No New Projects?

[Pangolin]

If used as an OEM component will they be free to provide these without limitation from Pangolin?

I'm afraid I don't completely understand the question. If you're talking about the LASORB components, well, they will be acquired directly from us, because they are specially made for us. But if you mean can anybody in the world buy these drivers from Adam and Kecked, sure! We will have essentially no knowledge or control over those who are buying.

I am interested in the Lasorb application. As you may not know, I am working on a color shifted cryogenic laser that would benefit from the protection of the Lasorb, but due to the very low temperatures (60-80K) I need to place the Lasorb @ a minimum of 5cm from the diodes. I was led to believe that no ESD protection remained at even this relatively small distance, but if it was intended to be a component of these drivers then I suspect my information may be incorrect. Can you give a recommendation as to how the protection varies as the distance from the diode to the Lasorb increases?

Yes, you raise a good question and it's one that has been asked before. The answer is "it depends on where the ESD can approach the product". If the project is something that is actually handled by humans, or where the laser diode can get close to a person's hands (and thus ESD can approach the product at the laser diode itself), then you want the protection to be right at the laser diode itself, rather than somewhere else. But if ESD can not approach the product at the laser diode, then LASORB can be located elsewhere, and it often is.

As a final point, of course ESD is not the only problem. In most cases it is secondary. The problem most people experience is due to inadequacies of the laser diode driver design (sorry guys) such that the driver may itself provide surges to the laser diode during power down and power up events, or surges may come in through the power supply during lightning storms and the like.

At this point we've shipped over 100,000 pieces of LASORB to some of the most discerning and mission-critical clients (including systems that fly in space and go to Mars). If LASORB didn't work, we would not have this degree of market success!

Bill

[Pangolin]

i think this was a really horrible statement to make and quite an insult to folks like drlava, badpip, ddl, etc...

there are/have been a number of excellent a low priced diode drivers available to the hobbyist community for years.

Swami, I would agree that there have been a number of low price drivers available, but I think "excellence" is in the eye of the beholder. I have seen first hand, and examined very closely, the schematics of drivers from the folks you mentioned. If you're an electrical engineer, I will be happy to get into a private discussion with you about the inadequacies of all of them individually, and will show you the schematics, what's wrong, etc. In my view these products are far from excellent. And I am truly sorry to say that believe me!

I hope you'll also believe me when I say that I would never have gotten involved with laser diode driver design myself, had I been able to simply direct the Aerospace company to a manufacturer of a good driver. Since they would only use our software and lens products if we could deliver a complete package, we had to survey the marketplace of laser diode drivers. We tested nearly 100 units from all of the top-manufacturers you can think of, and everyone else too. All the way from Coherent and Spectra down to eBay sellers. There wasn't even a single one that would pass our stringent tests and could be relied on to go into space. Not even one.

Believe me Swami, I had better things to do with my life than to stop and design a diode driver. But because of this customer, I had to look into this, examine everything that existed, and then begrudgingly design our own driver for them. But I am happy with the end result. We delivered a great driver to them, and then extracted the key ESD protection portion and sold it as a separate component. The rest is history.

Sincerely, if you're an electrical engineer, I will be happy to discuss with you what's wrong with all of the other laser diode drivers -- not only the ones you mentioned, but also drivers from Coherent, Thor, Wavelength electronics, and all of the others, and even give specific examples of where the other guys went wrong, etc. There is a long list believe me! And then discuss what's so great about my design. Or heck, maybe we'll simply turn it into an even at SELEM where people can learn about this stuff.

If you've had good luck with the drivers you have mentioned, then GREAT! AWESOME! KEEP USING THEM! But it doesn't necessary mean that they are "excellent" or that everyone else in the world would also have such great experiences.

And finally Swami, certainly a number of people here on PL have no problem taking pot-shots at me or Pangolin. And sometimes we deserve it! So when there are members here on PL who have had lots of problems with drivers made by the folks you mention, and they themselves say "finally PL members will have access to a good driver", then maybe it's time for the pot-shots to be flying in a direction other than me and Pangolin for a change!

Bill

PS: Now the top-named companies use LASORB and also have received my input on how to improve their drivers as well. This work is also ongoing...

[kecked]

Some of you are just so negative. Here is some life advice. Repeat after me until it becomes a habit in your life. "I grateful, I'm Healthy, Im Happy" if you do it enough times you will feel the shift in your being. Life is too short to be angry. I sinceerly hope with no sarcarm of any kind that everyone can make the jump from negative thinker to positve thinker. It's like lifting a veil from your eyes.

I like vanilla ice cream, and some days I like chocolate or mint chocolate ice cream. I enjoy having the choice and am glad that the person who invented chocolate ice cream was not made to feel so bad by the vanilla guys that he/she quit and didn't bring it to market.

Be happy there are many drivers to choice from and experiment for yourself. If you like this new one then you like it and I hope you enjoy many many hours of trouble free operation. If you like some other one then so be it and that is OK.

