THATS IT I GIVE UP!!!!

[daguin]

Sorry man, I've been there too, felt the exact same thing when both my blu-rays failed at the same time.  :-/

But never give up, never let it down, bla bla bla, Rick Ashley. [smiley=vrolijk_1.gif]

That is the first "text-based" Rick Roll I have seen.

Nicely done

Peace,
dave

 

[FireMyLaser]

Lol I guess it was bound to happen.

 

[ColdStl]

I needed to read this...as I just finished frying another diode myself. :'(
I think I would prefer to see a dead diode rather than a LED though. Especially if it means that I barely overdrove it.

 

[kernelpanic]

One thing about when they go totally black- Sometimes you can BOMB them with current and bring em back for a few seconds...

But only for a few seconds. Pretty way to watch a diode die though.

cheers,
kernelpanic

 

[ElektroFreak]

I didn't run it too high @ 97mA (I don't think thats too high  :-X) one of mine looked like it caught fire when I opened it up, another looked fine but didn't produce any light, one of the windows shattered and the diode stopped working after a while, this list goes on  :'( I seem to have bad luck with PHR803T diodes. Maybe I should move on to reds or attempt a DIY green :-/

You wouldn't think that 97mA would be too high, especially since that's not what killed your diode. It's worth noting that laser diodes are typically rated for a lifetime of 5,000-10,000 hours as long as they are run below the maximum rated current. Since no one seems to know exactly which diodes come in PHR-803T sleds, it's nearly impossible to find a datasheet for one. This makes it impossible to know what they are rated for in terms of current and temperature.

Personally I never take PHR diodes past 100mA and so far I have killed three of them while running them at 100mA. They each lasted about 20 hours of continuous use, a long way from 10,000. What this tells me is that in order to see the performance and lifetime that these diodes can provide, they must be run WELL below 100mA. Right now I have one set at 65mA (about 50mW output) and it has been going strong for weeks now continuously.

Many hobbyists are willing to trade lifetime for extra output, but I get a little sick of replacing diodes every 20-24 hours of use. As long as people continue to believe that these diodes are capable of "150mW", then they can't complain when they keep dying..

 

[D.S.Darkness]

you said it was running at 97 mA with out a load, so im thinking that you may have in fact underpowered it to see an LED effect, but the short did infact kill it. when mine is run with out a load i get up to 500 mA at max with 2- 10ohm resistors in parallel, and a 25 ohm pot in series with them. but under load at max i get roughly 200-250 mA.

also, have you,

-- heat sinked your diode
-- tried it at a higher power
-- double checked the driver for faulty connections

 

[Ace82]

[quote author=maxkillz link=1228016015/0#14 date=1228068596]I didn't run it too high @ 97mA (I don't think thats too high  :-X) one of mine looked like it caught fire when I opened it up, another looked fine but didn't produce any light, one of the windows shattered and the diode stopped working after a while, this list goes on  :'( I seem to have bad luck with PHR803T diodes. Maybe I should move on to reds or attempt a DIY green :-/

You wouldn't think that 97mA would be too high, especially since that's not what killed your diode. It's worth noting that laser diodes are typically rated for a lifetime of 5,000-10,000 hours as long as they are run below the maximum rated current. Since no one seems to know exactly which diodes come in PHR-803T sleds, it's nearly impossible to find a datasheet for one. This makes it impossible to know what they are rated for in terms of current and temperature.

Personally I never take PHR diodes past 100mA and so far I have killed three of them while running them at 100mA. They each lasted about 20 hours of continuous use, a long way from 10,000. What this tells me is that in order to see the performance and lifetime that these diodes can provide, they must be run WELL below 100mA. Right now I have one set at 65mA (about 50mW output) and it has been going strong for weeks now continuously.

Many hobbyists are willing to trade lifetime for extra output, but I get a little sick of replacing diodes every 20-24 hours of use. As long as people continue to believe that these diodes are capable of "150mW", then they can't complain when they keep dying..[/quote]

Awe, [sign of relief] there are some people out there who aren't afraid of speaking the truth. 100mA is the absolute MAX in my book, after killing 6 PHR's trying to achieve 100+mW during my simple endurance tests (basic hobbyist obsessive use) The main problem with these blu-ray diodes is that they are deceptive. Unlike a red diode that will pop the very instant the current is too high, the blu-ray's will fool you because they take the added stress... for a short while until they reach certain death. That's why I would never sell a PHR diode over 80mW. I always say, lower the current and deal with a less powerful blu-ray laser that will last.

