Electronics without adult supervision

[norty303]

I'm guessing the driver is fixed current, so you just apply 5V and it switches on at 350mA (assuming you have enough PSU current)
I wonder if you starting with voltage and current essentially off, and then turning them up gradually affected it in anyway. Maybe the driver didn't like that. I'm guessing it's just meant to be on a switch.

[Bradfo69]

Positive and negative

Actually, I figured that's what you meant. The "e" after the v threw me though. I don't honestly know if this is case positive or case negative but, if I had to hazard a guess, I'd think it was case negative.

[Bradfo69]

So... rather than use this questionable power supply, should I just try hooking it up to a regular 5 volt caged power supply that is in a projector?

[norty303]

Thats what I'd have done. These look like they're designed to be used in pointers or similar construct, so you'd just have a constant voltage and current power supply in the form of batteries.

Maybe the best person to comment here is DTR, as he sells the things and most probably knows what they do/don't like.

[Bradfo69]

Next silly question. Maybe I just did something to the driver and not the diode...

If I set the multimeter to ohms and check for resistance at the red and black wire, I get nothing but, if I carefully touch the probes to the leads of the diode, I get resistance. I'd much rather have done something to the driver and not the diode!

[Bradfo69]

Yeah... I cooked something. I just taped two CR123 batteries together and touched the black and red wires to positive and negative and got nothing.

I suppose time to ship it back to DTR for a look - see.

[norty303]

On the bright side - think of the lessons you're learning!

[Bradfo69]

Yep! By 2024 I might be up to about 4% of planters knowledge!

[steve-o]

^Good list Bart.
It also might be noteworthy to mention that ESD doesn't have to be the shocking kind (especially during dry winter months when there's less dissipating humidity in the air) . It can be a discharge into the diode of anything over maximum Vf (the max operating voltage of the diode.) Walking across a carpet then touching something metal can generate a few thousand volts - that's the painful "shocker" .. but what some people don't realize is that a person can generate 50 volts, 20 volts .. or anything that's over the diode's operational voltage (with enough current behind it ) will kill a diode, and you won't even know that's what happened .

-edit- WOW 14 posts since I wrote this .. was supposed to be under Bart's list. I'll go back and see what I missed ...

[pschlosser]

I use a similar power supply to feed my drivers. I'm not thinking you did much wrong, here. While ESD is still a possibility, I would check with DTR and see what he has to say. I'm pretty sure the driver is tested ahead of time, since the current is set. But maybe that isn't necessary in a streamlined operation. Are they both tested, once assembled, prior to shipping? I suspect they are.

Your procedure sounds just like mine:

With the power leads disconnected, turn up the current about halfway and then set the voltage to my target.
Turn the current to zero and connect the power leads to the driver.
Slowly turn up the current and readjust the voltage to my target as needed.
At some point, the driver stops pulling current, and turning the current know further has no effect.

These diodes aren't easy to cook, when using a current limiting driver. However, they are easy to overheat, without proper heatsinking. When they do overheat, they typically LED.