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FrozenGate by Avery

Question About the BDR-209 900mw diode?

we can't guarantee you that your driver will work without spikes and no you can't see that without oscilloscope and you can't notice anything from the diode power with bare eyes,a current spike can even kill a diode before makes out any light from the ld(it happened with my psu when i was still new to the hobby)either way i suggest you to not use it if you don't want to risk your new bdr.

as of the driver you bought please note that some heatsinking is needed at 550ma if you want to make a not so short runtimes.
 





Alright thanks guys! You pretty much answered all my questions. Really do appreciate it. Ile just keep the driver for leds. ile post any updates to the design/build here.
 
Not that it matters really but from all my experience building with that diode I could always get it to run well straight off one of my testing bench power supplies but you cannot push it as hard with any other driver I have tried because of the reasons others have mentioned. Blown plenty of them trying to get to 1W. Fine on power supply but NOT fine with any driver I came across at that output. Maybe there's something newer out there now?
 
I believe the reason you can push these on a PS is because you move up to maximum current slowly. No driver does that, so getting a 1 watt is just the luck of the draw. You will need to get a particularly efficient diode and that is rare.
 
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900mw+ is also great no need to push it more for extra less than 100mw,im running mine at 550-560ma and im getting 920-930mw,i guess the diode will fry if i try to push it at 600ma to get 1w out of it :P
 
Alaskan said:
What is the typical forward (full power output) voltage for the BDR-209? If under 8 volts, appears it will work.



Be aware the brightness of this wavelength to the eye is very low, a 15 mw 532 nm laser would be just as bright.



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paul1598419 said:
Vf for the BDR-209 is ~6.5 volts. It should work fine.
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Thank you for the reply guys. The nano buck/boost driver is out of stock on Jordan's google site, so I guess I'll give this x-wossee driver a try unless there are better drivers out there. :beer:
 
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I would try to find a boost driver that isn't maxed out at 500 mA. It is unlikely you will be able to set it any higher than 480 mA. I never use a driver that is at its highest set point as they tend to regulate less well there. You should find one that will go up to 1 amp and then set that for 500 mA.
 
I do have one in a massive aluminum heat sink that has been working for years now. I lost one earlier and went to the much larger heat sink to keep the heat minimized. It is a good idea to set it to 500 mA and be happy with it there. I think under ideal conditions and the right diode you can get as much life at 550 mA, but that is the top of where I would set it.
 
Mine is ~4 inches in diameter. It is huge for such a small diode and set for such a low current. It has worked for me and when that diode eventually dies, I will likely just pop a new one in and if the driver is still okay, leave it set where it is.
 
Congrats. I hope you have it working for years to come. That was a good sale. I wouldn't mind it much if he did it again. It all depends on what he has on Amazon. :D
 
paul1598419 said:
I would try to find a boost driver that isn't maxed out at 500 mA. It is unlikely you will be able to set it any higher than 480 mA. I never use a driver that is at its highest set point as they tend to regulate less well there. You should find one that will go up to 1 amp and then set that for 500 mA.
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Alaskan said:
Also........most of these diodes will fail earlier than you might think if ran above 900 mw, I'd run a bit less. Mine died fairly quickly at 938 mw output, just a couple of hours run time, maybe less, over a period of a few months and RIP.
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Thank you for your advice gentlemen, I definitely agree on not running the driver to it's max current output, or drive the diode near 900mW. I think I'll stick to something really low like 250mA for an output around 400mW, see if I'm satisfied, and then adjust from there...
 
Some of the nice things about this diode is how cheap it is and the fact that it is a single mode and can get 900 mW of output power. The least I would set it for is 700 mW, but in reality I would not set it that low as 850 mW would still make a nice burner. It is incredibly dim, however, and that can mislead you into thinking it isn't as dangerous as it is.
 
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