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Need some very basic help

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I have a project that I’m working on and need a bit of direction here. I need to power 155 laser diodes rated at 650nm 5mA, 3.2 v. The diodes run at around 30mA each.

I bought this power supply

https://www.electro-tech-online.com/custompdfs/2008/05/rs35.pdf

Do I just use a triple pronged extension cord, cut off the end, then:

- place the live wire into pin 1 (L, AC) - neutral into pin 2 (N, AC) - ground into pin 3

I have a 6ft extension cord: 13A - 125V - 1625W

Or am I way off here? Any problems I need to be aware of?

Thanks for any help...
 
Your connection is ok.If anything happens even no problem you get warranty to that power unit.

I'm wondering about that number of Laser diodes.The drawing current depends on how you connect the Laser diodes.
 
Thanks Gayan,

Those diodes are going to be connected parallel (all positives together/all negatives together?). Here is the thread that explaines how the diode was tested;

**broken link removed**

Note: a diode was tested at 27mA with a 5.2v adapter. 30mA is just an approximate...

**broken link removed**
 
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what is the voltage of the supply you bought ??

no matter which one you bought they're all sufficient to supply what you need but personaly i would taken a higher voltage and put the LEDs in serie rather than parrallel
if you would have taken 24V you could make 22 strings of 7 LEDs which would consume +/- 0.66 amp totaly

if you conect all LEDs parrallel it needs 4.65 Amp at 3.2 Volt


Robert-Jan
 
I agree with Robert-Jan that you would do better to put the diodes in series-parallel (i.e. have several strings of diodes, each string current-limited) instead of just putting them all in parallel, and I have the same question: which of the 6 power supplies listed in that PDF did you buy?

Do the laser diodes include their own current-limiting resistors?


Torben
 
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The tests used the resistance of the current meter plus the resistance of its probes to limit the current. Without the meter then pure luck might limit the current.

I wonder how many of the 155 laser diodes will survive without current-limiting resistors? Half of them?
 
rjvh, Torben ...

I bought the 3.3V model.

The diodes, hmmm, not sure about the current-limiting resistors... Here is a better idea of what I have;

**broken link removed**

Well, they each have a little circuit board on it. Might that indicate current limiting?

audioguru... I definitely do not want to burn out any diodes.
 
Your laser diode circuit must have a manufacturer's name. The manufacturer must have a detailed datasheet for how to use it.
 
audioguru...

Thanks, I just emailed them to find out for sure. I do know of a few people who are using these same diodes (some for around five months now) with no problems. They are using way less than what my gadget has though.

My biggest concern is hooking them up properly, with one good PS, and as safely as possible!
 
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If you tell us the name of the manufacturer and the part number of the laser diode assembly then we can look it up immediately without waiting for e-mails.

www.datasheetarchive.com and Google have never heard of the HLM-8013B.
 
I have a very similar lazer diode, and it DOES have a current limiting resistor, i even tried to boost it by providing 12V and it didn't complain a lot!
 
Willie TwoFinger said:
rjvh, or Torben ...

What are the advantages of putting them in series?

As you can tell, I know little on how this all works!

Thanks!

From the image you posted it looks like it would contain its own current source circuit, but it's impossible to tell for sure. The specs you posted don't list typical diode-type specs (such as forward voltage etc). I suspect this means that it does in fact include a current-limiting resistor BUT I don't know for sure. If you blow them out using this post as a recommendation, it's on your own head. :)

As for the series/parallel thing: diodes are not perfect devices. If they were perfect then there would be no problem wiring them in parallel but in reality they vary slightly from one diode to the next, even of the same type/colour/rating/etc. So when you put them in parallel they do not get a perfect distribution of the current; some of the devices draw more and the others less. You can get runaway effects where one draws all the current and dies. Then the next one pulls the current and dies, and so on.

You can get around this problem in a few different ways. One would be to leave the LEDs in parallel but put a current-limiting resistor in series with each LED. You can probably quickly see why this is ridiculous for large numbers of LEDs: you have one resistor for each LED. Also, the current drawn is high (Iled * the number of LEDs).

Another solution is to put all the LEDs in series and just use 1 resistor to limit current. Since in a series circuit the current is the same at all points in the circuit, the current over the individual LEDs can't get unbalanced when they're wired in series. The problem with this solution is that while the current drawn stays low, you need a voltage of (Vled * the number of LEDs) volts to drive the series. For 155 3V LEDs that would mean you'd need 465V-plus power supply. :)

So a common solution is to compromise by arranging the LEDs in several equal strings, with each string having its own resistor, and putting the strings in parallel. Then the voltage needed is (Vled * number of LEDs per string) and the current drawn is (Iled * number of strings)--you can vary the number of LEDs per string and the number of strings to match your power supply.

Hope that made some kind of sense. Disclaimer: I'm no electrical engineer. I'm just some guy with a soldering iron and this is a hobby. :)

Erm. One more thing. You have a 3.3V power supply and 155 lasers which require at least 3V each, and which draw 50mA (from the spec sheet you posted--I know this disagrees with your first post but design for the worst case scenario). You should be fine putting them all in parallel except your power supply will be over spec (155 * 50mA = 7.75A; the power supply is rated at 7A). You could try running them in groups of 2 to bring the current draw down to around 4A but then you're trying to run 6V per string on a 3.3V supply.

I hate to say it, but unless I'm missing something, I don't think your power supply is up to the task of running all 155 laser modules--at least, not while staying within its rates specs. I hope I'm wrong. If I'm right, I hope you kept the receipt. :)


Good luck,

Torben
 
ikalogic said:
I have a very similar lazer diode, and it DOES have a current limiting resistor, i even tried to boost it by providing 12V and it didn't complain a lot!
It might even have a built-in constant current source meaning that the brightness would stay the same, even if you increased the voltage.
 
Many laser diodes have a photo-diode inside that is used with an external transistor to adjust the brightness. I don't know if these laser diodes have the feedback transistor and I don't know how much extra voltage the transistor needs.
The transistor also might limit the current.

The datasheet for the laser diode assembly will tell all.
 
The "manufacturer" AixiZ Service & International, LLC is just a distributor for 184 companies that make laser diodes and many other optical items.
The search on the website did not know of the part number for the laser diode.
 
Torben... thanks for all the info, it is clarifying much for me...

audioguru... yeah I was thinking that would be the case. I'm pretty sure that they're actually made somewhere in China. I couldn't find that info on their web site....
 
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When you buy parts from E-Bay then you don't get a datasheet and you don't get the spec's that are needed to use the parts properly.
 
Another question has come up...

"We need to find out the formula for the amps when we wire it series/parallel. Is it just straight up division?

If I had lets say 200 diodes wired into four groups of 50 -and each of those four was wired series, and I used a 12 volt adapter- then would the total amps be 1/4th what it would be?"
 
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