 

[Cenobite9]

Yeah, I just killed a PHR myself. :'( Mine actually turned into a LED. I desoldered everything and attached the lava driver to a test load just to make sure I didn't damage the driver. That checked out ok so I resoldered everything with new wires but the diode still acted like an LED. I was originally pushing 100ma from the driver but like any dedicated laser enthusiast I kept re-adjust the driver until finally, instant led I think the driver was pusing around 125ma. I also noticed that my lens had a really deep scratch in it which may or may not have contributed to the death of the diode. I have since ordered a new PHR and a glass lense (to replace the scratched plastic one). I currently have the driver set to 125ma but may drop it back down to around 100ma before installing the replacement diode. I am using a Dorcy Jr host with a Dark Horse aluminum heat sink so the laser host is pretty solid. Circuit City has the LG GBW-H20L 6X burners on sale for $199.00 right now so I amy pick up one of those and carefully harvest the diode out of the drive and then return the drive as defective ;D Just joking... I would never do such a thing :

 

[ElektroFreak]

Yeah, I just killed a PHR myself.    :'(  Mine actually turned into a LED.  I desoldered everything and attached the lava driver to a test load just to make sure I didn't damage the driver.  That checked out ok so I resoldered everything with new wires but the diode still acted like an LED.  I was originally pushing 100ma from the driver but like any dedicated laser enthusiast I kept re-adjust the driver until finally, instant led    I think the driver was pusing around 125ma.  I also noticed that my lens had a really deep scratch in it which may or may not have contributed to the death of the diode.  I have since ordered a new PHR and a [highlight]glass lense[/highlight] (to replace the scratched plastic one).  I currently have the driver set to 125ma but may drop it back down to around 100ma before installing the replacement diode.  I am using a Dorcy Jr host with a Dark Horse aluminum heat sink so the laser host is pretty solid.  Circuit City has the LG GBW-H20L 6X burners on sale for $199.00 right now so I amy pick up one of those and carefully harvest the diode out of the drive and then return the drive as defective   ;D  Just joking...  I would never do such a thing  :

Be careful using a glass lens with blu-ray diodes. They aren't AR coated for 405nm so they reflect too much light back into the diode, causing premature death and horrible beam quality. If you're using blu-rays, stick with the acrylic lenses that come with the modules. IgorT is working on developing glass lenses that are AR coated for 405nm, but until they are finished, there are no glass lenses that are any good for blu-rays..

 

[Xer0]

Since no one seems to know exactly which diodes come in PHR-803T sleds, it's nearly impossible to find a datasheet for one.

After hours of Google i just found two Datasheets of Sharp Diodes; but are these in the PHR-803T Sleds?!?

 

[ElektroFreak]

[quote author=ElektroFreak link=1228016015/20#20 date=1228238308]Since no one seems to know exactly which diodes come in PHR-803T sleds, it's nearly impossible to find a datasheet for one.

After hours of Google i just found two Datasheets of Sharp Diodes; but are these in the PHR-803T Sleds?!?[/quote]

That's the million-dollar question, my friend. You find a conclusive answer to that, and many people on this forum would be interested.

 

[flogged]

Don't give up!!

As coincidence would have it, my 803 diode popped yesterday.

I was driving mine @ 100mA, and it was a good little burner. It died after 50-60 hours of use. I'd left it on for hours at a time.

So,, I'm going to rip apart another Toshiba drive (from Geeks) this afternoon and repair the pointer. The next diode I'm only going to run at 75-80mA of current. I'm aiming for longevity.

Yea these diodes are very finicky.

I've killed 4-5 of these 803 diodes now. My 811 based pointer (@ 45mA) is still going strong and remains my favorite BR. It's probably about 20-25mW.

 

[phoenix3200]

Don't give up!!

 

[ElektroFreak]

A-Rickin' and A-Rollin'

 

[Cenobite9]

I think I may have had a weak diode as I never left my pointer on for more than a couple minutes at a a time if that. My replacement has arrived so now I just got to wait until my friend with the soldering station is available. My hands are too shaky for such delicate work and he seems to do a really professional looking solder job. This time I'm not going to play around with the driver current setting after I put everything back together. That may increase the life of the diode a bit...

 

[Jimmymcjimthejim]

Sorry man, I've been there too, felt the exact same thing when both my blu-rays failed at the same time.  :-/

But never give up, never let it down, bla bla bla, Rick [highlight]Ashley[/highlight]. [smiley=vrolijk_1.gif]

It's Rick Astley

And don't give up. Get a nice host, and slap the diode in there. I killed 4 diodes before I got my Sonar host. Now the fifth one is living happily