Okay, I did some experimenting. Found if you hold the pins pointing up and that little nubbin on the casing (visible in my pic) pointing toward you, then center is ground and the left is the red LD. I first was using my radio shack 6v lantern battery. At first I was limited by my DDL driver and the resister I had used, so I jumpered it with a wire as if it wasn't there. Then I was limited by the 6v battery, so I used the 12v from the comp molex connector. I tie wrapped a small chipset heatsink to the LM317 with some thermal grease, but that started to get hot over 200mA so I used a CPU fan to cool the heatsink which kept it very cold at all currents.
Lase @ 55mA
255mA @ 2.745v
322mA @ 2.856v (4.99v @ 6v battery)
457mA @ 3.075v (used 12v here and after)
550mA for about 20 seconds but the LD started to get really hot
I didn't have any heatsinking on the LD but just the metal vise holding it steady. Around 450mA the LD was pretty hot to the touch, it would hurt if I pressed my fingers a bit. I tried to hold an AixiZ focus lens to simulate a focused dot, but I don't think 100% light was going through the small entry hole of the lens module. So probably no matter how bright it gets, only a certain amount can fit through the hole. Probably need to drill it out or use alternative lens methods. If I waived my arm over the beam I could sense a slight rise in temperature a few inches away from the module. The beam is very elongated, so if any focusing is desired, then you'd need the maximum input width possible.
I don't own a power meter. But I'll have to take some pics later next to my GB @ 180mA.
Lase @ 55mA
255mA @ 2.745v
322mA @ 2.856v (4.99v @ 6v battery)
457mA @ 3.075v (used 12v here and after)
550mA for about 20 seconds but the LD started to get really hot
I didn't have any heatsinking on the LD but just the metal vise holding it steady. Around 450mA the LD was pretty hot to the touch, it would hurt if I pressed my fingers a bit. I tried to hold an AixiZ focus lens to simulate a focused dot, but I don't think 100% light was going through the small entry hole of the lens module. So probably no matter how bright it gets, only a certain amount can fit through the hole. Probably need to drill it out or use alternative lens methods. If I waived my arm over the beam I could sense a slight rise in temperature a few inches away from the module. The beam is very elongated, so if any focusing is desired, then you'd need the maximum input width possible.
I don't own a power meter. But I'll have to take some pics later next to my GB @ 180mA.