weird sounds from PHR 803t

[australialaser]

today i was playing with my PHR laser then i put it close to my ear and i could hear weird sounds coming from it is that bad or is the current bad its not on high current its on low

 

[Eudaimonium]

First, a little correct,

PHR 803T is a sled used in HD-DVD addon drive for XBox360 gaming console.

A diode from that sled is in your laser, which is powered by some sort of DC/DC converter, also known as Boost driver.

The driver, more speficially, the inductor on the driver is the source of the high-pitched whine you can hear from your laser.

People usually reported that when observing some sort of structural damage to the inductor component itself, and while the laser is currently operating under normal parameters, it would be a good idea to replace the driver with a new undamaged one as soon as your funds allow it, to avoid driver going bad and ruining your laser diode with it.

 

[australialaser]

it suddenly stopped doing the sound do i still need to get a new driver?

 

[Eudaimonium]

It's probably going to produce the sound again when the battery is at the same charge level as last time it did.

Yes, I'd still advise to replace the driver.

 

[australialaser]

ok then im going to buy the micro boost drive from ebay

 

[australialaser]

hey i found a same driver as the one in my PHR can i use it or will the sound come again its not used its new

 

[Eudaimonium]

Your driver currently is damaged. Replacing it with new one, even of same model, will fix the issue.

Ofcourse, provided you do know how to properly test-load and setup the driver, and putting it all back.

If you haven't made a few handheld lasers already, I'd advise you send it to somebody else, otherwise you WILL mess it up. Everybody did the first time

 

[LaZeRz]

I've heard of this problem before and I seriously don't think your driver is messed up, but I could be wrong, it really depends

I've had it happen with a hotlight and it went away as soon as the battery was re-charged. IIRC its the inductor on the board struggling to
boost the voltage when your battery depletes, and since this IS a blu-ray diode the fV is pretty damn high.

If the whining stays even with a fully charged battery, try changing your batts if you have some more on hand

Btw Euda, I want you to make Aurora c6 direct press heatsinks

EDIT: I checked your thread and it looks like your using 2 alkaline primaries. try chaging it over to a single li-ion 16340/18650

 

[Eudaimonium]

I've heard of this problem before and I seriously don't think your driver is messed up, but I could be wrong, it really depends

I've had it happen with a hotlight and it went away as soon as the battery was re-charged. IIRC its the inductor on the board struggling to
boost the voltage when your battery depletes, and since this IS a blu-ray diode the fV is pretty damn high.

If the whining stays even with a fully charged battery, try changing your batts if you have some more on hand

Btw Euda, I want you to make Aurora c6 direct press heatsinks

EDIT: I checked your thread and it looks like your using 2 alkaline primaries. try chaging it over to a single li-ion 16340/18650

There already are some up for sale at Radiant, see the link in my signature.

About the driver, I'm pretty sure it's faulty in one way or the other. It might fail today or in one year, but a high pitched whine coming from the driver is NOT a good sign.

Better to be safe the sorry, right?

 

[LaZeRz]

There already are some up for sale at Radiant, see the link in my signature.

About the driver, I'm pretty sure it's faulty in one way or the other. It might fail today or in one year, but a high pitched whine coming from the driver is NOT a good sign.

Better to be safe the sorry, right?

Cool! I probably forgot about those

It might be faulty or the inductor might be under stress which is why it is whining. Inductors tend to whine when under pressure.

And remember, he is driving a blu-ray diode using 2 alkalines. The boost circuit has to up the voltage from around 2.5 volts to 4.8 volts. It is possible the batteries can't handle the current draw or that the driver is struggling to boost it due to the sag of the alkalines.

Whatever it may be, I guess you could start your troubleshooting by hooking up 1 lithium ion to your driver. If the whining stays, replace it.

 

[Eudaimonium]

A very good advice, yes.

Using lithium ion batteries is a very common practise, and for a good reason.
Good capacity and current output possibility, along with very fast recharge times compared to the capacity in mAh.

It is good to invest into higher quality cells, but even the cheaper ones from DX will do for now, to troubleshoot the problem.

Report back with the results

 

[australialaser]

hey i think what the problem is when i wiggle the button switch the sound stops but it i move it slightly forward the noise starts

 

[Eudaimonium]

Hm, interesting - that would mean that the switch is lower-quality, and it creates more resistance then usual, placing a demand on the driver for higher current than usual.

Obviously, try replacing the switch and see how it goes.

 

[australialaser]

ok ill let you know what happens when i replace it and the switch is pretty old i got a brand new one in my hand right now

 

[australialaser]

ok i did everything i can desolder everything and wire again with new switch didnt work then new batteries didnt work then i turned the pot down then it stopped wtf??? does it mean i fixed it?

 

[LaZeRz]

Wait, can you describe exactly what happened?