Welcome to Laser Pointer Forums - discuss green laser pointers, blue laser pointers, and all types of lasers

Buy Site Supporter Role (remove some ads) | LPF Donations

Links below open in new window

FrozenGate by Avery

More problems with bdr-209

I don't mean to insult - but I'd also work on those solder joints - certainly not the worst I've seen, but there's room for improvement. That said - these little pads and pins aren't the easiest to work with.

I'd also shorten the wires between the driver and the diode - although that may be down to personal preference more than anything, others may disagree - unless you have the wires secured at the diode end.
 
Last edited:





Thats driver in the second picture looks just like an AixiZ driver such as:
2pcs adjustable current laser diode driver 80-500mA w/TTL, AixiZ
Take a look at the picture in the link and you will notice that on the power input side where you have your red wire from the batteries there's also a pad on the opposite side of it that is called TTL+ and that also has to make contact with the power input red wire or that driver will not work. From what I can tell it doesn't look like it is. Can't tell you how many people have not realized this and thought their driver wasn't working. Same thing happened to me the first time I used one of those drivers. I've probably built at least 20 lasers since with those. Cheapest as far as I know to buy a pair of them right from AixiZ at the link I sent or from ebay through them.
A little secret that I've shared a couple times concerning those drivers is if you adjust the pot to max output you can turn it through the stop just a bit more before it goes to 0 (switches off) and run it unregulated as in the more voltage it gets the more output you get. Comes in handy if you want to push an LPC-826 diode to just over 400mW with a couple of fully charged 3.2V cells. Don't try 3.7V cells though or the diode will poof.
Anyways, what I do to connect both the TTL+ and the V+ is use my Dremel to make a little notch/cut from the end through both pads and then solder the wire to both sides.
If I remember correctly that driver will increase by turning the pot clockwise. I use a ceramic screwdriver if I adjust with power applied to help prevent a short.
I would also highly suggest that when you solder the wires on that you first tin both the wire and the pad and cut the wire back so that you don't have almost any extra soldered wire sticking out from the board. All you need is the bare tinned wire just long enough to solder it on.
I realize you are learning and that's great so don't take any criticism hard;) I'm guessing the wires are long just for testing.
I tried looking for those batteries and the ones I came up with are not rechargeable. Are those rechargeable? What voltage does each one read? DON'T try and recharge a non-rechargeable battery. What size are those? Sure looks like this one I saw that's only 1/2 AA:
http://laserpointerforums.com/attachments/f38/49953d1453319030-more-problems-bdr-209-20160120_142637.jpg
If that's the battery it may not have the capacity to handle this.
What is your general location? I don't see even what country you are from...
 
Last edited:
Pman said:
Thats driver in the second picture looks just like an AixiZ driver such as:
2pcs adjustable current laser diode driver 80-500mA w/TTL, AixiZ
Take a look at the picture in the link and you will notice that on the power input side where you have your red wire from the batteries there's also a pad on the opposite side of it that is called TTL+ and that also has to make contact with the power input red wire or that driver will not work. From what I can tell it doesn't look like it is. Can't tell you how many people have not realized this and thought their driver wasn't working. Same thing happened to me the first time I used one of those drivers. I've probably built at least 20 lasers since with those. Cheapest as far as I know to buy a pair of them right from AixiZ at the link I sent or from ebay through them.
A little secret that I've shared a couple times concerning those drivers is if you adjust the pot to max output you can turn it through the stop just a bit more before it goes to 0 (switches off) and run it unregulated as in the more voltage it gets the more output you get. Comes in handy if you want to push an LPC-826 diode to just over 400mW with a couple of fully charged 3.2V cells. Don't try 3.7V cells though or the diode will poof.
Anyways, what I do to connect both the TTL+ and the V+ is use my Dremel to make a little notch/cut from the end through both pads and then solder the wire to both sides.
If I remember correctly that driver will increase by turning the pot clockwise. I use a ceramic screwdriver if I adjust with power applied to help prevent a short.
I would also highly suggest that when you solder the wires on that you first tin both the wire and the pad and cut the wire back so that you don't have almost any extra soldered wire sticking out from the board. All you need is the bare tinned wire just long enough to solder it on.
I realize you are learning and that's great so don't take any criticism hard;) I'm guessing the wires are long just for testing.
I tried looking for those batteries and the ones I came up with are not rechargeable. Are those rechargeable? What voltage does each one read? DON'T try and recharge a non-rechargeable battery. What size are those? Sure looks like this one I saw that's only 1/2 AA:
http://laserpointerforums.com/attachments/f38/49953d1453319030-more-problems-bdr-209-20160120_142637.jpg
If that's the battery it may not have the capacity to handle this.
What is your general location? I don't see even what country you are from...
Click to expand...

