What diodes and power are these?? BMW Laserlight

[DTR]

Oh boy now where going to start tearing apart bmw headlights!

Group buy on a BMW. Split the diodes I keep the caucus.:na:

 

[The Lightning Stalker]

I wonder how hard it would be to get a hold
of one as a spare part from a BMW dealer.

 

[Alaskan]

I'd be interested in seeing how they do things in one of those headlights too. I guess the advantage of the system is it can produce coherent white light, otherwise why go through all the trouble.... My assumption correct?

 

[clansley]

I'd be interested in seeing how they do things in one of those headlights too. I guess the advantage of the system is it can produce coherent white light, otherwise why go through all the trouble.... My assumption correct?

There are some advantages of remote phosphors here:
"Remote-phosphor technology can deliver a more uniform and attractive light output from LED lamps (MAGAZINE) - LEDs"

I have no idea why they would use a laser though, perhaps the same reason why they put blue lasers in some projectors? Are they a cheap or compact way of producing a lot of blue light?

 

[The Lightning Stalker]

I'd be interested in seeing how they do things in one of those headlights too. I guess the advantage of the system is it can produce coherent white light, otherwise why go through all the trouble.... My assumption correct?

These produce incoherent light.

I have no idea why they would use a laser though, perhaps the same reason why they put blue lasers in some projectors? Are they a cheap or compact way of producing a lot of blue light?

It is mostly nothing more than a selling
point to get midlife crisis men with more
money than sense to buy a car that has
lasers in it. There are some advantages to
having a very small intense light source
when it comes to focusing and getting the
light to go where they want.

They are more expensive and the system
takes up more space than LEDs. It is more
efficient at producing light, but that is
moot since the engine can generate as much
electric power as the vehicle needs. Sure
it uses more fuel, but the difference is so
minuscule that it hardly matters.

 

[Alaskan]

Take a look at the laser beams coming out of this Audi, even if computer generated, I'd love to see something like this on the road someday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11-SPeOtCuw

Which begs a probably all too obvious question/answer to some, but after the 445nm is shined onto a remote phosphor disk, is the white light coherent? I'm hoping so, not sure 3000K spectrum light CAN be such.

 

[clansley]

Based on what I have no. But I agree that video suggests yes; but marketing departments always lie

Take a look at the laser beams coming out of this Audi, even if computer generated, I'd love to see something like this on the road someday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11-SPeOtCuw

Which begs a probably all too obvious question/answer to some, but after the 445nm is shined onto a remote phosphor disk, is the white light coherent? I'm hoping so, not sure.

 

[Alaskan]

Well, I have some phosphor disks coming to test with.

 

[clansley]

Good luck and report back

 

[thestug]

Ok this is really interesting. I might just have to get one of those phosphor disks for my own experimentation. I'd like to see what you guys do with these things. I'd think that a laser powered desk lamp or even a laser flashlight would be friggin' sweet.

I'm just curious though. When you shine the laser at the phosphor does any of the blue laser light make it through that disk or is it all blocked and/or converted to white light? I'm trying to make sure that if I decide to eventually create a white light source out of one of those remote phosphor bits that I won't be shining some amount of dangerous laser light out the front.

Could the laser be focused on a relatively small section of phosphor to make a really small, but very bright emission surface? I'm imagining some very small intense white light sources for use in a very throwy flashlight. I'm sure there's probably some reason why this hasn't been done.

Also is this method of creating white light more efficient than an LED? I find it hard to imagine that it would be since there is likely some energy lost from the power source to the LD and then from the emitted laser light to the phosphor.

 

[Alaskan]

Some of the same questions I have, I've watched some videos and a laser doesn't appear to go through it as a beam, but it does light up brightly around where the laser hits it. My thought is to illuminate the whole disk with either an unfocused laser, or a laser diode without a lens which is close enough to cover the entire disk without much, if any, overshoot around the edges.

 

[thestug]

Some of the same questions I have, I've watched some videos and a laser doesn't appear to go through it as a beam, but it does light up brightly around where the laser hits it. My thought is to illuminate the whole disk with either an unfocused laser, or a laser diode without a lens which is close enough to cover the entire disk without much, if any, overshoot around the edges.

Yep, I'd like to try that as well as concentrating the laser to a dot or to fine point. I figure if the laser doesn't damage the disk it should give a small bright spot? Uggh. I'll probably have to order a disk just to try it out. 445nm is pretty much ideal for these disks right?

 

[Alaskan]

From what I've found, 445nm is perfect. I saw a report where someone did take a laser and put a spot on the disk and it didn't do anything to it, but to get maximum light out of it you would need to spread the beam out to cover the most area of the disk, it seems.

Edit: Another seller on ebay selling the same thing at 10X price, stated that the optimum laser wavelength is between 365 to 405nm, but 455 also works well.

Best price for size on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Remote-Phosphor-61-5-mm-dia-2700K-CRI-90-/261625039914

 

[thestug]

From what I've found, 445nm is perfect. I saw a report where someone did take a laser and put a spot on the disk and it didn't do anything to it, but to get maximum light out of it you would need to spread the beam out to cover the most area of the disk, it seems.

Edit: Another seller on ebay selling the same thing at 10X price, stated that the optimum laser wavelength is between 365 to 405nm, but 455 also works well.

Best price for size on ebay: Remote Phosphor 61 5 mm Dia 2700K CRI 90 | eBay

So, I found an interesting little advertisement showing how these phosphor disks are actually used. Apparently they use blue LEDs to create the light. However, that makes me wonder how much light they actually put out compared to a laser. Lasers are generally measured in watts of power in the light itself. LEDs are measured by the watts that they consume. (A 5W Led doesn't put out 5W of actual light). So it makes me wonder how the heck you compare the power output of a laser to the power output of an LED?

 

[Alaskan]

I will be doing some tests this weekend, however, my initial findings are, yes, it will burn, defocus your laser first... Also, If you try to laser through the back side to the front, it won't put out nearly as much light as it must go through a layer of fiberglass, or some kind of plastic which isn't clear and has lots of loss. For full output with a laser, you must hit it from the front side with an unfocused beam matching the diameter of the disk and the white light radiates back at you. What I need is a pellet made out of this material for use with a laser, not this one sided disk.

I will see what I can do to determine if the white light can be collimated enough to turn it into a tight laser-like beam and report later.

 

[crazyspaz]

From what I've found, 445nm is perfect. I saw a report where someone did take a laser and put a spot on the disk and it didn't do anything to it, but to get maximum light out of it you would need to spread the beam out to cover the most area of the disk, it seems.

Edit: Another seller on ebay selling the same thing at 10X price, stated that the optimum laser wavelength is between 365 to 405nm, but 455 also works well.

Best price for size on ebay: Remote Phosphor 61 5 mm Dia 2700K CRI 90 | eBay

One of the videos about the laser headlights specifically states the lasers used are 405