Recent content by WizardG

Try 150-175mA on the red. Threshold is ~65mA. They're supposed to be Ushio http://www.roithner-laser.com/datasheets/ld_div/hl63603tg.pdf

How much current have you tried feeding the red diodes? So far all the ones I've tested look good. The red seems to be uniformly misaligned with the green and blue across the ones I've checked. Not sure if that's a bug or a feature.

Motion seconded.

1. Asking a Li ion cell for more current than it's rated for can cause the battery to heat up to the point where it may fail rather spectacularly. Even if the battery doesn't go poof, it's life and performance will be short and poor. 2. 4.2 volts is the normal cutoff point for Li ion cells...

:clicking the "ignore" button: Troll banished from my feed. LPF resurrected!

These little guys are pretty cool. All three of the ones I bought have three live diodes. Red looks like 635. Green looks 520ish. And the blue looks like 455 or 460 to me. Threshold as follows B=16mA, G=36mA, R=67mA. Combined beam is collimated to a hair fine waist about 6 inches or so in...

Good detective work Red'!

These might be fun. My local surplus shop has a bin of these teeny RGB heads. Three diodes, (with external beam power monitor diodes), collimation lenses, beam combining optics, and a teeny little two axis galvo. Not a bad deal for $2.00 a pop! I'm told they were originally for some type of...

Got xenon?

Nice host :) Thanks again for doing these giveaways!

Go with a new driver. My $0.02

I have to laugh when I read about the prospects of using one of these to power a cell phone. Yes, they last a long time, but the output is dismal. Get back to me when someone makes one that can put out 1 watt. Presently they have outputs in the 100s of microwatts.

Focused to a point, yes.

Still on sale according to their website. https://www.tinkerlasers.com/products/valkyrie-488 $145

I think this is likely the issue. If you set the current using the xxxfire cell the sag in battery voltage may have fooled you into turning the pot a little too much. Then switching to a GOOD battery popped your diode because the good battery was able to deliver its rated voltage into the load.