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HELP! Is my Dilda-Laser dead?

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mikewitt

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I was playing around with my dilda-laser, and I had it on for about 10-15 seconds, and it just got really dim (it's dimmer than my 5mw red pointer that's really about .5mw). It appears to still be laser light (coherent), but no longer will burn. I tried recharging the batteries, no luck.

Any ideas?
 





mikewitt said:
I was playing around with my dilda-laser, and I had it on for about 10-15 seconds, and it just got really dim (it's dimmer than my 5mw red pointer that's really about .5mw). It appears to still be laser light (coherent), but no longer will burn. I tried recharging the batteries, no luck.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...


It sounds like the diode died. Check all of the connections first, but a suddenly dim light is most often the symptom of a dead diode.

Peace,
dave
 
Ohhhh...

Damn.

I don't have enough money for a nice red now because I JUST bought a 405nm laser from jayrob. Ohhhh, the irony.


Ever heard of someone fixing a dilda-laser?
 
mikewitt said:
Ohhhh...
Damn.
I don't have enough money for a nice red now because I JUST bought a 405nm laser from jayrob. Ohhhh, the irony.
Ever heard of someone fixing a dilda-laser?
Click to expand...

They're pretty easy to fix (or to upgrade or to change into a violet). The host is nice to work in/on.

Peace,
dave
 
I had this happen before, it was because the batteries were way too drained. You might have killed your batteries if they weren't protected. Try powering the dilda module off of 4 AAs and see if that works, if it doesn't then it is fried.
 
Yep, the laser will appear to "go dead" when the batteries are low. If you are using the green rechargeable ultrafire batteries, you probably got a lemon. I've ordered 10 in the past and 3 of them had lower than normal cell voltage even after charging...
 
daguin said:
It sounds like the diode died.  Check all of the connections first, but a suddenly dim light is most often the symptom of a dead diode.
Click to expand...

Not if it is still lasing, but just dimmer than usual.

If the diode is fried you sometimes still get a dot of sorts, but it will be very dim and usually have a distorted shape.

Get a multimeter, and measure how much current the whole thing is using right now. If its far less than normal (<100 mA), blame the batteries or driver. If it is about normal (few 100 mA for the dilda), its probably a dead diode.
 
Benm said:
[quote author=daguin link=1228278628/0#1 date=1228278774]
It sounds like the diode died.  Check all of the connections first, but a suddenly dim light is most often the symptom of a dead diode.
Click to expand...
[highlight]Not if it is still lasing[/highlight], but just dimmer than usual.
If the diode is fried you sometimes still get a dot of sorts, but it will be very dim and usually have a distorted shape.
Get a multimeter, and measure how much current the whole thing is using right now. If its far less than normal (<100 mA), blame the batteries or driver. If it is about normal (few 100 mA for the dilda), its probably a dead diode.
[/quote]

He described the dim light as "dimmer" than .5mW.  I would posit that it isn't lasing.  He has focused LED light.  I have observed blown violets diodes that will give me a focused spot at 3mW.  It could still be used as a lecture pointer, but as you pointed out, it is still using 170mA to produce that 3mW.

Peace,
dave
 
I think I have to replace the diode; and I will. Probably will post results here as well; thanks for the info sagi. The laser still gets as hot as it ever has, so I'm pretty sure at this point that the diode is dead.

Thanks everyone for your help!
 
I don't think there ever was a warranty, and with DX not selling lasers to US customers, and the amount of time it takes to recieve from them, I don't even wat to try, even if there is a warranty (which I'm pretty sure there isn't).

I can replace the laser diode in the dilda with an open can diode (or so it appears), but the diode that it comes with is longer than a stock open can diode. I'm reluctant to harvest a diode from a drive, because the lat time I tried, I killed both diodes (the IR and the red); I'll likely just buy one from stonetek.org.
 
mikewitt said:
I don't think there ever was a warranty, and with DX not selling lasers to US customers, and the amount of time it takes to recieve from them, I don't even wat to try, even if there is a warranty (which I'm pretty sure there isn't).

I can replace the laser diode in the dilda with an open can diode (or so it appears), but the diode that it comes with is longer than a stock open can diode. I'm reluctant to harvest a diode from a drive, because the lat time I tried, I killed both diodes (the IR and the red); I'll likely just buy one from stonetek.org.
Click to expand...


You can get a long open can diode

-Adam
 
Ok. I didn't know; and in the thread I found about replacing the diode in a dilda-laser said it was a "phaser diode" that was a closed can.
 
mikewitt said:
I was playing around with my dilda-laser, and I had it on for about 10-15 seconds, and it just got really dim (it's dimmer than my 5mw red pointer that's really about .5mw). It appears to still be laser light (coherent), but no longer will burn. I tried recharging the batteries, no luck.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

From the way I see it, your dilda has turned into a dildo.
 
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