Would You Believe a 180mW Blu-Ray?

[daguin]

OK. the new one is built. It is in an MXDL host. It is using the diode harvested form a PHR-803T sled taken from a Toshiba SD-H802A HD DVD player. It uses one 17670 powering a drlava flexdrive. It has a Jayrob heat sink. It uses a Merideth glass lens. I have shortened the adapter to allow the diode to get closer to the lens.

I am driving it at 190mA. It is putting out 180mW. I have done the first couple of two minute burns. It peaks above 200mW and settles right down to 180mW. It holds the 180mW very steadily. It remains cool to the touch.

Now I start doing 2-3 minute burns several times a day until it dies, or I get tired of changing batteries.

Pray for me

I can't wait for it to get dark here.

This is just to make you jealous:

Peace,
dave

 

[Glaserfan]

Hmm.. I have to get one of those meredith modules ;D

I hope this laser lives for a long time.. if so I am going for it! [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

 

[wicked1]

I had an identical laser for a while today(accidentally)! Until I turned it down to 130ma
Can't wait for the results!

 

[pseudolobster]

 

[GooeyGus]

thats weird that the power goes up and then falls, where the 6x starts low and takes forever to climb to peak ;D

I sure wish we were 100% sure of the model number on these diodes...

 

[daguin]

thats weird that the power goes up and then falls, where the 6x starts low and takes forever to climb to peak ;D

I sure wish we were 100% sure of the model number on these diodes...

The "peak" could be an artifact of the thermopile. I've noticed most of my lasers have an initial "peak". The calorimeter I have is a surface absorbing type. Your calorimeter is a volume absorbing type. It may react differently to the initial application of energy. IIRC when I had both units here, that was one of the things I observed. The volume absorbing calorimeter ramped up to the full power measure, where the surface one "bounded" up to power. I initially thought it was the inertia of the needle, but maybe it is the type of calorimeter.

It's almost dark in our time zone ;D


Peace,
dave

 

[el-taco]

You sir, have made me jealous.

How much did it all cost in total?


It sure kicks the ass off of all the 5mW blu rays sites like DealExtreme have.

 

[daguin]

You sir, have made me jealous.

How much did it all cost in total?


It sure kicks the ass off of all the 5mW blu rays sites like DealExtreme have.

Remember, ""Blu-Ray"" is NOT BLUE (with an "e"). Blu-ray is the "marketing" name for the 405nm lasers used in HD and Blu-ray DVD's. Blu-ray is "violet" NOT blue.

I have about $130 just in parts and material for this laser.

diode = $28
Module w/ adapter = $38
Heat sink = $21
Driver = $22
Battery = $5
Host = $12
Misc. = $4

I don't charge myself for labor or fabrication time


Peace,
dave

 

[daguin]

thats weird that the power goes up and then falls, where the 6x starts low and takes forever to climb to peak ;D

I sure wish we were 100% sure of the model number on these diodes...

I know double quoting / double posting, but I thought it was important enough to try to ensure that Gus saw this.

GooeyGus, you question reminded me of the question I started to ask when I had both meters here. Is the initial "peak" an artifact of the thermopile? The answer appears to be, "Yes." On one of my 2 minute drills with the new laser tonight I decided to check it out. I started as usual by turning the laser on while it was already pointed at the thermopile. It did its usual "peak" followed by a rapid drop to the steady output. After 45 seconds I took the laser away from the thermopile and made some rocks glow. After 45 seconds of shining it at other things, I returned it to shining on the thermopile. It "peaked" above 200mW and quickly settled back down to 178mW. The meter and thermopile reacted just as if I had just turned the unit on with the laser already pointed at it. So the "peak" is absolutely artificial. It is an artifact of the thermopile reacting to being energized. Your volume absorbing calorimeter probably doesn't do this.

From this point on, I will no longer be reporting momentary, initial, peak outputs.

Peace,
dave

 

[pseudolobster]

Would You Believe a 180mW Blu-Ray?

it depends what it was saying... :

anyways, I'm really impressed you were able to push it that high without it dying *instantly*... keep us updated on progress!

I suddenly don't feel bad I was driving mine at 100mA... I thought climback was exceptionally lucky and had some sort of freak diode... seems these really can be pushed a lot higher.

 

[jayrob]

Great job Dave! You are an animal!

I can't believe you are pushing the 803T so high!
Jay

 

[JLSE]

Maybe this is where the Lasercheck is good : I have never seen a peak with my 405's, rather a gradual increase following an increase of temperature. I have noticed with the 803's that the temp is stable when warm at the higher power inputs. And then the spike in temp of 4-5 degrees appears. When that happens be careful, as that is how I blew my first one. They seem to be comfortable in the 29c range, once they jump to 32-33c something happens and that’s where it blew. The weird thing was, it was being driven with the Lava drive, and it’s the sort of behavior one would expect from a 7805 which allows for change in current.

 

[el-taco]

[quote author=el-taco link=1214100163/0#6 date=1214109071]You sir, have made me jealous.

How much did it all cost in total?


