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FrozenGate by Avery

Power Meter Calibration and Comparison

Sure would be great to move forward with this cool project... :)

Kenom has offered his builds. There has been some discussion of a different set up. Is anybody following through with this other idea?
Jay
 





Yeah, it kinda stopped after that.. :(

As i said in the beginning, i wouldn't mind making a laser, just to figure out how my meter compares. But it could spend 7-10 days in the mail before reaching the US. In the worst case up to two weeks....

If that's too long and no one in the US can make it, we should go with the handhelds. I liked the tripod idea. As long as everyone uses the tripod and protected Li-Ions, it should work just fine. But these two things are important for the mentioned reasons..


Otherwise, i think GooeyGus said he could make the double laser box with remote activation and external PSU.
 
I'm for either way... I favor Kenom's lasers because I know that the FlexDrives are very efficient and his builds are pretty much ready to go! 8-)

He has also already given us a price breakdown and started a list of potential contributors. But then I think he must of stepped back to see if this other idea was going to be more desirable.

I guess we would need more specifics about the build, and if GooeyGus was offering to be the point man, price total, etc...

Otherwise, lets move forward with Kenom's offer! :)
Jay
 
Indeed.  that is kind of why I stepped back.  With the discussion and preferrence seeming to lean towards a box style unit, and my inability to put that together (no heatsink to fit the box) I kind of backed off until everyone decided what was going to be built.  ON another note.  IF, the only thing that is making folks want to choose the box style is the psu, it would NOT be that difficult for me to setup my laser with a cord  inside so that the juice is going directly to the driver.  It would also be infinitely easier to hook up the lava drive to the psu than to batteries.  With the external switch on the wire going to the laser the clicky switch would no longer be necessary.

Having the cord coming out of the end of the pointer would also be a deterent from using the laser for anything other than the testing.  Making it combersome and unweildy. And if we're going to go with the psu, then I can use the rckstr drivers instead of the lavadrive, which would decrease cost a bit.
 
The initial interest for your lasers with FlexDrives and a CR123 battery was good. It was looking like the total cost of $145 bucks was going to be split by at least 9 or 10 contributors... about $15 bucks each.

I thought it was sounding very inexpensive already. Seems like we're back to square one. I guess everybody needs to speak up again, but the problem is, we don't really have a solid offer from another prospective 'point man'...
Jay
 
The thing is, i don't like or prefer box lasers. I like small handheld units much more..

It's just that i noticed it is hard to get a perfect reading on my meter, when holding a laser there with my hand.. I was checking my 6x for signs of degradation in power for the last week, and in that case very small differences in the measurements can be important, so i need to be sure if i'm measuring correctly. It determines if my diode is dying or if the reading was only changed by my hand, aim or any shaking..

With this experiment, it determines the final accuracy..


But i like your new proposal Kenom! If you put a switch in the middle of that power cord, and include a tripod, the end result would be the same as with a box! I don't see any drawbacks if done this way. The heatsink will keep the power stable for long enough, the tripod will prevent shaking, and the remote switch would prevent changing the aim when pressing the switch. The external PSU would eliminate potential problems with unprotected CR123s.

This might be the best way, as you have most everything ready and the only difference would be the cable with a switch, which is easy to make. Everything else is the same..


The only thing we have to discuss is the PSU itself. The best thing would be a switching PSU, that can work from 110-220V.

I have such a wallwart from an old Motorola phone. It has both type of plugs. You take the EU plug off and extend the US plug.. It should also be stabilised (IC regulated wallwart), so it doesn't kill the LavaDrive with >5.5V.


If we get the PSU side figured out, i think this would be the best solution.
 
OK Rckstr has offered to use a regulated switching psu and we could use his driver as well since with the psu it' not going to move out of regulation. It would be a simple matter for him to ship the completed psu and drivers to me and I could then put it in my dorcy. I've got silicone glue that I can then use to seal the end of the tube so the wires don't get broken off the driver. I DO have a simple incline switch I can use on this and it just means severing one of the wires on the psu output and putting this over both wires.
 
Cool!

