Why is my dorcy laser getting dimmer?

[Phazonx]

Hi guys. I made a dorcy jr laser a little while ago and was wondering why today that it was slowly getting less powerful. The decrease in power is not noticable right away, it was obvious when it was no longer burning when I wanted it to.

I've been using it for a while now. Could the batteries be low? Does anyone else's dorcys gradually lose power with dropping battery life?

 

[Kenom]

comon phazonx. I'm suprised you havn't solved this question yourself by replacing the battery. It's the simplest solution to your question. That is really the only way that your going to determine if this is the problem or not. In my experience with the dorcy's when the battery dies, IT DIES! laser output drops so significantly that you'll think you killed the diode itself. So go out and get yourself a battery. I'd recommend looking at one of two places
www.batteryjunction.com
www.batterystation.com

 

[Phazonx]

I just asked cause I have no more batteries. I don't know why yours would just die. Mine will light up then after a minute slowly drop to a cheap dollar store laser level. I didn't thnk the battery was the problem cause many people say it just dies when the batter is too low.

 

[tomcat]

yeah that batts .. if it was dead you would get a dim light less than a $1 laser or led light

 

[Kenom]

that's what I'm referring to. be fine then drop to nothing in a few seconds. let it be for a few minutes and power it up again and it's again fine for a few minutes then dim.

 

[Zarniwoop]

The boost converter is pretty good at sucking an alkaline dry, but there comes a point where you do get into battery-sag. Measure the battery with a voltmeter right after using it, and see what it's down to.
With a protected lithium, the cutoff is so abrupt I was sure my diode had died.

 

[Phazonx]

I have an energizer lithium photo battery. Its not rechargable, but why is it called lithium? I have rechargeable lithiums. Are they different?

 

[Archane]

the material in the battery isn't what makes it rechargable, it's the circuitry makeup insite that does. Lithium just means it will hold a charge longer both duing ussage and during long periods of storage. NiMh batteries tend to slowly leak thier charge over time more so that LiOn Batteries do.

And thats todays science lession from Mr Shipper =)

 

[a_pyro_is]

Have a l k here.

 

[Gazoo]

And here:

http://www.powerstream.com/BatteryFAQ.html

A search on google can be very revealing and only takes a minute.