It sure kicks the ass off of all the 5mW blu rays sites like DealExtreme have.

Remember, ""Blu-Ray"" is NOT BLUE (with an "e"). Blu-ray is the "marketing" name for the 405nm lasers used in HD and Blu-ray DVD's. Blu-ray is "violet" NOT blue.

I have about $130 just in parts and material for this laser.

diode = $28
Module w/ adapter = $38
Heat sink = $21
Driver = $22
Battery = $5
Host = $12
Misc. = $4

I don't charge myself for labor or fabrication time


Peace,
dave[/quote]

Oh, thanks for that info. Cleared some things I was wondering up.

Only $180 in parts? Cheaper than I thought...

 

[daguin]

[quote author=daguin link=1214100163/0#0 date=1214100163]Would You Believe a 180mW Blu-Ray?

it depends what it was saying... :
anyways, I'm really impressed you were able to push it that high without it dying *instantly*... keep us updated on progress!
I suddenly don't feel bad I was driving mine at 100mA... I thought climback was exceptionally lucky and had some sort of freak diode... seems these really can be pushed a lot higher.[/quote]


One of the differences we have and are dealing with here is that people initially reacted to the limited potential of the PS3 diode. After watching those die at 50mA people were a bit worried about pushing this "more expensive" diode. Then when the input started getting close to the 100mW mark the natural human tendency to create "monsters" at milestones kicked in (Remember the 2K non-event?).

At that time people started getting used to and expecting 100% duty cycles from these diodes. Almost nobody expects this from a hand held red or green or blue or yellow, laser, but somehow they expected it from a violet laser. A couple of fearless enthusiasts were not fettered by these artificial bonds. Milos did some destructive tests. GooeyGus pushed his past the "safe" zone. Climbak has one of these diodes running at 120mA input 24/7 without a good heat sink, under a piece of paper, and it has been running at 100% duty cycle for over a month! I decided to see what these diodes could do.

I pushed one to 177mA input and kept it quiet while I tested it under real working conditions. After two weeks, I posted the unit for sale. The immediate reaction from the forum was, "Nice, but I wouldn't recommend going over 100mA." and "It's really only safe to drive these no higher than 120mA" I chuckled to myself, because I had just posted real life testing of a unit that appeared to be operating quite safely at 177mA and the people continued to follow the "party line." So I thought, "maybe they need to be bumped out of their comfort zone. I decided to push one even farther and to do it publicly.

So here we are. You got to see the second power test done with this unit. You will know how its testing is progressing. When/if it dies, you will know it. I already have 7 @ 2 minute tests run today/tonight. It is staying cool to the touch. Will it live? I haven't a clue. It's called "testing." Will the testing of what Frothy Chimp called "knockoff" diodes show them to be inferior? I haven't a clue. Someone needs to test them.

If you want a virtual 100% duty cycle from a blu-ray diode, then by all means limit it to 100mA input. But, If you want to see what a 180mW beam of 405nm light looks like in the nighttime sky . . . .take a chance and share what you learn. If you decide to contribute to the testing and knowledge base, then heed Hemlock Mike's warning, "When you run with the big dogs, expect some failures." I expect that this will eventually die. When it does, I will be watching it and will report it.

You all know my limitation with the perception of 405nm light. However, at 180mW I CAN SEE THE BEAM . . . and it is good.

Peace,
dave

 

[climbak]

Well put dave. I really need to get a thermopile power meter and do a test of my pointer. I just can't believe I am getting the same power output as you at 40mA less. Something is obviously wrong with one of the meters, and I am guessing its the optical meter I am using. Unfortunately someone outbid me on the scientech 362 on ebay so I will have to keep waiting. Keep the tests rolling and lets see what these can do!

 

[daguin]

Maybe this is where the Lasercheck is good : I have never seen a peak with my 405's, rather a gradual increase following an increase of temperature. I have noticed with the 803's that the temp is stable when warm at the higher power inputs. And then the spike in temp of 4-5 degrees appears. When that happens be careful, as that is how I blew my first one. They seem to be comfortable in the 29c range, once they jump to 32-33c something happens and that’s where it blew. The weird thing was, it was being driven with the Lava drive, and it’s the sort of behavior one would expect from a 7805 which allows for change in current.

I believe HemlockMike reported that as these heat up, they begin to draw more power as well.


The "peak" only lasts a couple of seconds at best. Reporting it was always questionable because of its brevity. Before tonight, I assumed it was something in the laser because I had heard of brief "peak" outputs being reported as the power of a laser. I always feared the click of the switch just a bit. Starting up a laser is stressful on the diode. Adding the "spike" at the beginning just seemed problematic for the diode. At minimum this testing has mitigated that concern for me.

The Lasercheck has show other significant problems with the 405nm laser. Once one begins applying attenuators and utilizing conversion factors, I start looking for empirical data validating the utilization of those supports. I haven't seen much of that in support of them with regard to the 405nm. With the wide range of wavelengths and powers we must measure, give me a big ol' thermopile any day.

Peace,
dave