[HELP] CD/DVD Player/burner - How do I know which diode is from what?

[Danielxv]

Hello, this week my friend was cleaning out his workshop and I noticed he was throwing away several laser carriage. I asked if I could stay with them and he gave it to me but I found a problem, I do not know and he does not remember what each one is what, cd player, dvd player, cd burner, dvd burner ... In total there are 27 carriage, most with two diodes (The IR and the Red, I think), others just one.

How do I know which diode is from what? It has some detail on the circuit to help out? Or do I have to test all to know?

Out of curiosity I removed one of the diodes and used two AA alkaline to power on and it shines like a LED, using a 5mw laser lens I could adjust it to be infinite ... got about 7 meters (23 ft) but after reading a few topics I realized that I should never connect directly to a power source, but even he shine with the use of the lens, this means that the diode is dead? Or that I was lucky and he is only a DVD Player diode that does not shine more than that.

I'll make a "Laser driver - It Can Be done" but I could not find a 3.6v or 7.2v battery, what else could I use?Can I use a lower or higher voltage? This drive also works with the DVD Player diodes?

Ty

 

[udanis]

Hello, this week my friend was cleaning out his workshop and I noticed he was throwing away several laser carriage. I asked if I could stay with them and he gave it to me but I found a problem, I do not know and he does not remember what each one is what, cd player, dvd player, cd burner, dvd burner ... In total there are 27 carriage, most with two diodes (The IR and the Red, I think), others just one.

How do I know which diode is from what? It has some detail on the circuit to help out? Or do I have to test all to know?

Out of curiosity I removed one of the diodes and used two AA alkaline to power on and it shines like a LED, using a 5mw laser lens I could adjust it to be infinite ... got about 7 meters (23 ft) but after reading a few topics I realized that I should never connect directly to a power source, but even he shine with the use of the lens, this means that the diode is dead? Or that I was lucky and he is only a DVD Player diode that does not shine more than that.

I'll make a "Laser driver - It Can Be done" but I could not find a 3.6v or 7.2v battery, what else could I use?Can I use a lower or higher voltage? This drive also works with the DVD Player diodes?

Ty

Are the diodes still in the sleds? Most sleds have stickers on the them or part number on the circuit board.

For the driver you can use 3v Primary Camera Batteries available at any Walmart

 

[midias]

For that driver you will want ~7volts you can use more it will just be dissipated as heat in the driver so remember to sink it well.

 

[Clickey]

I have a red diode running through a circuit with a 9v battery. Is this dangerous? I expect it is, and I only run the laser for short periods of time. Like 2 minutes of constant use max.

About your sleds, I agree. You should look for a part number or name and start trying to find out what you have. 16x red diodes are nice and powerful so if you end up with that, nice find.

EDIT:
The ones with only 1 diode are most likely CD readers. You could set up a 20mA - 40mA driver, and just test them to these pins.

Hope this helps.

You don't really need a too advanced circuit, all you really need is this and some math.

To solve for value of resistor, take 1.25v and divide that by the desired current in A. (Remember, Amps, not milliamps) To convert from mA to A you just need to move the decimal point over 3. So 10mA will be 0.01A, or 200mA will become 0.2A.)

So basically the formula is 1.25÷dA = Ω (dA is desired amps)

So lets say you want to run a PHR 803T Violet diode at 110mA, you first convert 110mA into amps and get 0.11A. Plug that into the equation and you will get
1.25/0.11 = 11.36(rep decimal) simply round up if you get a repeating decimal. so recommended resistance is ≈12Ω.

Make sense?

 

[midias]

Nothing wrong with using a 9V battery except short life due to its low mah rating.

 

[Blord]

Single diode sleds are always CD read/burners. These diodes are IR. No red diode to extract from here.
Sleds with 2 diodes have always red and ir diodes. Most of the ir diodes have a small lens in front at least mine does.
Sleds with 3 diodes have also 405nm BR diode on board.
Use these guideline to get de red diodes.