Yeah, the efficiency doesn't matter here. If you give rkcstr's driver 9 or 12V, it will keep the current just as stable as any constant current driver.

But it would be a good idea to move the drivers down to the middle of the battery tube and connect it to the diode through wires. Linear drivers discard the excess power as heat, so it should not be soldered to the diode directly for this experiment...
 
Oh, hey guys, haven't read this in a few days.

As for the PSU, I can put the contents of the universal AC adapter in the smallest box possible.  I'll put in an IEC connector and power light, but I have a few questions about the other details:

1.  What type of switch do you want to use?  Mounted in the case or inline (power or laser output)?

2.  How would you like to interface with the laser module?  I could add in some sort of connector as well and include it along to Kenom (?) to attach to the cable for the laser.

3.  Would you like me to put a driver IN the PSU box instead of mounting in the laser?  It would probably be a good idea to mount a second cap on the laser diode itself, which I could actually make just a small interface board with a cap on there as well and holes for attaching wires, if you want.

I'll probably buy some of the parts I need from Mouser, so if there are any specific ideas that you guys feels it needs, let me know and I can order any other parts as well.

If we definitely want to go this route, I'll start looking into exactly what I need and maybe draw up a small diagram of what it would look like?
 
It sure would be nice to have everything enclosed in the box as far as the driver is concerned.  I'm more than capable of soldering a smt capacitor in between the pins themselves as I've done for shipping laser diodes I've extracted.  So that portion would be incredibly easy.  Not to mention the new groove drivers are unassembled and would be very easy for me to attach just the diode and use one of those for the thing.  but you have the ability to make a board specifically how you need it and that would be preferable.  

It would also be VERY nice to have just a simple connector that I could silicone glue into the end of the barrel that would make a very quick connection.  But the same could be said for someone making a portable battery pack and pluggin in and goin outside to play with it.  Just soldering the thing directly to the board inside would be the choice I would go with since it would physically be a bit cumbersome being attached to the laser and psu.  Means only setting it up for your measuring purpose and that's it.

I don't think though that it would be that necessary to go to great lengths with the psu.  It is now a basic walwart.  with a UK adapter and other types, you could still just plug it right into a wall, have a switch on the cord inline and you could easily turn it on and off.  The barrel, since it will have no battery, will have lots of room inside for the driver and would I would think plenty of space between that and the laser diode.  bah.  go with the box.  it's the best I think.  switch on the side.

We're makin this harder than it has to be. LOL. Go ahead and make the powersupply how you think is best rcksr. I can send the plug if you need it. I've got about 20 of them. When you get everything assembled, I will send ya some funds for the components and you can ship it to me for assembly on everything else.
 
I'll even send you my keyswitch so that, that can be the switch on the side.  just a teenie safety feature.  

Edit.  We cannot have the driver in the box since we are powering two lasers not 1.  Each driver will have to be set in the laser with the one connection to the lasers.  so a connector would be NEEDED not suggested.

Here is the list of participants.

who's participating?  I am.

Jayrob,
Daguin
Zom-b
IgorT (Slovenia)
Rckstr.
danq
muledeer
happytomato (Uk.)
Gooeygus.
Scopeguy
pullbangdead
electron
pseudonomen137
Hydro
 
Total 14 participants.
 
One more thing. With the cost of the rckstr drivers instead of the flexdrives it drops the price down about $15 total (rckstr will still need compensation for the box and psu.
 
Since there will be one PSU and two lasers, the drivers should be in the lasers, as they won't be set to the same current.

Then, a simple socket/plug can allow using one PSU for both. Having the driver in the battery tube would also reduce the chances of frying the diode when switching the PSU from one laser to another.

EDIT: Oh, i see Kenom already covered this..

The switch could be on the PSU box itself. This doesn't matter, as long as the laser doesn't move when switching it ON/OFF..


The keyswitch could get lost or not shipped, and become a problem..
 
I have a kenmeter I'm putting together soon. Just let me know if I can be of any help!
 
airy52 said:
I have a kenmeter I'm putting together soon. Just let me know if I can be of any help!
Click to expand...

Actually, the experiment is supposed to be of help to you, so that you can calibrate your meter. ;)
 
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