wont light anything

[asur33]

hi i recently bought a blu ray diode inside of a module and it looks and apears great, strong beam, good focusing lense.

I made it so the focul point was very small like a pin point and also tried a little bigger, and it just doesnt seem to burn anything, i tried elec tape, a white tipped match with black sharpie, black peice of plastic.

the beam is bright and the driver looks good

any ideas?

 

[Skylight]

I had went through something similar recently and found out through help that my current source to the driver was not quite enough. So i bumped up my voltage and things began happening.

 

[rog8811]

Post as much detail as you can then we may be able to help:
where did you buy? (if ebay give listing number)
what driver (if you know)
what batteries are you using?
Is the back of the lens nut cut out?

Regards rog8811

 

[spaceman_hux]

if u are using a regular 9v battery that could be the prob, they only put out like 70-90ma

 

[iskor12]

It would also be nice to know how much current you have going to the Diode?

 

[asur33]

hey thanks for the replies,
im sorry i dont have a multimeter ill have to wait till i go to school friday and use that one, but yes i am using a 9v,
and i got the diode/module combo on ebay
here is the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/150mW-405nm-Blue-Violet-blu-ray-Laser-Diode-in-Module_W0QQitemZ180353433076QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item29fde6fdf4&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1308%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

and that comes with a driver kit as well, although i was also using another driver too, the one on youtube, "diy laser driver" or somthing like that.

but yea its that diode/module combo plus the driver and a 9v

 

[iskor12]

Doesn't look like a bad buy. He did make some money on you though.
Like what the other person said, Avoid using 9V batteries and switch to 2X CR123A batteries. See if that fixes your problem.

 

[pseudolobster]

If you don't have a multimeter then how are you setting the current on the driver?

That driver uses a potentiometer to adjust the amperage... Unless you happen to know what resistance the potentiometer is set to, you have no idea what power is going to the laser. It's probably set too low. I'd just be glad it wasn't set too high or you would have smoked the diode.

What you want to do is buy a multimeter, wire up 6 diodes in series with a 1ohm resistor in series as well, then hook these up to the driver's output and use the multimeter to measure the voltage across the resistor. This will tell you how much current is being sent to the diode. You'll want to turn the potentiometer till you get to about 125mA.

 

[Gryphon]

Try and make sure that the diode is getting enough voltage, not just current. I think that diodes lase properly if they get the proper current and voltage, atleast in my experience.

 

[iskor12]

If you don't have a multimeter then how are you setting the current on the driver?

That driver uses a potentiometer to adjust the amperage... Unless you happen to know what resistance the potentiometer is set to, you have no idea what power is going to the laser. It's probably set too low. I'd just be glad it wasn't set too high or you would have smoked the diode.

What you want to do is buy a multimeter, wire up 6 diodes in series with a 1ohm resistor in series as well, then hook these up to the driver's output and use the multimeter to measure the voltage across the resistor. This will tell you how much current is being sent to the diode. You'll want to turn the potentiometer till you get to about 125mA.

Very good point.

 

[rog8811]

Unscrew the lens, if it has a small hole in the back you need to do this to it....you cut the plastic out carefully with a craft knife.

Regards rog8811

 

[asur33]

are you sure this helps just by making that hole bigger?
and it does have a small hole although the peice doesnt look like that...

 

[ElektroFreak]

For the record, I run all my PHRs at 90mA which usually gives me about 75-90mW of output, and I don't open the backs up on my acrylics. 405nm light tends to burn more things more quickly than other colors, so typically it doesn't take as much power to do the burning. If you have a PHR and it won't burn, either the current is set too low, or the diode is faulty. In your case it sounds like the current is set too low, since a faulty diode will usually emit little, if any, light.

 

[Meatball]

get safety goggles. I've heard that it's near impossible to focusa blu ray without being able to properly see the dot through some 405nm blocking goggles. The dot is supposed to be VERY tiny at it's focused point. Your eyes will deceive you without those goggles.

 

[asur33]

well i didnt have goggles but i put the beam on a ruler and put on some shades and the dot it no bigger than a mm but apears smaller, and its very bright too, im just gunna wait till i have school friday morning and put it on the dmm to make sure i got the right values, anyone know a good way to measure current in these? since i soldered my driver already

 

[rog8811]

it does have a small hole although the peice doesnt look like that

When you say it doesn't look like that, what does it look like?
Is the lens nut plastic or metal?
And yes it does make a difference. Cutting it out a bigger size, I would guess, the light time for matches was reduced from a second to instantanious on my first 803T build.

Regards rog8811