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FrozenGate by Avery

PHR-803t Diode Lifespan

Here's a link to the heatsink. It's fourth on the list, HS-1b. It will not fit in a pointer, as it is for making lab-style units. A pocket mini heatsink should be sufficient for extended burns, perhaps even 100% duty at these current levels. The diode doesn't get overly warm as long as there is some form of heatsinking over and above an aixiz module.
 





ElFreek ---

That's dedication to the cause !!! 4,000+ hours CW output. Good work.

Mike
 
ElektroFreak said:
^about 80mW presently, but I haven't checked in a couple weeks. I hadn't seen any degradation as of the last time I checked and I don't anticipate any now.
Click to expand...

LOL I thought that the acrylic lens should have already degraded.... 4000 hours being hit by near-uv light....
 
stupidwun, (baka means stupid for those who don't know) I usually run mine at about 100mA and i think they would have made it much longer if I didn't mess with them but they usually lasted 2 months strong with no heat sink
 
Hemlock_Mike said:
ElFreek ---

That's dedication to the cause !!! 4,000+ hours CW output. Good work.

Mike
Click to expand...

Thank you sir.. I hope that some folks can benefit, since that was the idea in the first place.

I have noticed something a little interesting in my experimentation with PHRs. (Actually, it may apply to any diode, but I noticed it first with PHRs) If you run a PHR at 85-90mA for a long time, let's say a few hundred hours, then raise the current to 100-110mA (which is normally considered relatively safe for a PHR) the diode will almost always die nearly instantly. It's like they get used to a certain current and if you suddenly go higher (even if it's a setting that is normally considered safe) they really don't like it. I don't know what to make of that, it just seemed interesting.
 
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sorry to bump the thread, but i have some newz :
i noticed severe degradation in my 205 mA 803T + coated lens (it was an experimental built to show how long it will last). Removing the lens show that there is die location in the diode. My 150 mA built since 1 year is still lasing strong, no degradation at all. I support my 150 mA as a maximal current for a maximal longevity. I remenber at the beginning how awesome the beam was compared to the 150mA version. So the heatsinking is not the key, because the 205 mA version used a big chunk serie (press fit heatsink). I used the laser few minute per night.
Otherwise i make a labby style red open can at 560 mA. Lasing strong. Very stable.
 
^Are you talking 365 days continuously, or average pointer use?

Also to update: The PHR that I posted about above died about three weeks ago at roughly 4600 hours of continuous use at 90mA. I ran it for just over 6 months continuously. If the diode had been run within it's rated specs it should have lasted at least 5000 hours, so even 90mA is still just a tad high (although I'm very happy getting 4600 hours from a $10 diode..).
 
average use.
Im impressed about your experiment, very interesting. Now im building pulsed driver to see if this diode can accept much higher current with no degradation
 
You should be able to get a higher power (current) during the pulse, but the average over time should be less than with CW. Also the pulse duration must be very short to count as a pulse - I've come across a datasheet once, I believe of the LPC red, where the max pulse duration was given as 30ns (Nanoseconds) with a max duty cycle of 40% (this info is subject to faulty memory :undecided: ). For hobbyists purposes, it didn't sound like a useful option.
 
i have a PHR at about 90-100ma, and with heavy use over a year in a jayrob heatsink it is still going strong.
 
mauswiesel said:
average use.
Im impressed about your experiment, very interesting. Now im building pulsed driver to see if this diode can accept much higher current with no degradation
Click to expand...


You may be able to get more power this way, since most diodes will handle significantly more current when pulsed. Let us know more about your driver when you complete it.
 
I'm running one of mine from 12 days, 24 hours a day, actually, on my lab style heatsink, set at 120mA ..... and checking any hour or so, when i'm in the shop ..... keeping it under 30 degrees, no faults, no power loss, no death ..... at least til now.

For the opposite, i fried another one running it for 15 minutes continuously at the same current, without heatsink (temp rised too much, it started avalanche effect rush, and dramatically decreased the output power to 25 mW (that mean, actually, it still adsorb 120mA, but give out no more than 25mA, and heat more quick than a "sane" diode ..... probably dielectric reflectors cooked, and now the remaining power is dissipated inside the chip, instead come out)

Perhaps their weakest point is the temperature ..... or, there are more series with different characteristics, but i don't have any way for check this, cause i never found any part numbers on them.
 
I wanted to contribute some PHR information! Here is my little PHR labby results I just got back from BCM

156mA
142mW

Almost a 1:1 ratio with a cheap AR coated glass lens
 

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Well, I built my 90mA pocket mini. With a 405-G-1 lens it puts out a healthy 96mW. It's the perfect EDC 405nm laser!

The laser gets warm after 2 to 3 minutes but never gets really hot. I do not foresee too many problems with the diode at this current setting.
 
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