Thread: Laser vortex question

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K so I'm throwing together another laser vortex, this time using a pc power supply. The orange lines say they are 3.3 volt, and it works on my 5w laser. Do I need some sort of resistor, or will it work without one? Guess my main concern is the lifespan of the laser.

I'm not sure on that question. I was looking to build one of these but i dont have the plans...do you have a how-to or tut for building one?

Google is your friend, garage of evil has a good one, I just want to make sure I'm not going to burn the laser out without a resistor.

Well since noone could answer me, used to be a helpful forum, I guess the answer is yes since during a test the laser burned out.

K going to try again, ordered a new laser module from eBay. Is there an electronics person who could help me ensure that I won't burn this one out too? Should I add a resistor or something? Please help as it will be key in this years haunt.

I'm sorry I didn't see your original post.

What kind of laser is it? Is it a bare diode or does it have a driver board? What color of laser is it? Do you know the required input voltage of the laser?

Um, I cut and pasted this from eBay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DIY-5mw-Gree...item2c537202f9

You need to find a regulated power supply with the exact voltage of the laser, unless you have the amperage required, which I doubt is listed on the product. You could try to calculate the amperage from the wattage, but there's no guarantee that the wattage rating is exact enough to find this out. Just add up the voltages on the batteries, if it takes 2AAs then it needs 3v, if it takes 3, then you need 4.5v. If your power supply is unregulated (test it with a multimeter with no load - if it gives more than what is listed on the power block then it's unregulated) then it will fry the laser if the amperage is too high for it.

It probably wasn't your power supply. I bought a slightly higher powered laser module from the same buyer and the driver board failed about 6 seconds after turning it on. The driver board had several bad solder joints...

That module should run fine on 3.3 volts. Double check your power supply voltage. About 4 volts will burn up the driver. It's not protected from over voltage.

A couple observations. I thought it was clever to use the PC supply to power your 5W laser, however your link is to a 5mw (1000 times lower power).
Which can be powered by nearly anything producing 3Vdc, including a couple of D batteries for most of the night, if not longer.
Consider a 3V wall wart, like this from All Electronics for $2.50 (also sell a 100 ma for $1.35) They have lots of junk so amortize shipping.
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a...SFORMER/1.html