Red DIY DVD laser burner.

[toked323]

hey kenom i didnt use a resistor in mine and it gave out about 345ma, and 1 more thing where do you get your heatsinks?

 

[Zarniwoop]

Did it last very long at 345mA?
I never wanted to go much above 250 with a GB diode.

 

[toked323]

yea it lasted long it had a 7 minute run cycle also

 

[Kenom]

I have my heatsinks turned spcifically for this mod by a machine shop.

 

[photongeek]

You bet. I use a 3.2 ohm resistor in mine. but you could even go with a 2.5 ohm resistor.

Well, this is getting frustrating. Due to the large plus or minus 20% tolerance on the resistors I'm using, I didn't see much of an improvement. But, the leads must have touched inside the module and the diode blew. :'(. That's three for me. Man!
I went back to the original 3.9 Ohms and had to use my last LD. Well, this one isn't performing as well as the one I just destroyed even though it's drawing the same amount of current 195 to 200 ma. I does pop balloons and light matches it just takes longer which is pi**ing me off. I guess I "improved" a working laser to death. But the thing that has me concerned is the weird pattern it projects with the lens removed. Have you ever seen this before? Is this some kind of defect and why it's not performing as well as the other? Your help is appreciated Guys!

 

[Kenom]

those nice dots are dust and whatnot.  very easy to remove.  Since the lens is off it's right on the glass of the diode.  Lenspen or qtip dipped in alcohol and let dry for a few to get rid of most of the alcohol.

Visibly your not going to see any difference between 150mw and 180mw. They are both extremely bright. I can eyeball it pretty close up to 150mw but beyond that it's a lot harder. At 250ma your going to get about 150mw I push mine up to 345ma or somewhere close and get upwards of 190mw from these. Ya just gotta be careful.

 

[photongeek]

Thanks as always Ken.

 

[tvard667]

kenom could you post a pic of the driver circuit because i cant decide what connections to sever and did u use the dorcy mini1watt?

 

[Kenom]

Yes I did.  I'll take a picture of the board and show you the connections that need to be severed.  Basically the only reason to sever the connections is to prevent any accidental shortings to the module lower section.   I'll take some detailed pictures and show you.  Seems my pictures have dissapeared on this thread.

oh and Toked, Orignially the driver was putting out 350ma +/- 5% so it was pretty good for peak these diodes could handle and if you got one of the initial run (the first ones of these dorcy made) then your still in that ballpark and no resistor is needed. However if you have one of the newer one's then it's possible it's putting out over 380ma. You just need to test these drivers out prior to hooking a diode up to them.

 

[toked323]

yea mine put out about 345mA no resistor needed

 

[Kenom]

then you have one of the first dorcy Jr.'s put out by dorcy. Be thankful the newer one's put out 380ma and will toast diodes instantly.

 

[Kenom]

Ok here is a picture of the board the light is attatched to. (NOTE: these are NOT the drivers. The drivers are in the battery section below the black plastic.)

Once you remove the light (in the picture the light is still attached) you will cut the traces seen under the black in the circled area.

 

[wooooooolazer]

My diode looked just like that cept it was melted specs of plastic that fell on it fromthe lens i cut :'(  So i ended up cutting of the window and it made a nice clear output for 4sec unti my driver blew it because i mixed up 2 wires..

Can anyone else look at a dot from the diy reds without any trouble? Or am i just like weird lol, i could easily look at the dot without having to squint or anything.


Wait i think you were just talking about you could tell the difference in power lvls like between 130mw and 150mw...



....lazer.... ;D ;D ;D

 

[ice]

need help

hello guys. I need some help [smiley=cry.gif]. I just got pioneer 16xDVD burner, and took out LD. I connected it directly to 3xAA NiCd cells (I measured 3,8V and 122mA), but all I got was red diffused glow (LD did not get hot). Did I blew the LD? Or do I need some optics to make it focused or what? LD is in original gold-ish can, plus small heatsink from DVD burner. any suggestions? thanks

 

[Chris.]

A) 3.8v is too high
B) NEVER connect batteries directly to the diode, as is stated here many times..
You probably blew the diode, yes..
If your lucky that is actually the 'IR' diode which, to my eyes, produces a feint red glow..

Go and build daedal's LMT317 circuit..

 

[ice]

not a feint glow, its pretty intense . dont have lm317 yet, is there any other way to power LD (to test if it lases or not) ?