pocket pal broke

[The_Muffin_Man]

Yeah...I shorted it out and everything so now im just waiting on my diodes...I had another idea for a laser....ok so i was at this party the other day and they had these flashing LED light things...so i stole a couple(dont tell anyone : ) And took them apart...all they are are a switch, battery input and LED output...So if i attached a 6v battery source and soldered on wires to go to a rkcstr driver or something and attached the driver to a diode do you think i could make a laser that would flash on and off? (the board has 3 settings: flash fast, flash slow, and dont flash at all, and off) I would like to hear what you guys think about this...If i could build that it would be flipping awesome lol

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

Muffin ---

"OK SO" --- those little flashers are designed to flash a few mA of current. How big is the driver on them? Did you measure the current ? You do need to study electronics a bit SO you understand Ohm's law and the Power law. You Know, that's the basics of electronics.

Mike

 

[pseudolobster]

Sorry, I didn't read your original post before writing my last two replies.. I have this bad habit of doing that, and after a while threads start to meld together and you lose track of what people have already tried...

If you have a dead violet diode it undoubtedly makes a better dummy load than a bunch of random rectifier diodes, and if you solder one pin of the laser diode to positive on the driver, then wire a 10ohm resistor (if that's all you have) between the other pin of the diode and the other pin of the driver, then measure voltage across the resistor and multiply by 10 to get the amperage.

If you took that 3v flashing LED thing and applied 6v to it, it probably just melt and die. If you want to make a flashing laser I'd look into circuits involving the 555 timer.. It's pretty simple to wire one up and they're readily available at radioshack or are sometimes salvageable from scrap electronics. Check it out: http://www.google.ca/search?q=555+timer

 

[The_Muffin_Man]

I think you guys think it is a big circuit but all I can see through the plastic on this board is metal...and I am pretty sure the switch just turns it on and off...I'll test the mA output in the morning and see what it is...I will look into the circuit you mentioned though...is it at all bad for the diode giving it little bursts of current?

Thanks