Re: Modwerx ripped me off...
I worked before. why shouldnt it work now? i followed styropyro on youtube to make it.
Drivers often have capacitors on the output to smooth transients. Capacitors, being a sort of "mini rechargeable battery" - in essence, can take varying voltage IN, while maintaining a rather constant output. In effect they will "convert AC to DC".
The problem is, when there is no draw on the driver (say, a diode) - when the driver is disconnected from the diode, and perhaps turned on, (or perhaps from residual power in the computer power supply) - that capacitor, that "little battery" becomes charged.
The second you connect your diode to that output capacitor, all that charged up energy comes rushing out into the diode -- since it has nowhere else to go -- and usually far exceeds the ratings of the diode.
So what you want to do is short the leads of the output of the driver before reattaching a new diode. That way the energy will be 'grounded out', and not laying in wait to blow away your new diode.
I blew a rare 40mW 635nm this way recently by having a bad solder connection. Bothers me to this day. Probably will for quite a while. I'm not new here, and I've done it. People like Daguin -- arguably one of the most experienced folks here -- have done it. Repeatedly.
It happens. It's not a judgement on you. Nobody "doesn't blow diodes" during builds. Unfortunately its a 'cost of the hobby'... such as if you're flying model airplanes -- chances are one of your prized builds are going to, eventually, slam into a tree.
Keep in mind that $45 1w blue diodes being thought of as "pricy" still boggles a lot of us, because not even 1.5 years ago:
- Blue didn't come directly out of a diode; not for under $3000 per diode.
- 1W didn't come out of a diode of ANY color, unless you were talking infrared.
- A $45 blue laser of any sort would have been unthinkable.
... I'm not talking ancient history. I'm talking the November before last. If someone came in, in say, January 2010 and said "Oh hey in January 2011 we'll be upset about losing $45 on a direct blue 1w diode", I think a whole lot of us would have said "Where do I sign up?"
Just a few (I mean 3, not 5 or 10) years before that, 80mW of 532 would set you back $500.
Perspective, man.
- Blown diodes, we all do it. There's no shame in it.
- Modwerx can't guarantee diodes like that... there's no way to tell what someone will do, because so many people DO blow them *as a matter of course*.
- If he guaranteed them, then people would essentially make him fund their trial-and-error.
- Still, to this very moment, 1W of direct blue for $45 is still nice at twice the price.
I bought *3* multiline argon ion lasers that really WERE DoA, and the guy ran off, nowhere to be found. $400. *poof*.
Diodes are fickle... This won't be your first dead diode, and hopefully (yes hopefully) it won't be your last.
Keep building. Keep trying. I promise -- it gets better from here.
