Lavadrive1 (Groove) Portable Laser Driver Kit

[LiveRock]

Hi

I recently ordered 2 sets of Lavadrive1 (Groove) Portable Laser Driver Kit.

Has anyone used this before?
Is it suitable for 83T with a 9v battery?

Thanks!

 

[Bionic-Badger]

You probably should have asked this before you bought them. Still, they should work fine.

 

[thesk8nmidget]

yes i have used them. one thing to note in my use i have made 3 and the contacts you solder to seem very poor. i have had a hard time getting a good connection to them and when i do sometimes it does actually make a contact with the metal.

so i have had to use some jumpers on the board to get around this.


and yes they work fine for 803t diodes

Power input: 4.5-12VDC
Dual adjustment range 20-500mA
Low 1V dropout

 

[Bionic-Badger]

Did you buy some flux and put it on the pads?

 

[LiveRock]

actually, I did some checking for I want to be sure from people who have used them..

I read somewhere that 803T needs at least 5 V, maybe 100 mA to drive.

So, if I used a 9V battery, can I use this driver because the 1 V drop will make the output roughly 8V. Will this kill the diode?

THANKS!

 

[Zom-B]

The low dropout means the driver can output AT MOST 8V, but as it is regulated, it will give any voltage blow 8V that will create the desired current. In other words, it'll still work with 6.5V input.

For 803T diodes, there is a very large diversity between seemingly identical diodes.

To get an idea, here's a 'maximum current' list for 16 803T diodes I could get my hands on:
76
120
132
135
140
144
156
161
167
170
170
170
180
190
190
198

So if this list would (and of course it won't) represent the power distribution of all 803Ts, then if you drive them by 120mA, there is a 6-7% change you're unlucky.

[edit] all diodes needed slightly over 5V to operate. Less than 5.5V for sure.

 

[LiveRock]

So, for the 803T, here are the ranges:

Voltage: 5 -5.5V at its input
Current : 76 - 198 mA

So, it is essential a build an adjustable current source as I would not know for sure what optimal current to drive it....

Please let me confirm again... using a 9V battery and a drop of 1 V, resulting at a 8V at the LD's input, would kill it?

 

[Bionic-Badger]

Diodes require a voltage above their threshold voltage to conduct current. It can be well above the threshold voltage and still work properly. There might be some heat due to innate resistance in the diode, but it's usually the current that will be the dominating factor.

 

[thesk8nmidget]

Did you buy some flux and put it on the pads?

yes i know how to solder. and i have done many different boards and many different styles of soldering and out of the drivers i have used this one seems to be the least friendly to soldering.

the pads are either not big enough or covered by the laminate.

 

[LiveRock]

Thanks, guys, for the information.

I am still waiting for the 2 boards to arrive. Maybe if I scrap away the laminate, it is easier to solder.

Once I receive the sleds 803Ts from ndrew, I will start on my first blu