My diode die?

[TacoHerder]

So i bought a mitsubishi 200mW 660nm diode off ebay. Soldered it all up to my driver and completed the laser. It worked perfect, burned my wallet pretty quick. So I put it down for a few min, then tried it again. When I turn it on a faint red dot comes out... Was my diode a dud? It worked the first minute, now I can barely see a dot. My driver is set at 220mA. I have the case pin attached to the negative pin, please tell me I was suppose to do that...


Not having good luck apparently with lasers and life right now. Got a freaking ticket for having the wrong address on my DL today... I was literally waiting for my gate to open when a cop drove by and saw my registration was up by 1 month... Then he tells me he's not going to arrest me(which REALLY pissed me off since he cant) and gives me a stupid ticket for not changing my address. Took him 35min to give me a ticket making me late for work...

 

[Wolfman29]

What driver did you use? You sure it was outputting 220mA?

 

[TacoHerder]

It was a round driver that came with the TrustFire TR-801 flashlight. Its a single mode driver. I used it with my M140 diode before I used the diode to make another laser. Tested it with a meter and it gave me 220-225mA.

 

[Wolfman29]

So it was a stock flashlight driver?

 

[TacoHerder]

Yes. Used it for about 1 month with my 445nm build and it worked perfect. I got it off Cliff, thru a host kit. He even wrote in the description the stock driver could be used for lower mW builds.

 

[TacoHerder]

Maybe tomorrow ill find the CREE LED it came with and see if the driver is working properly.

 

[Wolfman29]

I think I know which driver you are talking about. Is it this one?

18V 5W Cree Circuit Board for Flashlights (16.8mm*5.5mm) [LEDBRD] - $4.99 : Cajunlasers Store

If so, that CANNOT be used to drive a red diode. They would be like 1.1A to diodes that require less voltage than you are giving them. They give 250mA or so to 445nm diodes because you aren't supply enough voltage to said diodes.

ALSO - you cannot attach the case pin to the negative for this driver. Ever =p

 

[TacoHerder]

nah, that's not the driver. The driver im talking about outputs 220mA and runs off 1 18650 battery. this is the host. most are 3 mode, the one i have is a single mode
TrustFire TR-801 CREE R2 Single- Mode 230 Lumens LED Flashlight(1*18650) | eBay

 

[Fiddy]

Was the driver negative continuous? probably a cause of overcurrent death...

 

[TacoHerder]

im not sure what you mean by that.

 

[Just4FunReally]

Drivers that are negative continuous can't be used with reds that use the case pin as negative. In your case, you said you soldered the case to the negative, and that means you are now case negative. Diodes like the PHR-803T's that have a separate negative and case pin you don't need to worry about. :beer:

 

[TacoHerder]

O, guess ill separate the case pin and negative and see if that works. Hopefully I haven't killed the diode, probably did knowing my luck though. This is what I get for not making 100% sure i was correct on how to solder the diode leads. Good thing it was a $11 diode and not a new 500mW 635nm diode. thanks for all the help.


So does the Mitsubishi 200mW 660nm diode need to use the case pin?

 

[Things]

Most red diodes are case negative - there is no way to change that.

 

[Fiddy]

wheres the diagram for this diode you speak of?

EDIT: is this it? -> http://www.orthotoronto.com/detay/mitsubishi_laserdiodes_pdf/ml101j23.pdf

im pretty sure you killed it, it would of run at unregulated voltage because of it being case negative.

 

[TacoHerder]

yup, thats the one. Guess I need to learn more before I build another red laser.

Good news is I have another diode on the way. Got it from the same guy, its suppose to be a 400nm 200mW diode. I know thats a lie though. As long as it works ill be happy, even though its really going to be 445nm.

 

[DTR]

If a diode LED's on start-up instead of blinking out while it is running it can possibly indicates a start-up spike from the driver. 445 diodes are very hardy compared to lower power diodes so saying it ran with the driver does not necessarily indicate it is not the driver that damaged the diode.