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FrozenGate by Avery

IR diodes in 16x burners..

G

Glaserfan

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Ok.. so I ended up with a dead 16x DVD burner from a friend..

I tried to make a red burner out of it.. only once I got it all hooked up in the module.. the LED syndrome:( I suspect I damaged it while removing that damn ribbon...

So I decided to try my luck on the IR diode.. pretty damn neat I might say:).. Except for the fact that I have NO idea what to drive these at. It ran at 250mA for about 10 minutes straight no problem, as I tested it's burning capabilities.. impressive to say the least.

Then, I tried showing the other half how well it did, set up a second balloon(the first was history QUICK lol), powered it up and pop.. LED syndrome:(

I am using a rkcstr driver, again set at 250mA.

What is the proper voltage/current to use with one of these and how much power can I expect? I was impressed with what I saw(well didn't see to put it right):D
 





This would probably be better answered in the "Blue, Yellow, & Other Colored Lasers" section.
 
I asked here because most of us encounter these diodes while building red burners..:)
 
You shouldn't be playing around with IR unless you have the proper goggles.
An IR diode from a 20x DVD burner should be driven to around 150mA, if you go above that you risk killing it.
If you didn't have any goggles then I think it's better that you killed the diode.
 
Oh I have plenty of knowledge on laser safety.. at no point in time was the laser aiming towards me, or any object that was going to reflect any considerable amount of IR at me. Most of my tests and adjustments were made looking through my night vision goggles in fact, since this is the only way I could see what I was doing...
 
Ok, that's good to hear. So what are you going to do now? Are you going to get another DVD to extract its diodes?
 
I'd like to experiment with the IR diodes sometime just to get a feel of what they can actually do, besides what I actually saw. I have a few practical uses for them..with the burning power they have(remember IR is essentially heat). Although from what I saw at 250mA, I bet I won't be able to do much with one at 150mA:(

In reality, the only major danger with IR lasers, especially under 500 or so mW, is of you actually point them into your eye, or reflect them directly at your eye. A simple campfire or even an electric burner on a stove puts out WAYY more IR energy than most IR lasers we deal with, including greens. Now if you have a "super green" or a high-power IR, well that can be another story with longtime exposure. Again the only real danger is with direct hits or reflections from shiny objects, but that's true of any color laser. Reflections from dark objects, or even bright ones, unlesss we are silly enough to stare directly into them from close range(can you say sunspots :o) are too scattered to pose iminent danger.

It all boils down to common sense, shine it directly at your eye, and you are asking for trouble. Stare at the dot to close, well you are looking for at least a temporary spot on your eye, if not more trouble. If you are going to burn something without goggles, dont put your eyes right up to it.......... I think you see my point:)
 
Hmm i've extracted the ir diode from my 803t sled, i wonder if its any worth. The diode however has four pins. :-?
 
Yea.. the xbox 360 drive is just a reader... the IR diode wil most likely not be powerful enough to burn anything. An IR diode however out of a 48x or 52x cd burner, or any DVD/CD combo drive that writes cd'd at 48x or higher should work:D. If I can find the diode out of my Optiarc drive that I grabbed the open-can red from, I'll try it at 150mA and see what happpens. Hopefully it didnt get trashed with the rest of the drive after I got done stripping it:(
 
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