Worth keeping?

[photovoltaic]

The tether on my laser broke tonight and the laser hit the floor and no longer works. I opened it up and found a piece of the diode rattling around. I'm not too hung up over a $30 laser but I was wondering if the driver is worth keeping.

The large chip is an op amp.. The back reads LD600-3.7-03A

If a better driver is available for 10-20$ I would rather buy one.
Cheers:beer:

 

[NKO29]

There are many better drivers under $20. Contact user: Foulmist... He has awesome drivers. DTR also sells drivers too

 

[photovoltaic]

So you're saying that's a cheap garbage driver?? :cryyy: lol

That actually doesn't surprise me.. I plan on building a buck regulator soon but I will check theirs out for sure.
Thanks

 

[crazyspaz]

yep, its pretty much junk lol. these are drivers mass produced for (usually) pen modules. I'm guessing you got this out of a green pen?

 

[photovoltaic]

Pretty close, it took a 123A and could make smoke if I focused it. But Definitely cheap.

HY Laser103 5mW 532nm Green Laser Pointer Flashlight - Black (1 x CR123A) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

 

[crazyspaz]

yea, nowadays you can get cheap overspec greens on ebay for like 5$, yet they are upwards of 100mW...Not the case for the one i just bought though lol! I followed a review on here, where the OP ordered several pens from this seller, and all were overspec. then i ordered one...was light 1 mW. not even a potentiometer on the driver....So i used Styropyro's hammer mod (one of his youtube videos) and that was that

But yea, I wouldn't go through the trouble of trying to reuse that driver, especially since you can get an x-drive, microboost, etc for ~20$.

 

[photovoltaic]

yea, nowadays you can get cheap overspec greens on ebay for like 5$, yet they are upwards of 100mW...Not the case for the one i just bought though lol! I followed a review on here, where the OP ordered several pens from this seller, and all were overspec. then i ordered one...was light 1 mW. not even a potentiometer on the driver....So i used Styropyro's hammer mod (one of his youtube videos) and that was that

But yea, I wouldn't go through the trouble of trying to reuse that driver, especially since you can get an x-drive, microboost, etc for ~20$.

Sounds like the sort of luck I have with products...

 

[crazyspaz]

I know right? was all pumped to get my 5$ 100mW green, turned it on....severe disappointment quickly followed. smashed it to bits and threw it away (well actually i tried harvesting the KTP but it just kind of exploded, so i smashed the whole thing)