infrared lasers

[lilneo]

Okay so I had a thread about this a long long time ago here, but I have an 808nm 300mW infrared laser diode. I was told I would need a strong driver to provide steady current, as well as a good heat sink and a good housing.

Could anyone point me in the right direction for what I need to look for to make this laser safely? (Eyewear too)

 

[weeba2kv]

We need more infor about the diode

 

[lilneo]

I don't know any more information about the diode lol, all I know is it's an 808nm 300mW infrared diode...

My biggest issue is how do I find out what kind of goggles I need?

 

[DrSid]

You need goggles for 808nm, which will get 300mW down to at least 5mW, ie will decrease to power 60 times, which is between OD1 (10x) and OD2 (100x).

 

[billg519]

A driver suitable for an LPC red should let you test this diode. Set the current to 200mA or so to start. Max current per the datasheet for these is around 400mA. It would help if you had some info on the diode, I'm assuming that it is the typical ebay diode that sells there all the time. You can use a video cam or a digital camera preview screen to view the IR output. Put it in an aixiz module. Get goggles before you do anything with this.

 

[DrSid]

Webcameras are also good for this. You can have big image on computer screen, they are cheap, and you can often remove IR filter from them easily. But that is mostly good for detecting IR in green lasers, I guess for IR laser the beam will be strong enough even with the filter.