Its not an aixiz driver, although it looks similar. It is a driver from anomalytech on ebay and it was preset to 350ma. Nothing is soldered yet because I am still testing the two drivers and different batteries .I just charged two 18340 batteries to 4.2v each and it works. in low light conditions, the beam lightly comes into view and it burns. Also, I notice a faint, rapid clicking sound coming from the 600ma survival laser driver. Can this noise be a bad sign of damaging anything? Thanks for your reply and everyone else who replied and helped solve the problem.
 
405nm diodes are VERY static sensitive, are you wearing a ground strap during assembly?
 
That's weird. Can't recall any driver I've ever used making a clicking sound. Congrats as it looks like things are working out.
 
RedCowboy said:
405nm diodes are VERY static sensitive, are you wearing a ground strap during assembly?
Click to expand...

No. I considered getting one but I researched them and concluded that I can keep touching metal scraps on my work table to discharge static electricity, and it would be the same as wearing a ground strap.
 
Pman said:
That's weird. Can't recall any driver I've ever used making a clicking sound. Congrats as it looks like things are working out.
Click to expand...

I charged the batteries to 4.2v each. Did I exceed the maximum input voltage for this driver?
 
Ummm, a word or two about those Tadrian batterries; they're NOT rechargeable and attempting to charge them can easily result in a small explosion and room filling toxic cloud. The electrolyte in those batteries is liquid SO2. They also have very limited current delivery and are an extremely bad choice for a HH laser. They're usually used as CMOS batteries in computers.
 
WizardG said:
Ummm, a word or two about those Tadrian batterries; they're NOT rechargeable and attempting to charge them can easily result in a small explosion and room filling toxic cloud. The electrolyte in those batteries is liquid SO2. They also have very limited current delivery and are an extremely bad choice for a HH laser. They're usually used as CMOS batteries in computers.
Click to expand...

wow. thanks for sharing that. I have a rechargeable li-ion 9v that I would like to use but I am not sure if the survival laser driver is compatible with it.
 
Even if the driver can handle 9 volts of input, that 9v rechargeable is likely very low capacity and wouldn't last long before needing to be recharged.
 
WizardG said:
Even if the driver can handle 9 volts of input, that 9v rechargeable is likely very low capacity and wouldn't last long before needing to be recharged.
Click to expand...

I have a lithium ion rechargeable 9v battery with a capacity of 600mah, which is about the same as the alkaline version. Some rechargeable 9v batteries have capacities as low as 150mah, so 600mah isn't THAT bad. I may buy a blitz linear driver from survival lasers and use it with my rechargable 9v.
 
Why not just buy good batteries with good capacity? I have personally never seen a build using a 9V cell and I can't figure out why you don't just buy a couple of 16340, 18350, or 18650 instead of trying to get by with such low capacity cells.... From what I can tell you are not putting it together in some kind of flashlight type of host.
 
Yes buy good batteries and buy the right batteries if it's going into a host. He said in post #15 he hasn't decided on what host to use yet, and that is a good reason not to be experimenting with it like this. Many people have killed a diode or a driver like this, especially if you have no experience building lasers or limited electronics knowledge, and this diode is more sensitive than some of the others. It's best to decide what parts you are going to use and wait until you have them all and then build your laser, get it working and then don't screw with it, then there is far less chance of anything going wrong.

Alan
 
My build was going as planned until I found out that the batteries were bad, but at least I know what the problem is now. I brought up getting a new driver because in the description for the adjustable current driver on survival lasers, it says for use with two 3.7v batteries and a maximum output voltage of 6v. If I am going to charge the batteries to 4.2v, I do not want to exceed the voltage limits for the driver.
 
thebouljello said:
My build was going as planned until I found out that the batteries were bad, but at least I know what the problem is now. I brought up getting a new driver because in the description for the adjustable current driver on survival lasers, it says for use with two 3.7v batteries and a maximum output voltage of 6v. If I am going to charge the batteries to 4.2v, I do not want to exceed the voltage limits for the driver.
Click to expand...

That will not exceed the limits of the driver, those round SL drivers are intended to use two Li-Ion batteries.

Alan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


Back
Top