Hacking a 532

[lulighttec]

Hi Guys and Gals,

I'm trying to hack a 532 with TEC and TTL driven to make it work with a Flexmod. I'm doing my best, but I was hoping someone with a little more experience might be able to lend a hand. Possibly, someone might have even already reverse engineered this laser. I'm snapping pics as I go along, and putting them in an album called "Hacking a 532" under my profile. Any help is appreciated. I plan to try to draw a schematic of the driver/power supply (in this case they are the same thing).

Thanks,

Newlin

[lulighttec]

Addendum: I have no idea what kind of laser it is, or I definitely would have included that information. :-)

[badger1666]

Well pics might help

[lulighttec]

Well pics might help

I refer you back to this line in the first post: "I'm snapping pics as I go along, and putting them in an album called 'Hacking a 532' under my profile."

Thanks,

Newlin

[Retina Burn]

easy
Take all static precautions

[Retina Burn]

your pictures gave me a headache..try smaller pictures
and just pictures of the head and pump Diode,,also the thermo pile and TEC wires

[lulighttec]

Well, I can try taking different pictures, but I'm really not sure which wires are which, which is most of the reason I posted... Also, it's going to be really hard to take a picture of the pump diode without tearing down the whole head, but I'll get as many pictures up as I can...

[Retina Burn]

do you have a good multimeter?
just set the head down on a table and take pictures,not too close,,,,I can run you thru a few tests,,,
man there are other foos who can chime in also

[lulighttec]

@Retina Burn: Tell me what kind of pics you want exactly... I put some up, but... and some tests would be great. Also, I can't quite pull it apart enough (for fear of damaging it) to get at the pump diode, and I can't tell which wires are the thermo... they're all encased in what looks like hot glue.

Thanks,

Newlin

[lulighttec]

Ok, so I did a little digging, and I found which wires go to what in the head. I had to use an exacto knife very carefully! I updated the schematic in a form that should be a little easier to see, and added the head information to it. Now I'm just not sure exactly what to do with this new information. Take a look in the album at the pic labeled "SchematicSmall". (made a correction to the image today.)

-N

[michelrietveld]

so you will be using the two drivers together? since the flexmod does not support a tec and the green does need the cooling?
Perhaps there are users who developed a green driver that supports both with the addition of analog modulation?
or why not invest in an analog modulated module and save you the trouble.

Michel

[Doc]

I refer you back to this line in the first post: "I'm snapping pics as I go along, and putting them in an album called 'Hacking a 532' under my profile."

Thanks,

Newlin

If you click on your pics in your album you will see two boxes appear under the photo "HTML" and "VB Code" just copy the VB Code and paste it in this thread and the photo will appear where the code is pasted.

Also, if you install this microsoft tool http://imageresizer.codeplex.com/ you just need to right click on your photos and select "resize pictures" and resize to say 1024x768 before uploading, it makes the page load quicker and the images easier to navigate

[lulighttec]

Doc: Thanks for that tip. Here's a shot.



michelrietveld: yes, the plan is to use both drivers together, one for tec and one for analog modulation. Why? Because that's the way that I can afford to do it. besides... it's a great learning experience!

-N

[Fenechlaser]

Do you have the flexmod at hand? From the schematic I could not manage to find if the LD has a shunt for measuting current across to try to find the current going to the LD. Try to insert a 0.1 ohm shunt in the power going to the LD and measure voltage across so that then you know to which value you should set the current on the flexmod to. Then just pull out the wires from the driver to the LD and connect them to the flexmod.

But make sure that when you do this, the TEC circuit still works. In my case, it still worked; http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...en-China-laser

If you have done any circuit boards in the past and are a keen do-it-yourselfer, just surf around on PL to build a complete driver with analog mod and more efficient PWM TEC driver.

[Doc]

Looks like it has a half ohm shunt there?

[Fenechlaser]

Looks like it has a half ohm shunt there?

You are right, but for me it appears as if it is for the TEC not the LD. That is why I suggested the o.1 ohm res. I don't know if an ammeter would lead to any current spikes etc..

[michelrietveld]

Capture.JPG
here is a copy of the flexmod print

Do you have the flexmod at hand? From the schematic I could not manage to find if the LD has a shunt for measuting current across to try to find the current going to the LD. Try to insert a 0.1 ohm shunt in the power going to the LD and measure voltage across so that then you know to which value you should set the current on the flexmod to. Then just pull out the wires from the driver to the LD and connect them to the flexmod.

But make sure that when you do this, the TEC circuit still works. In my case, it still worked; http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...en-China-laser

If you have done any circuit boards in the past and are a keen do-it-yourselfer, just surf around on PL to build a complete driver with analog mod and more efficient PWM TEC driver.

[lulighttec]

that half-ohm resistor you all are looking at is between one contact of the TEC and one of the leads to the LD (not sure which one at the moment)... I'm not entirely sure what that means, but... there you go. Flexmods have not arrived yet.. I think DrLava is still unpacking probably.

-Newlin