From informations that I gathered it is a 450mW 840nm diode inside, and it’s huge, never seen diode like that, beside it is regular 5mm green diode for size comparison.
My best guess is that IR diode died, if I understood correctly 840nm should give out a faint red glow when working but that is not the case here, I tried connecting IR diode directly to 1.5V (AA battery) source as well as 3V (2xAA, just a brief tap to check if it would blink) and got nothing from it. Stock power source is one CR123 3V battery.
Driver board has 2 buttons (+ and -) for setting the intensity and green LED diode as an indicator when the device is powered on, when I press both buttons simultaneously green indicator led signals that the device is turned on but nothing comes out of the front through the lense!
I never saw IR diode like this, 450mW seems pretty high but diode is just pressed inside, no cooling or anything like that. Searched the usual places for IR diode and found only standard 5mm diodes that are just few mW…
Any thoughts, what should I check, where should I look?
P.S. I only have this IR illuminator, I don’t have night vision thing/goggles, whatever is called
How did you saw the light before?
Some phones pick the light up.
I’d start by getting/finding a way to actually see it otherwise both repair and use seem kind of silly
Well its a wierd unknown brand IR emitter, Osram ones are black no matter the power, Phillips too- now its time for you to mod it
By default the lastest 5w Osrams have like 80 degrees emitting angle - is front head zoomable or something? You can check the diode via your phone camera
Guy that I got it from said it doesn’t work! I removed IR diode and connected it directly to 2.8V CR battery and this is all I get
IR diode on my remote control shines more than this! but maybe it is supposed to be like that, not sure, never had IR flashlight or anything similar
yes, the front part zooms in and out to get wider or tighter spot.
Problem with modification is that there is very little thermal mass in there and the part where IR diode goas is just 11mm wide, diode sits on a plastic holder, I guess this diode doesnt generate much heat if any!
If i were you i would rework it completely using 5w Osram 850nm emitter( running at tops 2w in that case)- the owner wil be extremeply pleased with the result…and not that pleased with the upgrade cost
It was used for hunting, illuminator for night vision “thing”, something like this:
Some problems with modding:
- best IR diode I found is that generic 4 x 1W , thought IO has one but it turned out to be UV instead,
I wont be able to mimic two e-buttons driver ( + and - ) but I could get away with clasic flashlight setup, one e-switch for something like on - low - high - off behaviour…
This is strange, I tried to find this IR led via local electronics parts distributors and no one ever saw something like that, I guess I will have to use some of those arhaic 1W leds, which they don’t have in stock …
Just a quick update on this repair job: I fiddled a bit with electronics, tested it with just ordinary XML2 led and it works fine, especially when powered from 3xAAA eneloops (about 4V) actually at highest mode it supplies almost and amp to the emitter which is nice, I wonder how or even if it would work with 4.2V battery ? What remains is to find and 850nm IR led that would fit available space.
In the meantime I also had Eagletac Sportac in my “workshop”, big chunky light, someone fried 3/4 emitters, very interesting light from inside, have to upload some pics
Looks like a standard 10mm LED to me, were fairly common eons ago. They are large, some had very narrow emission patterns. Thats does seem like a lot of current, maybe thats why its toast lol. Maybe shoehorn something modern in there, like one of Osram’s IR emitters.
Thanks for your suggestions Texlite, I did find something similar on ebay > 10mm IR leds 850nm supposedly they are 300mW which is still under the 450mW that this driver is rated for.
Other thing is the shape of the led, the right one is what you usually find on ebay or other shopping places and on the left side is what is in this device. I presume that only difference is IR emission angle.
I wasn’t sure if 1-3-4W like this would fit so I ordered 1.7W Osram led from fasttech, I have same shape Osram red leds so I know they can fit ok… https://www.fasttech.com/products/2116207
I know nothing of this guy besides he was mentioned on a firearms forum I’m a member of when a guy there was asking for a good IR light to use with a night vision scope. Apparently this guy builds great stuff and several people on that forum recommended him. Here is the link to thread http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=799578
Not sure if this will help ya any but when I saw this thread pop up I remembered them talking about ATN lights over on the high road.
Thanks Tac, every bit of information counts
Yes, those Osram Oslon IR leds are great but it’s very hard to find a good deal for them, shipping can be real pain and cost several times more than led itself.
Thanks for the forum link, that goes straight to my bookmarks :+1:
Sorry, for some reason I’m not subscribed to updates for this thread so I didn’t know you had responded, must have hit the wrong button somewhere.
I’m not sure how the old emitter is mounted, guessing through-hole direct to PCB? If that’s the case you’ll have to find a way to mount the Osram in a way that will make good contact with the housing. Maybe enough thermal adhesive under and around a 10mm PCB?
I presume old led did not radiate much heat so it did not have any heatsink or something like that, it was just mounted on PVC holder (there to prevent crushing led-s legs ) and then secured by retaining ring and thats it, not a heat transpher design.
I see that those Osram IR leds I ordered are in my local post office so I will pick them up tomorrow and see if I can fabricate something
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