LaseRad86

Am I a signature freak or what?

2010-02-08T15:18:00.003+01:00

http://www.ddgamer.com/
http://www.glop.org/gamercard/
http://www.mygamercard.net/
http://www.xboxlc.com/
http://steamcard.com/

Dirt 2 - controller question

2010-01-27T19:29:00.001+01:00

Got an XBOX360 controller for Windows today..

LaseRad86: how to use the horn?
stranded: right or left anal stick
stranded: just push it down
LaseRad86: there's a weird icon in the controls
LaseRad86: ye..

btw.. Dirt 2 is the newest offroad racing game by Codemasters.

Most anticipated PC games of 2010?

2010-01-26T01:05:00.005+01:00

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 - March 2US/5EU
Mass Effect 2 - 1/29
Bioshock 2 - 2/9
Mafia 2 - May-July
Alien vs Predator - 2/19 - announced to support SteamWorks(retail key activated on Steam)
Napoleon: Total War - 2/26 - announced to support SteamWorks(retail key activated on Steam)
Assassin's Creed 2 - 3/16
Metro 2033 - 3/16
Those were to be released within the next half a year.. coming titles expected to be released late 2010.. however, who does know really..
Crysis 2
Max Payne 3
C'n'C: Tiberium Twilight
Splinter Cell: Conviction
R.U.S.E.
Starcraft 2 .. wait, wasn't that already supposed to be released by now.. WTF Blizzard counting WoW money?

o__O
Imagine paying $50 for each game on average.. seems at least someone's bank account will dry out.

8x RGB LED shield for Arduino

2009-11-15T01:18:00.007+01:00

DIY RGB LED chaser shield with 3x 595 chips. By the way I never did a similar amount of soldering before. There's still one and probably the most complicated thing to do.. connection the rest of the LED pins with the resistors. I could only connect few of them at the bottom of the board.

EDIT:

So the shield is ready to go. Now I just need to adjust the script to run it, but basically it works just fine even with the code for breadboard version. The shield could have looked nicer, but what can you expect from a prototype xD

You can find the tutorial at this URL.
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ShiftOut

O-Like laser drive PCBs

2009-11-12T20:51:00.006+01:00

First 2 on the left(without a spring) are identical IR/Red drives(only different side) and the third one is a bluray(PHR type) driver.
With the one without a spring and 2AA/AAA rechargeables you can get about 120~160mA of current for your Red/IR. Depends on the state of those batts. With 5V of input voltage you can get the 22x dvd burner diode to its maximum optical power output! Quite good actually, I'm pleased to get 2 of these for only about $5!!! btw. This driver has a TTL input.
The other one, I would call it a PHR/spring driver, is a bit different story. 2AA rechargeable batteries simply aren't enough. Fresh ones may work well and probably be able to get you around 90mA for your violet diode. Remember bluray/HD diode unlike dvd red is kind of voltage hungry and needs around 4.5V. So the driver is actually boosting voltage from only 2.4V into like 4.4V. That's really great, but doesn't help it much anyway. xD You can still burn electrical tape slowly, but the dot is dim and the beam barely visible. Try replacing 2.4V with 5V let's say from a USB port. Suddently you'll get the driver's top at like *143mA(my sample).
The PHR drive costs 10$. And you'll get only one.
In the end, I would say, power both drivers with one 3.7V battery. Get a nice host and go burn your house down. LMAO

*I don't recommend this high current though, the laser module gets hot really fast, untouchable. I measured maximum current with my laser test load. You should do it too before hooking your expensive diode up with any driver! To set the driver for your diode, you can adjust output by turning a mini pot on the PCB with a little screwdriver.

DIY Laser driver

2009-11-09T21:20:00.011+01:00

If you ever wanted to have a powerful laser, not just a pointer anyone can buy for few euros. And at the same time not want or not be able to spend hundreds of dollars for the professional lasers. There is a way to achieve your wish for a very little money.

Nobody from the laser community would tell you that the only thing you need to do is to extract a laser diode from a dvd burner and hook it up with 2 AA batteries. Sure, you can do it. Question is how many times you can before you waste the diode. LD is very fragile electronic component and the only way to get it long and productive life is to build a driver for it. That will supply the exact needed and stable current to the diode.

This picture isn't mine, copied&pasted from laserWiki:)

Probably the most famous person in the laser DIY community is Daedal. He is the creator of the laser driver for dummies. His driver is called DDL(DaeDaL, I guess), or an LM317 circuit, after the most important component in the driver. Pros of this circuit are that it very well does what it supposes to, it's relatively easy to build and also very cheap. The actual components cost about 2€ at most. I don't count solder, soldering iron and a breadboard/veroboard in. Cons on the other hand are that it's a bit bigger to be used in a portable box, and.. it uses a lot of volts(7V for reds,9V for blus). And let me tell you, combining this circuit and a 9V battery isn't going to win any minituarization contest.

This one lacks a potentiometer for easy adjustments.

For little devices powered by the least possible voltage. For example 3-5V. You need a special driver. There are flexdrive boost drivers and RKCSTR drivers.. and there are also mini drivers from China, O-like for example sells theirs really cheap.

Twitter

2009-11-09T15:24:00.002+01:00

I have an unused Twitter profile.. xD
Currently in a state of .... sorry, I got protected tweets.. not that there are some.. lmao

Laser diode test load & R/V Lasers

2009-11-09T10:51:00.008+01:00

Littlest, simple test load circuit to determine what the max current of a laser driver is. :)

As the picture says you measure milivolts around the resistor to get miliamps that a driver is supplying to the circuit/LD. NOT the optical power of a laser diode! Red wire positive, black wire negative. Double check the right orientation of those diodes. The side with a grey/white ring is negative. All must be in one direction like in the picture, else the current wouldn't flow through.

Originally the scheme comes from ROG8811. I edited his work taking IR diodes into consideration. Inspiration came from his site as well.

First post

2009-11-09T10:13:00.004+01:00

I was wondering if there is a way to publish some of my rookie DIY projects and this service called blogging crossed my mind. I don't know if it has the full potential of a hosted website, I certainly hope for it.