playstation 2 laser

[Rusty]

Hi all,

I have the laser diode unit from a ps2.
I believe it is the khs-400b, which has two laser diodes (IR and red) in it.

Does anyone know anything about this laser?
i.e. the sort of voltage and current it likes..
I was thinking to drive it with an LM317 but can't find any spec for it online.

I read somehwere that the red LD would probably be ~5mW.
Assuming it runs at 3V, can I just calculate the required current (P=IV)?
Or might it run at a lower voltage?

Also there are sixteen pins on the back but I assume most of these are for the photodiode, which is also contained in the unit. Any ideas about these?

Thanks for any comments. I'm fairly new to hardware hacking,
and very new to lasers (and this site).

 

[NightExplorer96]

Hello Rusty,

I do not know much about lasers in consoles :thinking:

But one thing I can say is you seem to not have made a post on the "Welcome" section.

Please make a thread ASAP so we can get to know you

 

[crazyspaz]

It has a low power IR and a low power red. not worth taking apart. you can find more info if you use the search bar at the bottom of the page.

 

[Rusty]

Thanks, crazyspaz.

I know it is a low power red diode in the unit I am trying to use, as well as IR.

I thought this would be a good start to play around with lenses and drivers wihtout worrying too much about the diode and damaging myself. I am keen on re-using parts from salvaged kit. But is that not a good idea with laser diodes?

 

[supermario680]

I just bought some $2.50 keychain pointers from wal-mart and took those apart until I could hardwire the diode to a output.

 

[Pi R Squared]

Well its not worth the trouble but you may want to go ahead and extract that red diode and get it working just for practice, then you will be more comfortable if you decide to extract one from a DVD-RW or Blue-Ray.

Alan

 

[supermario680]

Well its not worth the trouble but you may want to go ahead and extract that red diode and get it working just for practice, then you will be more comfortable if you decide to extract one from a DVD-RW or Blue-Ray.

Alan

this^^ took me several tries to break it down far enough for my purposes without damaging it. First tear down was just for learning, no way that diode would have made it... after knowing how it worked and was wired I was able to disassemble other ones for harvesting.