New 4 Channel Highside driver

[planters]

Apparently, I am one of the last who received one of the quad drivers after a lengthy wait and RMA. I have recently lost a couple of expensive IR diodes pumped by these drivers and so I am going to replace them with a pair of Wavelength Electronics drivers. Hopefully, alternative drivers will become available soon.

[andy_con]

i received a large order from thomas last week, i have been in ontact with him only last week

[Phredy1]

Without spoiling the surprise, a respected member of this forum is working on having drivers available shortly.

An interesting note to getting my money back from Badpip was, within 5 minutes of disputing my Ebay claim with Thomas - he refunded my money.

Apparently he is getting all the messages and emails and ignoring them.

[slicklasers]

Andy, If you talk to him, can you please ask him to send my drivers and reply to me? I mean really, I'm trying to give the guy a couple thousand dollars, you would think he would reply....

[andy_con]

currently not responding to my messages

[planters]

I'm trying to give the guy a couple thousand dollars,

Careful. With all the above posts this has the impression of a "not too good idea".

Without spoiling the surprise, a respected member of this forum is working on having drivers available shortly.

Depending on which member you are talking about, I have heard this too. But, keep in mind we are STILL waiting for even a beta version on the promised Pangolin scanners.

[slicklasers]

I have officially given up on Badpip drivers now, and have a friend who is going to design a driver I will be able to get locally made. As for the Pangolin scanners, it's not that avenue, it is another member that hasn't posted anything about it yet. I think that there should be MULTIPLE options for laser diode drivers, especially a ready to plug and go option, so that's what I'm gonna lean to on my design.

[DZ]

Wow, I just read a couple posts in the thread, what a disaster. Was just thinking earlier today that I should probably get a couple more of these. I already have the 2 channel version and absolutely love the standby beam suppression thing. Is there any other driver that has this sort of feature? Shame to see badpip go away like this, the product he had works wonderfully for me.

[mophead]

You know guys, drivers, well made drivers; they take much planning, testing, hard working laying them out and mfg'ing. I respect a persons IP, I really do. There is a BUT coming.

BUT, Everyone needs drivers so badly for all sorts of projects. If a person that designs a decent driver doesn't have time to make them, or doesn't care (or have enough time), why in the world don't they sell the IP to someone that can run it, making a little profit for their time. This is an expensive hobby yet some people feel that others (supplying the drivers) shouldn't make money. Nothing wrong with a fair profit. it's how business works.

For Christ's sake, if you can't deliver, sell the schematics to someone willing to mfg them for a profit. this statement goes for *any* amateur driver mfg'er.

It's not right to reverse engineer someones work and re-release it, but it has been spoken of many times in the shadows.

I recently resorted to getting LW to sell me a couple bare drivers, also picked up a couple wavelength drivers from the'bay.

Badpip, wanna sell your schema's? I can't or don't have time to do it, but I fairly sure someone will.

[mixedgas]

I have something on the bench now. If it works on long term test, here is how it is going to be. I have two friends who are Laserists with a hankering for a cottage industry. They are both stay at home Dads who work out of their home. That covers assembly, support, and shipping, as my job has me on the road all the time. So I'll make about two or three dollars per device, they will make some what more. It amazes me that a diode driver with a total of six or seven wires and two potentiometers requires support, but obviously they do. So I need to farm this out, which is un-attractive to me in terms of profitability vs. the work required.

Drivers will ship every Saturday, and the same type of shipping will be used for all orders. If you need one FEDEXed to save a gig at the Whitehouse or Buckingham Palace, expect a un-merciful special services charge or arrange a FEDEX pickup. If some one can get to the shipper sooner, then things will happen faster, but that is kids/wife/work schedule dependent. I would urge you to order a spare.

We might also do a minimum order to keep the costs down. The shipping box and foam costs almost as much, if not more, then the opamp and two power transistors. Not to mention the headaches of constant tracking of multiple packages. Tracking will be mandatory. I know it is expensive, but it will stop the bleating of squeakers on forums.


The device requires a 10 to 15 volt input and will drive two 1 watt blues in series if your rail has enough volts for the diode burden.. It is made to the blue array requirements of a few of my friends. So if you want five volt power input, or you want it customized to drive a 510 nm 70 mA green, this may not be the driver for you. The form factor is not small. I am not using surface mount for the output and pre-regulator transistors. I am using a five amp output device with internal overtemp and overcurrent shutdown. The beam cut-off input, if I decide its worth the " time value of money"* to implement, requires TTL or a pull up resistor, as we all still use the ILDA shutter function. You will need to heatsink it.

If Buffo and Keck's driver makes it to market, it would seem silly to make these.

Why no one stays in the driver business is simple. When the business grows, the cost of the support and time exceeds the profitability. It does not pay well enough to quit the day job.

Steve