Review: 510nm Direct Green Diodes / Build Photos (DGH-N1, DGH-N2)

[rhd]

Did you take pictures of the diodes before you put them in?

Or was the company name on the diode, hence no pictures were posted.

No, I wasn't able to provide photos of the diode. But as mentioned, it's just a typical TO-38. If you've seen one of those, you've seen this guy.

 

[qumefox]

Did you take pictures of the diodes before you put them in?

Or was the company name on the diode, hence no pictures were posted.

People need to quit fishing for the source of these. The secrecy involving the source in NO way revolves around money here, and the few people who know what the source is, are very well aware of the consequences of this information becoming public knowledge.. which would be that there wouldn't be a source any longer.

The supplier of these diodes is doing the community a VERY big favor by doing so.. and has ground rules they want followed. There are currently only two people i'm aware of that the source trusts enough to even discuss these diodes with.. and those two are rhd and aryntha.

So like I said before. Anyone interested in these diodes needs to talk to one of them.

I don't like going through middle men any more than anyone else, however this is very much a *one person screws up and they're gone forever* deal.

 

[rhd]

People need to quit fishing for the source of these. The secrecy involving the source in NO way revolves around money here, and the few people who know what the source is, are very well aware of the consequences of this information becoming public knowledge.. which would be that there wouldn't be a source any longer.

The supplier of these diodes is doing the community a VERY big favor by doing so.. and has ground rules they want followed. There are currently only two people i'm aware of that the source trusts enough to even discuss these diodes with.. and those two are rhd and aryntha.

So like I said before. Anyone interested in these diodes needs to talk to one of them.

I don't like going through middle men any more than anyone else, however this is very much a *one person screws up and they're gone forever* deal.

And further to that - guys, really, I foresee it as a possibility that more access to these diodes may be able to be opened up in the future. Maybe the not-to-distant future.

But, if people start emailing around, contacting companies, pushing different angles, etc, it's much more likely that the opportunity will just shut entirely to the laser community in general. That's why we took a month before even being comfortable posting this thread.

So trust us a bit (Me, Aryntha, Qume, and the few other people who are sort of conscious of what's going on here). We honest-to-god have no desire to keep wavelengths for ourselves.

It's critical to remember that the hobby community is 0.000001% of who these diodes are meant for. We don't even register on the "importance" meter. If we want exciting stuff like new wavelengths, we have to completely yield to everyone else's game-plan. And if the hobby community becomes ANY degree of frustration for ANYONE in the supply line, it's an irrelevantly small market (if it's even a "market" at all) that without 10 seconds of thought, would just be X-ed off.

So, as much as I can understand that burning desire to get something awesome and new, please have a bit of faith in the fact that we're being a bit tight-lipped for a reason that has nothing to do with selfish motivations.

 

[aryntha]

Did you take pictures of the diodes before you put them in?

Or was the company name on the diode, hence no pictures were posted.

I can assure you: it looks like absolutely any other 3.8mm diode out there. No different.

As to what RHD said and the 'name of the manufacturer': To put a finer point on it, in fact, I'd say us being tight-lipped has to do with the OPPOSITE of selfish motivations -- we don't want these to go away. Right now, the availability just isn't there that can support a throng of inquiries. It's a sensitive situation, and there are very few of them to go around.

As RHD said, all it would really take is for the hobbyist community to "annoy" a source even slightly for these to become unavailable. In essence, we were done a *favor* by being allowed to purchase them, at this point. So please, everyone relax and remember to tread lightly. The last thing anyone needs is someone interfacing with the source of these diodes in a 'discourteous, demanding, or unprofessional manner' - we (and the person doing the contacting) would be back to square one. There are certain 'parameters of the relationship' we have to follow right now.

Hopefully if we play our cards right this will change for the better, and soon.

P.S.: At this point in time, they are rather expensive.

 

[andy_con]

i have lots of kit to test these diodes how do i get my hands on some? PM me if you cannot discuss on the forum

 

[Elektrotechniker]

People need to quit fishing for the source of these. The secrecy involving the source in NO way revolves around money here, and the few people who know what the source is, are very well aware of the consequences of this information becoming public knowledge.. which would be that there wouldn't be a source any longer.

The supplier of these diodes is doing the community a VERY big favor by doing so.. and has ground rules they want followed. There are currently only two people i'm aware of that the source trusts enough to even discuss these diodes with.. and those two are rhd and aryntha.

So like I said before. Anyone interested in these diodes needs to talk to one of them.

I don't like going through middle men any more than anyone else, however this is very much a *one person screws up and they're gone forever* deal.

However, we are not...

 

[qumefox]

However, we are not...

Which is why rhd, aryntha, and myself have all warned everyone.

Actually none of us can stop anyone from continuing to try and locate the source, but it will only take them receiving ONE email from someone being less than courteous and professional, and trying to lowball to 'get a diode for cheap' (and these AREN'T cheap) to ruin things for EVERYBODY.. PERMANENTLY.. It's already almost happened once, and rhd and aryntha both had to work hard to salvage the situation... And things would probably be farther along than they are now if it wasn't for that incident.

This is a window to diodes that normally would not be available to us period.. at any price.. which is why it's being handled as carefully as it is.

 

[joeyss]

I think we should delete this thread from public view...I just...I have a bad feeling about this.

 

[MarioMaster]

Yeah, I don't see the point. All you're doing is dangling a carrot and saying "oh and we're the only ones who can get them" It would have probably been best to wait until supplier information and availability is confirmed before putting something like this into public view. Also if you've signed an NDA, just say you signed an NDA - no need to beat around the bush.

