I played around with my lep module and psu today. I was trying to get a feel for the limitations without blowing it (touch wood, it’s still alive ).
I don’t know how this driver works exactly but I noted that increasing the voltage to the driver has a multiplying effect on the output. I increased the voltage in increments and was surprised at the result. At 5v the system sucked every bit of the 4.5a I let it have. The module survived short bursts of 20w but did immediately drop output as the module heated up.
I also connected the psu directly to the module and sat the module on top of a light metre. The numbers are not relevant to anything, I was just watching the output drop. 3 amps of current seemed to be the sweet spot that didn’t heat up and drop output so quickly. 3.5 amps immediately dropped and kept falling, showing even less output than the 3 amp test for the same time period (which was a matter of seconds).
I wondered if i could improve heatsinking to the laser diode because it looks to be installed from the front end. The lens that covers the phosphor however is glued… like really f*&%ing glued. I couldn’t budge it. The next pic is of the back end, indicating it’s unlikely the diode can be access from the back. Now that i think about it… if i really want to access just the diode, I could cut the back end of the casing … maybe a weekend job.
The W30 diode and lens are glued in so you can’t change the laser focus, probably for safety. I think modules with the phosphor on a heat sink is better even with the obstruction from the mirror. I haven’t seen one with liquid phosphor yet.
PP I am sure that is what happens. If you hit the diode with 10amp without the driver so no temp control it doesn’t blow the diode the light just drops down to virtually nothing once it cools the light output goes back up. So unless the diode has some thermal overload protection I think that is what happens.
W30’s are hard to find now didn’t expect to find another 9 now I have around 20. 2 destroyed one chopped and used for the module. I found these photos this w30 running at 3.5amp and it does get hot but doesn’t really overheat. I will work on this more soon. Reflectors tuned to one light source is a dream or is it?
When I was about 2 or 3yrs old I got my eye piked out with a screw in Broom handle that was at that time pointed. Like in the movie braveheart when they pick up the pointed logs to spear the horses. I still remember the impact and then my eye flapping on my cheek as someone ran with me.
Because of things like that at home I wear earplugs glasses gloves boots sometimes a hard hat. Anyway these are the most expensive eyewear I have ever purchased. Haha if I had kids I would have one less and 2 kidneys.
So kind of random… I’ve bought a few lasers from Sanwu and they have a new model that has a Red, Green, and Blue beam. You can vary the intensity of each one to create the visual effect of a beam of any color including… White. Unfortunately it’s pretty pricey and the individual power of the diodes isn’t that high. I might reach out to my laser guy (builds custom lasers) to see if he can rig something up with max power on the individual beams and align them somehow (lenses, mirrors, prisms…) so that it creates a single white beam
(p.s. I also posted this on a separate thread but i thought people here might be interested too)
The SLD module has a beam dump that absorbs any coherent light not absorbed by the phosphor. Not sure if it hanges to incoherent light.
They use a prism or mirror to combine to the beams don’t they? You can combine 2 beams into one but you can’t then combine them with another 2. I have been thinking of ways to swing the phosphor out of the way like an SLR camera shutter. I have a fair stock of 7w diodes and some knife edge modules.
That sounds awesome. I have a 6 watt blue that’s pretty sweet. Used it to light a campfire at my buddy’s bachelor party a couple months ago. Full disclaimer: I’d crumpled up some newspaper beforehand and stuffed it under the logs hehe
I haven’t put power to this but supposed to be 800 lumens. It is an offset parabolic mirror and you can see the opening for the laser to come through. So you could probably project the laser straight out.
This kind of reflector is used in special bike headlights which don't blind oncoming traffic similar to how a car headlight works. In Germany bike lights need a certification for use on public roads. Most certified lights have a reflector like this.
When you use this reflector in upside down configuration (light source on the top side) in it creates a beam with a sharp cut-off on the topside.
I received a new driver and today got to play around with the lep module again. However this time it went much worse than i hoped. I blew the laser. I don’t know if it was heat, poor (scratchy) connection or something else
After blowing it i had the bright idea of comparing it to the Lumintop ant.
It makes a whole lot more sense to me now and i can see why i was disappointed in the lux numbers i was getting with this module in the 1504 host.
Since the laser is buggered anyway i cut off the back end and extracted the laser.
I’m in two minds if i should order another laser diode Unless i play around with the lenses to get better focus the module is really not any better than an LED.
I have a few W30s I think they were discontinued because tint and focus was all over the place in the light engines. Smaller the lens the more accurate the alignment has to be.
You don’t have any good luck with these…
LEP seems to be to fragile and to sensitive. I still did not had any time to play with it, and frankly I don’t know which is the best LEP module we can buy for our money?
I have some precoolimator lens that could work with it but except playing this is not something I would like to sell or to give warranty on that. Imagine magnum rifle recoil on this sensitive LEP? Couple of recoils and it goes down
).
… maybe a weekend job.
