Light sensor of some kind?

[DTR]

I was breaking down some M140's for dicros today and got to one of most recent ones that I have received. They seem to be making small changes to them every once in a while and came across a new device connected to the optics package. I took it off and it looks like some kind of light sensor. Possibly regulating the output or maybe even color balance. Anyway I am interested in finding out what exactly this does. Any thoughts.

 

[Sigurthr]

That's the spitting image of a silicon photodiode.

 

[Meatball]

Try applying power to the board, and the watch current flow or voltage on the third wire. That's what I would try.

 

[lasersbee]

From the pics it looks like it is sampling the light in the
chamber it is screwed to...

Jerry

 

[rhd]

There was one of those inside the H-series projector too. It was a little bit smaller (the PCB) and it actually had some lettering on it that either said "sensor" or said something the seemed like an abbreviation version thereof. It actually might have been on the other end of the leads (where they attached to another board) that I read the label. See if the motherboard indicates what this is (if you remember where it was plugged in).

 

[Flaminpyro]

That's an Ice Cream sensor, so that too much Rocky Road doesn't get into the photon stream.

 

[DTR]

OK so tested it with 2V and it looks like it will pass a percentage of the incoming voltage out depending on how much light is being shined on the sensor. I am not sure what voltage it can go up to but I wanted to start low so as to not burn out the unit.:beer:

 

[Sigurthr]

Hey DTR, keep in mind most photodiodes are run in reverse bias =).

 

[DTR]

Hey DTR, keep in mind most photodiodes are run in reverse bias =).

So are you saying I was not testing it correctly?:thinking:

 

[Sigurthr]

I hadn't seen the video yet when I replied, it looks like you applied power to the board and not to the component. I would assume it is biased correctly (in reverse) on the board. Ignore what I said unless you want to remove it from the board and use it elsewhere.

However though you may want to measure the current and not the voltage, it should provide a better picture.