 

[Eudaimonium]

All the respect it's due to all you guys...

But for the life of me...

Can somebody possibly explain to me, in the name of Chuck Norris,
HOW can a sizeable community wanting to do BUSINESS with a company, harm the said company in any way, which exists for the sole purpose of doing said business?

I mean, Christ sakes, you just made it look like 1 person tried to buy a diode before you guys and it ended up with you "salvaging" the situation and it was considered an "incident"?

I know it's all supposed to be a secret. I will not try to buy any diodes and will not go around yelling "Green fcking diodes!".

But please, for the love of God, explain to me THAT asked above.

 

[Lase]

All the respect it's due to all you guys...

But for the life of me...

Can somebody possibly explain to me, in the name of Chuck Norris,
HOW can a sizeable community wanting to do BUSINESS with a company, harm the said company in any way, which exists for the sole purpose of doing said business?

I mean, Christ sakes, you just made it look like 1 person tried to buy a diode before you guys and it ended up with you "salvaging" the situation and it was considered an "incident"?

I know it's all supposed to be a secret. I will not try to buy any diodes and will not go around yelling "Green fcking diodes!".

But please, for the love of God, explain to me THAT asked above.

I have a feeling that said person may have simply started by asking the wrong questions. Or indicated that these items would not be used for practical reasons (IE. Hobbyist is NOT a valid practical reason)

I personally, am glad that rhd and aryntha are keeping tight lipped on this. They (as reputable and respectful members of this community) may be able to convince said supplier that there is a market in the hobby community. And that we are not all dangerous idiots who will end up making laws regarding lasers so tight that it's not worth production costs to create these new wavelengths.

Just my $0.02cAUD

Lase

 

[Elektrotechniker]

Yeah, I don't see the point. All you're doing is dangling a carrot and saying "oh and we're the only ones who can get them" It would have probably been best to wait until supplier information and availability is confirmed before putting something like this into public view. Also if you've signed an NDA, just say you signed an NDA - no need to beat around the bush.

lucky b** you earned the +2 points
I couldn't agree more. Yes or no? No more secrets

 

[ElektroFreak]

No matter what these will end up being available in droves and even better green diodes too.. the only question here is: How bad do you want to be one of the "first" to get them? Me, I don't care at all about being first or even early on.. these specific diodes aren't of a whole lot of use to me, so I see no need to worry about the feelings of one supplier in order to get them. Before long o-like or rayfoss et al will be offering them for pennies on the dollar compared to what the "bleeding edge" types are paying to be first.

These builds are amazing and I am excited for what they represent, but in general I agree with MarioMaster in that this review seems mostly geared towards showing off the latest, presently unobtainium to most people, technology and earning a little prestige too.

 

[jcranmer]

Way to go! Great looking builds. Very happy to see these out in the wild. Even if the wild is only two builds.

I have to say I was pretty sure you had one of these RHD. I knew better then to even ask about it though. If you had one and hadn't made it public, it was for a good reason.

I'm happy to wait and hope they become more generally available.

I'd send some +rep your way but of course the system won't let me at the moment.

 

[qumefox]

Can somebody possibly explain to me, in the name of Chuck Norris,
HOW can a sizeable community wanting to do BUSINESS with a company, harm the said company in any way, which exists for the sole purpose of doing said business?

This is easy to answer. Companies that manufacture laser diodes do NOT want anything to do with this community. 'Laser pointers' are two words they DON'T want to hear. Our 'community' is in NO way large enough to compensate for the liability risks incurred by sale of high powered diodes destined for laser pointers. Plus even if every 'laser enthusiast' bought one of these, it wouldn't amount to a 10th of the volume of say ca$i0's likely monthly diode order volume. Plus it'd only be a one time thing.

No matter what these will end up being available in droves and even better green diodes too..

Partially true. In the future higher wavelength green diodes will likely be cheaper and more plentiful. These... not so much. When 520nm+ gets perfected these will vanish. There is no commercial demand for them.

Your coming at this from a display standpoint and that's not the point. The only people who will be interested in these are wavelength collectors. This is about getting wavelengths that most likely won't be around long in the hands of the community. In 5 years time diodes in the low 500's will be as scarce as 612nm HeNe's are now... Not that they're plentiful now.

As far as why this was made public. Well rhd will have to answer that one. If it had been me, I'd have waited until the next batch of the diodes was available.

 

[rhd]

I think some of this has gone a bit off course, or perhaps positions here have been a bit over-exaggerated.

I actually have no issue with people knowing where these diodes came from. I know that an increasingly large handful of people DO know the back story - and just from putting 2 and 2 together, not because I've selectively shared any extra info with anyone that I haven't shared here. The source isn't really a secret. My only feelings on the matter are that I don't want to be responsible for 150 people flooding this source with inquiries, when that really wasn't something I think they were anticipating or desiring.

One of the first things I did after posting the OP, was send a link to the diode source. They're aware of this thread, I'm assuming they've read it (or at least the first page, before it devolved off course).

So the source of these diodes knows that there is a demand for them, and knows that this demand could be filled (by them) if that was a road they wanted to go down. I don't know whether it is or isn't, but it's not my place to decide that. That's the diode source's business. They're aware of the demand, and of this thread, and of the number of people that want these diodes. If it's possible to make these available to more people, I'm sure that they will.

To underscore something that got lost in the shuffle - these are not available right now. If I wanted to grab another one now (and I actually do), I couldn't, unfortunately.