messing with potentiometer on Blue Laser?

[Mannitu78]

Hello,
i screwed off my new 1500mw Blue Laser for the purpose of putting some Thermal paste between the diode and the casing and on the winding. i got excited when i saw the little potentiometer on the driver circuit, because i saw on Youtube that the power can be increased pretty dramatically....mabye x2, is this realistic? However can anybody spaek from experience how it effects the lifetime? I dont wanna break it, at least not before i got my second one here.


Also something crossed my mind...my laser looks very familiar to the famous THOR 2 Laser and has about the same output power. Now the THOR is also sold with 3000mw Output, can somebody confirm its actually worth 20 dollars extra? Because im wondering if maybe the only thing they did is to screw up the potentiometer?

 

[paul1598419]

Increasing the current to the laser diode by turning the driver pot is called pot modding here. Normally, this is done using a laser power meter as these lasers are often already doing all that they can. If you are looking for more visibility of your beam is is not a linear relationship between power and visibility. The difference between a 1 watt blue laser and a 3 watt one is an increase in visibility of ~73%-74%.

 

[RedCowboy]

If you have an early 5.6mm 445nm laser diode likely an M-140 it will blow all at once when pushed too hard unlike the later 9mm 445-455nm laser diodes which will start to dim giving you a chance to back off and save it............I expect the 1-3watt blue " pointers " are pretty close to maxxed out as you receive them but the driver may well have enough headroom to pop the diode if you adjust the pot, but you can always replace your LD or move up to a custom build that's easier to repair.

 

[Lifetime17]

Personally I wouldn't turn up the pedometer with out hooking it up to a test load and a DDM. You dont need much to bump up the Amp on the driver and can result in loosing the diode. Also you will need to know what that particular diode can do buy powering up on a PSU , and reading it on a LPM to see where the power starts to drop off. Thats to be on the safe side.Hi,
Rich