 

[Danielxv]

@udanis
All are with the sleds, some have stickers, I'll place it in google and see what pops up ...
I easily find a non-rechargeable CR123, but the rechargeable I think it will be very hard.

Just to clarify, I live in Brazil and most batteries used here are those of the 1.3v~1.5v and 9v.

@Clickey
But the CD diodes are IR, right?

@midias
What rate of mah should I use? I think I can easily find a 9v battery with 350 ~ 400 mah, is too low?

 

[udanis]

@udanis
All are with the sleds, some have stickers, I'll place it in google and see what pops up ...
I easily find a non-rechargeable CR123, but the rechargeable I think it will be very hard.

Just to clarify, I live in Brazil and most batteries used here are those of the 1.3v~1.5v and 9v.

@Clickey
But the CD diodes are IR, right?

@midias
What rate of mah should I use? I think I can easily find a 9v battery with 350 ~ 400 mah, is too low?

DX has fair prices on Cr123 and 18650 cells.
CD Diodes are low power usually <5mw red or ir

 

[Blord]

CD-drive have always 780nm ir diodes and no 650nm red diode. That is the specification of CD-ROM. The CD-readers have weak ir diode and CD-burner have stronger ir diode but neverthelest they are ir diode.

CD-ROM - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

CD-ROM drives employ a near-infrared 780 nm laser diode

 

[midias]

@midias
What rate of mah should I use? I think I can easily find a 9v battery with 350 ~ 400 mah, is too low?

Depends on how much current you are drawing and how long you will want to use it. I use a 9V on my 200mw red lm317 build and find no problems. But I also do not use the laser as much as some others. If you consider a 16850 battery pair with 2500-3000 mah each you can see why for long life it is desirable but it will take up more space.

Here are some pics of my red 9V build

 

[Eudaimonium]

Midias, you must be careful here, the case of the LM317 chip is connected to it's middle pin, and you are bolting that to the case , which appears to touch the case of the module too!!

You could cause big trouble here! Either insulate diode/housing from case, or the LM317 chip!

 

[midias]

Midias, you must be careful here, the case of the LM317 chip is connected to it's middle pin, and you are bolting that to the case , which appears to touch the case of the module too!!

You could cause big trouble here! Either insulate diode/housing from case, or the LM317 chip!

The LM317 is insulated by a mil spec thermal pad with ~10^9 ohms resistance and the bolt hole has a insulating step washer that stops the screw from making contact with the LM317 both on the head and the shaft. I also made sure using my DMM the continuity was not present between the case and the LM317 tab. You can see the thermal pad in this picture and a piece of double sided tape I put under to board to make sure it does not contact the case if it flexes.

 

[Eudaimonium]

Ooh

My bad, I must be going blind from all these lasers and stuff

 

[Danielxv]

@Blord
I think there are diodes capable of producing two-wavelength.
Sony Global - Two-wavelength Laser Diodes for DVD Playback

@udanis
There is CR123 rechargeable or the rechargeable is only the RCR123?

--------------------

That's what I got searching the part number

CD/VCD: KSS-210A, KSS-213B, KSS-213C, KSS-213D, KSS-213F, H8147AF, SOH-AAN, SF-P101N 16P, KCP-3H

Car CD: OPTIMA-720

DVD: SOH-DP1U, SF-HD62, SF-HD65, KHM310AAA

So I have confirmed: 12 CD and 5 DVD

Source: Welcome to Partmate Electronics online

6 sleds have 2 diodes, but have no identification.
4 sleds have only one diode and no identification.

Tomorrow I'm going to buy the components.

 

[Leodahsan]

look your profile, Danielxv. I answered your question in portuguese there

 

[Danielxv]

So, I made the "Laser driver - It can be done" and it seems to work perfectly.

But when testing with the first diode that I have harvested (Quoted in the initial post) I managed to get it to run at 200mA but if I raise more I lose the "little" glow that I'm getting. With the lens I can create a small point but it is smaller than a <5mW 650nm laser

So I harvested another diode but its brightest point is at 100mA and loses bright if I go higher.

There's something wrong with the drive?