Laser Dimming/Driver overheating

[fullyauto12]

So i have made a 1W laser diode circuit and gotten the driver the 18650 battery and everything else needed...however i have a problem after about 6 seconds of use the driver gets very hot and the diode dims extremely dim..Im using a flex drive V5 set to 1A. anyone help? i took some pics and a video of whats happening thankss


Ok so i took some pictures of the battery connections

and then the laser connections, ignore the other stuff that is a switch mechanism that i bypassed for the sake of trouble shooting, so the batter is going to the driver directly. The red wire coming from the laser diode is the positive the white is the negative.

i also included a video of what exactly the laser does. i believe if you click on the link it goes to the video


could it be my diode that is doing this?

 

[sinner]

Driver needs heatsinking.. And also the module/housing you are using is not efficient heatsink for the diode. Consider it as a short duty cycle setup for now 25~35s.
You can use a small copper coin with some thermal adhesive , bigger the better.

 

[Blord]

The flexdrive need heatsinking at current of 500mA and above. Did you read the flexdrive manual ?

 

[Sigurthr]

That's a good way to destroy >$75 of parts. Invest in proper heatsinking (I advise against coins) for both the Flexdrive and the diode module.

 

[fullyauto12]

What would be the best heatsink then?. I need it a little bit small to fit in my box. And I figured I needed to heat sink it. Noob mistake hopefully no damage done.

 

[Blord]

Look here, tons of heatsinks
You need to dissipate the heat from the driver to a larger surface.

Read the Flexdrive V5 manual.

For powering high current (>500mA) 1.8V diodes, a series shottky rectifier is required so that the output voltage is
2.2V or greater. When powering loads above 500 mA and below 3V, a heatsink on the black 5-pin chip on the back
of the driver is required. An electrically insulating thermal epoxy to the heatsink or casing is recommended.