I asked drlava about whether or not the flexmod has any protection against transients and he stated that there is a diode/capacitor combo on the input which should protect against almost all spikes, but since I've killed one 445nm diode so far from a voltage spike of some sort I'd say that the protection might not be 100% effective. Of course a lasorb would make this issue moot.
YAY YOU!!would make this issue moot
You wouldn't believe how angry I get when I have to read 'mute' in the same context....
A capicitor and/or diode will protect agains very short spikes, but a bad psu can give a higher voltage then you want for a longer time causing a huge current trough the diode and killing it. the driver does not protect against this.
See it like you adjusted the driver for 5V operation, and you run it for a very short time at 24V. this way you will have 5x the current trough the diodes and will kill it. the driver will just deliver the current for a short period in this case. no capicitor will help you.
A 5,1V zener to clamp the voltage would help in this case, but this would limit the driver to 5V only.
A good driver will have it own independent PSU for the laserdiode driver, so it will be indepandant from the bad outside world.