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- Mar 27, 2008
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Hey guys. This topic is copied from my post in the thread in the blu-ray forum. I received my three drives from geeks today. One is in the computer and working perfectly. I ripped one apart, but decided to see what I could discover about the red laser diode can inside.
After some testing, I believe I have discovered the pinout. Please refer to my extremely detailed diagram:
Three of the pins travel into the can and have black insulating rings around them at the base to prevent them from contacting the can. The fourth one is the case pin and serves as the common ground or -. The top pin is the red laser diode, which emits a bright red light when I ran it at 50mA. The bottom pin appears to be the IR diode. I ran it at approximately 70mA and i found it projecting a dim reddish light onto the table. The last pin seems to do nothing, but current does pass through it. I will conduct some further testing on this diode and update as necessary.
EDIT: Yes, I can confirm with 100% confidence that this is the correct pinout. Photos are included of each laser running at roughly 40mA straight out of the can.
Red Laser:
IR diode:
As these are not DVD burner drives, I already seem to have overdriven the red LD. I was ramping up the source voltage when the LD got brighter then suddenly went dim and I couldn't get it back to the brightness it was at before. I didn't see exactly how much current was going through it, but I would estimate it to be just over 50mA. Don't exceed this amount for either diode and you should be able to build a small pointer using the red diode.
After some testing, I believe I have discovered the pinout. Please refer to my extremely detailed diagram:
Three of the pins travel into the can and have black insulating rings around them at the base to prevent them from contacting the can. The fourth one is the case pin and serves as the common ground or -. The top pin is the red laser diode, which emits a bright red light when I ran it at 50mA. The bottom pin appears to be the IR diode. I ran it at approximately 70mA and i found it projecting a dim reddish light onto the table. The last pin seems to do nothing, but current does pass through it. I will conduct some further testing on this diode and update as necessary.
EDIT: Yes, I can confirm with 100% confidence that this is the correct pinout. Photos are included of each laser running at roughly 40mA straight out of the can.
Red Laser:
IR diode:
As these are not DVD burner drives, I already seem to have overdriven the red LD. I was ramping up the source voltage when the LD got brighter then suddenly went dim and I couldn't get it back to the brightness it was at before. I didn't see exactly how much current was going through it, but I would estimate it to be just over 50mA. Don't exceed this amount for either diode and you should be able to build a small pointer using the red diode.
Thanks for the Diagram
