: Yes I have killed many lasers, they tremble a the mere mention of my name.
Here are just a few.

Now THAT's a laser graveyard!

 

[Ears and Eggs]

I have killed an LPC red diode and destroyed the accompanying flexdrive due to too much solder.

 

[GSS]

Ears And Eggs, I can fix that

Red, I don't think one mans garbage is another mans treasure fits your "case"

 

[Lurkios]

Lent my 405 to a friend for a lab (I knew better)...

Battery in backwards, laser dead.

 

[Razako]

Unintentionally, or intentionally? I think I've only ever killed one laser unintentionally. It was a DX red lab laser which I left on for like a week straight. It ended up dying for some reason.

Intentionally I've killed 3 lasers to use their hosts for something else, or for other scientific purposes.

 

[Ears and Eggs]

Also see thread Laser Tragedies, some very sad stories of lasers meeting an untimely demise:


http://laserpointerforums.com/f57/laser-tragedies-share-your-story-80832.html

 

[paul1598419]

I killed a few LPC-840s trying to build them into a cheap host and using a very cheap driver. It never worked out and after destroying three diodes I quit. That was a couple years ago. I've had diodes decide to die on me for no apparent reason. Most often were harvested M140 diodes which caused me to start buying brand new diodes instead of the harvested ones.

Edit: I also killed my Oclaro 653nm 700mW diodes trying to drive them at 1300mA. This made me buy the Mits instead. There are so many others I just have to stop and think about them all.

 

[MrMcChicken]

@RedCowboy: Boy, that looks painfull! Has somebody killed diodes by driving them too far? It looks like most diodes die by failing the powersupply.
Laser tragedies: Like I said, shorting 12V across a 120mW Diode >.<

 

[RedCowboy]

The new diodes are pretty tough and if overdriven for a moment will dim down but recover, however if you push the duty cycle too far they will go led all at once while overheated.

Time flies when you're having fun, so a good heat sink is important to me, otherwise they can get cooked and go led.

 

[LEDbeam]

The new diodes are pretty tough and if overdriven for a moment will dim down but recover, however if you push the duty cycle too far they will go led all at once while overheated.

Time flies when you're having fun, so a good heat sink is important to me, otherwise they can get cooked and go led.

Does power level factor in when it comes to failure? That is, does a 6W laser have a bigger chance at failing prematurely than a 100mw?

 

[Pman]

95% of my kills came from trying to push them too hard and my pile looks kind of like Reds if you remove all the extraneous stuff. Most have been LPC-826 so not that painful.
Diodes die prematurely because we push them hard. They are abused in many ways including crappy drivers, improper power supplies, heat-sink issues, impacts and other forces from not having a stationary unit. You mention a higher output and its just common sensemble more heat will stress components more. In general we are purposely abusing consumable diodes that were not designed for what we put them through. Different diodes are more sensitive than others to any single factor than others regardless of output. One may start to fold back while another just blows.
Basically what you are asking is a loaded question. Could wax on and on about the subject. It's up to the builder and buyer to decide which factors they are willing to chintz on or pay extra for depending upon how they intend to use their laser and unfortunately I would say that most of the time that comes down to how much money you are willing to spend and what you want the finished product to look like

Oh and if you haven't killed a diode you have built very few lasers. Everyone who builds kills diodes and personally I don't consider anyone who claims to be a builder and also claims a perfect record to be trustworthy. I consider them to be liars.

 

[RedCowboy]

Can't rep you yet Pman but you are right on target.

There's 2 kinds of people who race motorcycles, those who have wrecked and those who will.

I have been holding one corrected nubm44 in each hand and observing overlap performance vs turning one 90 degrees on top of the other and I see the value of a wave plate.

It's also challenging at 15 feet to keep up with which spot is which, but a dozen watts is fun, 24 or 36 will be even more fun.

I want to start combining but heat is a bigger issue for us than the projector makers, we push these diodes near twice the factory rating and that makes over twice the waste heat.

The waste heat when running multiple diodes...... it is substantial, just my attempts at triple 7875 builds get very hot in 3 minutes, luckily the 7875 is super tough and quite an energy dense beam for it's size/divergence.

If they get cheaper, not that 25 dollars with the G9 isn't bad I may have to bundle a mess of them, but the more fun you have the more stuff you will break and just plain wear out, I have a pile of half bright diodes too, but they had a long service life at near fold back power.

Waste heat is a big factor.

But I digress, like anything you do a lot of you will have parts and pieces, some from disasters, just ALWAYS protect what you can't replace, your eyes.

 

[Chrisbee]

:crackup: Yes I have killed many lasers, they tremble a the mere mention of my name.
Here are just a few.

Hey RC, since it looks like you've got through several...
I have a few of those cheap black rubberized pen lasers, and was wondering how you were able to get the front cover removed. Are they glued on, or just really tight?

 

[SyKo]

I need to setup a proper graveyard for all my modules and diodes as well