Help with my first Dorcy laser please!

[Eudaimonium]

Ok guys, i finally built u my first driver ( on a breadboard ) and hooked it up with a 9v and my 8x diode, turns out that the blue tinted one was a red one, and by looking at it through my camera the other one looked as if it was IR bcause it was MUCH brighter in the cam, although it was emitting some ~650nm light, is this right or are they both reds?

Let's clear up most common mistake here...
IR diodes from dvd writers (or cd or hd or bluray) are NOT invisible.
They can be seen as very dark red, dim color.
As far as my experiance goes, the blue tinted window diode is the red one.

 

[schmag]

sounds like you have your driver built you have identified your diodes. next thing you will need is your test load so that you can tune your driver to the appropriate current. a 1 ohm resistor with 4 l4101 diodes(think that is the right number should do the trick.)
here is a website form another member that is really good at telling you how to use it.
It can be done - Laser driver
I built mine on perfboard with leads coming off from the appropriate places(to make it easier to test) I used 6 diodes so that I can test for both blue and red setups. as blue (3-4+ volts) requires a higher voltage than red (approx 2.7).
I am not sure how much current you will want to push to your diode I bought a red one on ebay unidentified that I pushed at 190 no problem.
the flexdrive is a wonderfull little guy (I mean little) is very stable has a low dropout voltage compared to the standard lm3117 in the ddl driver. btw the lm3117 can be replaced with a lm1117 (summin like that I should be pretty close) which requires less voltage thus you can generally power everything with 1-2 volts less that the lm3117 driver and the pinouts on that regulator are the same I believe as well.
dr lava is generally pretty good at getting the current right where it needs to be as well so you should have some pretty good luck there.

infrared will generally show up kinda red to the naked eye as it is quite close to what we see as red in the electromagnetic spectrum (and may kick out some from the band) be aware however that although it just looks like just a low powered red it can be quite dangerous. most of its power is in the IR area of the spectrum thus not visible.

 

[Eudaimonium]

sounds like you have your driver built you have identified your diodes. next thing you will need is your test load so that you can tune your driver to the appropriate current. a 1 ohm resistor with 4 l4101 diodes(think that is the right number should do the trick.)
here is a website form another member that is really good at telling you how to use it.
It can be done - Laser driver
I built mine on perfboard with leads coming off from the appropriate places(to make it easier to test) I used 6 diodes so that I can test for both blue and red setups. as blue (3-4+ volts) requires a higher voltage than red (approx 2.7).
I am not sure how much current you will want to push to your diode I bought a red one on ebay unidentified that I pushed at 190 no problem.
the flexdrive is a wonderfull little guy (I mean little) is very stable has a low dropout voltage compared to the standard lm3117 in the ddl driver. btw the lm3117 can be replaced with a lm1117 (summin like that I should be pretty close) which requires less voltage thus you can generally power everything with 1-2 volts less that the lm3117 driver and the pinouts on that regulator are the same I believe as well.
dr lava is generally pretty good at getting the current right where it needs to be as well so you should have some pretty good luck there.

infrared will generally show up kinda red to the naked eye as it is quite close to what we see as red in the electromagnetic spectrum (and may kick out some from the band) be aware however that although it just looks like just a low powered red it can be quite dangerous. most of its power is in the IR area of the spectrum thus not visible.

Please don't give ppl advices: "I think you should..."
Test load: 4x 1N4001 diodes in series, and 1 ohm resistor (mV on resistor= mA on diode) for red diode.
6X diodes and ohm resistor for bluray.
Not LM 3117 but LM 317!
And yes it can be replaced by 1117, if you can get one.
To know the current you need to indentify the type of diode you use.
Short Closed Can (SCC) max 190mA
Long Closed Can (LCC) max 350~400mA
Long Open can (LOC) max 450 mA
I suggest keepend LCC and LOC at 350 mA using AMC7135 regulator, here:
DealExtreme: $16.68 Quality AMC7135 350mA Regulated Circuit Board for DIY Flashlights 20-Pack
16$ 20 pieces, that is 80 cents a piece (MUCH MUCH cheaper than dr lava or flexdrive)
Any more questions? Ask!

 

[schmag]

disclaimer: I may have used incorrect grammar and misspelled words in the following post. If you are going to get offensive about it, please, by all means, stop, and think before you make an ass out of yourself.

and now for the post.

wow you are just full of all sorts of fire aren't you?

besides. I don't see "I think you should." anywhere in my post
"think that is the right number" is in my post thus referring to, I could be wrong. (about the numbers)

wow your impossible my friend.
can anyone else spell out "I think he can figure it out". do you know what diode he has? I don't and I am not about to guess or throw numbers out there. I think he could figure it out.

I hope you feel more empowered for showing people that you have nothing better to remember than those numbers. as well I hope you feel smarter, knowing that 2 people were willing to help before you stopped by.

P.S. we can see what I posted the first time.

 

[JohnnyG]

I'll probably get flamed for this, but the sole reason I registered was to post this. I would prefer to hear facts from knowledgeable people, even if they may be a bit unrefined, then to waste my time and money on cheery polite people that propagate wrong information, and then throw a tantrum when someone else bluntly points it out.

Eudaimonium, please continue to help propagate helpful facts in lieu of others oversensitive inability to just thank you for setting things straight when they obviously should have waited for someone with more experience to begin with. You would have never been inappropriately blunt if they wouldn't have been spreading confusion.

 

[Eudaimonium]

I'll probably get flamed for this, but the sole reason I registered was to post this. I would prefer to hear facts from knowledgeable people, even if they may be a bit unrefined, then to waste my time and money on cheery polite people that propagate wrong information, and then throw a tantrum when someone else bluntly points it out.

Eudaimonium, please continue to help propagate helpful facts in lieu of others oversensitive inability to just thank you for setting things straight when they obviously should have waited for someone with more experience to begin with. You would have never been inappropriately blunt if they wouldn't have been spreading confusion.

I wasn't trying to be 'blunt' as you put it. I was merely correcting this mans mistakes! Why does he takes offence, it is beyond me.

Well I did apologise to him, i cannot find the post here... I must have PM it. So, i think i got most of the ground covered, however maybe there was a thing or two I forgot.
As I said : ask away!
And yes, thank you for support.

And yes, about that part:
"I hope you feel more empowered for showing people that you have nothing better to remember than those numbers..."

After all, I am very much experienced in electronics, and this is most basic things. 1N400X are regular diodes, 2NXXX are transistors, etc. It is like, for example, you are experienced in computers and hardware, and I am (for examples' sake) not.
You say :" AMD Athlon64 5000+ is good proccesor, however, AMD ATHLON 7750+ Black edition is based on newer architecture Kuma, and at 2.7 GHz it is much more profitable and more powerfull , therefore it pays of to invest in it, and for little extra you can take Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200 which is same thing as Core 2 Duo with less Level 2 Cache, and it is very exceptionally better choice than AMD or C2D......"

AND THEN I say: You feel empowered cuz you know all the numbers and facts?!?!
How would you feel?

It is also little-above basic knowledge for computer engeneer. It is normal to know some things you are experienced with!