RGB driver

[wes702]

Any suggestions for sourcing a RGB driver? Also best RGB dichros? (The rebuild begins)

[m0f]

Dave at lasershowparts has a dual driver that looks pretty nice, I haven't tried it yet. Lasertack makes a series of drivers. Or flexmods are an option. Best to look for something with standby beam suppression as the blue's will lase at very low thresholds.

Dave's and the lasertack drivers have beam suppression built in. The flexmods to have that as an option now but requires different firmware when ordering and some extra components soldered on from what I understand.

Another factor depends on how much current you'll need. I think Dave's and lasertack's drivers do about 2-2.5 amps. The flexmods will do 4 if I remember correctly. With all the drivers diodes can be combined in series, which keeps the required current for multi-diode arrays the same as a single diode and just runs at a higher voltage.


For dichros :

- Dave I believe carries the Kvant dichros which I used in my last couple of builds, am happy with them. I'll probably be using these again, had good results and reasonably priced.
- One stop laser shop also has some high end dichros available, however they are pricier than the ones listed on their site and need to be requested through email.
- The laserwave dichros are also pretty nice nowadays, there are several sources for those.
- And on the cheap, the spare parts from the dismantled video projectors usually have some reasonably decent dichros for the money (though with them you're limited to the order that you combine the lasers due to lack of selection. And the losses are likely a bit higher, but a good option when dealing with lower powered lasers to begin with and not worried about a few more percent. But if your lasers are already mounted best to use one of the first three options due to lack of selection.

[Stiffler]

Planters is selling the Laserwave dichros, and there is another thread on PL showing test data from them.