Re: Laser Projector - Building phase
Have had it run for ~ 1/2 hour today and it still worked, so I'm guessing I'll leave it alone indeed.
On the other hand, I could show 3 beams (R, G, B) yesterday, but after maxing the current on the diodes today (200mA, 300mA, 250mA for R, G, B, based on Laserwiki data), I couldn't run all three at the same time. Running blue and green threw green out, red and green sometimes worked. I might have to look for a better supply. Then, after some time where it worked nice, and I tried to draw pokemons on trees while my friends guessed, green output suddenly dropped. It still works (can see the picture on my hand) but there's nothing "in the air" or in the trees. I hope I didn't somehow break the diode, will check tomorrow. It really is bedtime here now
EDIT:
I'm sceptical. Might have broken a Flexmod. I'll list all events in order, maybe someone can help:
* Before yesterday, could run all 3 lasers at the same time.
* Yesterday, upped the current to the reccomended amounts for each diode according to laserswiki.
* As a result (I think, can't be certain), could no longer run 3 lasers simultaneously. When running green and then turning on blue, it'll run for some seconds before shutting down green. Blue and red worked fine, green and red too, but any combo with green & blue failed.
* Later that night, I thought the green laser broke. Still had output, but nowhere near what it used to be. (Looked less than a 3mW red pointer I have) Stopped using green for the night.
* Today, problem persists. Checked max current through other 2 diodes, was higher than I thought I had set them too. Probably caused by calibrating using too many blanked points, resulting in a lower measured current due to my multimeter updating (and averaging over?) every second. Lowered these to manufacturer maximum to be on the safe side for now.
* Forgot to turn power off when placing clamps on Flexmod resistor (0.2 Ohm in series with diode) to measure current. Can't be sure, but think I might have hit another part. Have done a lot this evening, but I think this was also the moment where the interlock LED stopped working.
* Since then I've checked the interlock: No matter whether interlock is closed or open, the "fault LED" stays off and Flexmod attempts to run max current immediately, without 7 sec delay. Immediately jumps to 70mV over resistor (so ~ 350mA) and maintains this for ~6 seconds (does give lasing output, but *WAY* too little) and then falls back to a couple of millivolts. Turning setup off and on again, and then repeating makes it fall back faster in, say, 1 or 2 seconds. Waiting a bit longer, and it's back at ~6 seconds. (After it falls back to couple of millivolts, it slowly increases again at ~1 mV/4seconds.
* More related to not being able to run all 3 diodes instead of the driver problem: While I have 12V for my drivers, turning on the blue and red laser reduces this to ~ 7 V. That's measured directly at the output of the PSU. Is that normal?
So, to conclude:
* Is the driver broken? Why doesn't the interlock work anymore? Why does it provide little light at significant currents?
* Less important for now: How come green & blue don't like each other?
Any help appreciated as always
) An extra drop of solder and it worked again. At that point I decided it was time to shout YES through the empty lab, at which point all the lights turned off. Apparently, they turn off all lights at 0:00 at my uni. Perfect timing, but at least I knew where to find the switch.
My father gave me 2 of those adapters, actually saying "this one's regulated", "that one's not". I took the one that was not, because it was much heavier --> Better quality, or so I thought. Oh, how wrong I was :'). Anyway, I just connected the other one and tested it with blue & red, and here I had no voltage drop (at least, <0.01V). Do you think I could use that one instead? (The adapter from a 5400C HP Scanner). If not, I'll head for the stores, I saw they have a "Universal Switched Mode Power Supply / Adapter 3-12V 1A"