Think positive be positive and reap the rewards of low stress in your life. Big hug to the whole community. Celebrate that you have a choice.

[edison]

Some of you are just so negative. Here is some life advice. Repeat after me until it becomes a habit in your life. "I grateful, I'm Healthy, Im Happy" if you do it enough times you will feel the shift in your being. Life is too short to be angry. I sinceerly hope with no sarcarm of any kind that everyone can make the jump from negative thinker to positve thinker. It's like lifting a veil from your eyes.

Choice, Grateful happy? If i go to a store and i need some bottle of carwash i should be grateful and happy that i can choose between more then 30 brands? Imagine all the polution and enviroment hazard this all causes just because the next manufacturer can make a few bucks by so called changing the recipy by giving the people a choice. If the manufactures didn,t try to save money where they can you would have a perfect product that might cost more but you don,t need so much choices. When i was in New zealand in 2007 it was a big relief that you could choose between 5 different sticky tapes and thats it. Have a look here and what choice does to our enviroment:

http://www.midwayfilm.com/


If Cocacola and all manufactures developed a perfect bottle then you wouldn,t have the lids floating arround in the sea. If you make a product it should be first work perfect and then as sales grow you should try to make it completely harmless to the enviroment. A perfect product needs time to develop until its perfect so that will take time of course but ones its absolutely spot on who need 5 or 10 choices that confusses people anyway!!! One bottle that solves in salt water is all we need.

I hate choice give me one good and perfect driver that is all i need!!!

[planters]

Yes, you raise a good question and it's one that has been asked before. The answer is "it depends on where the ESD can approach the product". If the project is something that is actually handled by humans, or where the laser diode can get close to a person's hands (and thus ESD can approach the product at the laser diode itself), then you want the protection to be right at the laser diode itself, rather than somewhere else. But if ESD can not approach the product at the laser diode, then LASORB can be located elsewhere, and it often is.

Thanks!

Something that has not been mentioned is that the "high end drivers" except for Wavelength Electronics tend to be bulky and even suited to a bench top installation. The only drivers that I know of and I wish I was wrong that are compact and also happen to be in the <$100 range are the two from Badpip and Drlava. However, without even discussing their performance they both suffer from one overwhelming problem...AVAILABILITY. If an alternative choice can be made then for some applications this might relieve the devilry pressure as well as provide different features.

I think the news about this new driver should be welcomed and guys...thanks for the work.

[polishedball]

Newest red / blue build 3W+ of each.

[swamidog]

hey bill,

sorry i didn't see this earlier. i've been crashing hard to get some video projects completed for the museum.

thank you for the offer, but i think we'd all gain if the technical discussions are public so everyone can learn and contribute.

c.

Swami, I would agree that there have been a number of low price drivers available, but I think "excellence" is in the eye of the beholder. I have seen first hand, and examined very closely, the schematics of drivers from the folks you mentioned. If you're an electrical engineer, I will be happy to get into a private discussion with you about the inadequacies of all of them individually, and will show you the schematics, what's wrong, etc. In my view these products are far from excellent. And I am truly sorry to say that believe me!

I hope you'll also believe me when I say that I would never have gotten involved with laser diode driver design myself, had I been able to simply direct the Aerospace company to a manufacturer of a good driver. Since they would only use our software and lens products if we could deliver a complete package, we had to survey the marketplace of laser diode drivers. We tested nearly 100 units from all of the top-manufacturers you can think of, and everyone else too. All the way from Coherent and Spectra down to eBay sellers. There wasn't even a single one that would pass our stringent tests and could be relied on to go into space. Not even one.

Believe me Swami, I had better things to do with my life than to stop and design a diode driver. But because of this customer, I had to look into this, examine everything that existed, and then begrudgingly design our own driver for them. But I am happy with the end result. We delivered a great driver to them, and then extracted the key ESD protection portion and sold it as a separate component. The rest is history.

Sincerely, if you're an electrical engineer, I will be happy to discuss with you what's wrong with all of the other laser diode drivers -- not only the ones you mentioned, but also drivers from Coherent, Thor, Wavelength electronics, and all of the others, and even give specific examples of where the other guys went wrong, etc. There is a long list believe me! And then discuss what's so great about my design. Or heck, maybe we'll simply turn it into an even at SELEM where people can learn about this stuff.

If you've had good luck with the drivers you have mentioned, then GREAT! AWESOME! KEEP USING THEM! But it doesn't necessary mean that they are "excellent" or that everyone else in the world would also have such great experiences.

And finally Swami, certainly a number of people here on PL have no problem taking pot-shots at me or Pangolin. And sometimes we deserve it! So when there are members here on PL who have had lots of problems with drivers made by the folks you mention, and they themselves say "finally PL members will have access to a good driver", then maybe it's time for the pot-shots to be flying in a direction other than me and Pangolin for a change!

Bill

PS: Now the top-named companies use LASORB and also have received my input on how to improve their drivers as well. This work is also ongoing...