Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 18 of 18

Thread: 1W 520 nm diodes - future pricing?

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Detroit, USA
    Posts
    558

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by mixedgas View Post
    As there are only a few makers of the core "engine" module in video projectors, its not shocking that they decided to stay with existing technology, such as the phosphor wheel for green.
    The trays of diodes we have seen on the Ebay market must have been leftover evaluation samples from a prototype run.

    Does that make sense?

    Steve
    Do you anticipate that the current supply will dry up?

  2. #12
    mixedgas's Avatar
    mixedgas is offline Creaky Old Award Winning Bastard Technologist
    Infinitus Excellentia Ion Laser Dominatus
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    A lab with some dripping water on the floor.
    Posts
    9,890

    Default

    Stiffler. I have no way of knowing. The fact that a few dozen or a hundred made it out is encouraging. That means some one had diode dies made and a expensive packaging run done. I have no crystal ball.
    So your guess is as good as mine. Bridge's comments seem to imply that supply will decrease. I was told two and a half years ago that 1 watt green and 5 watt blue would be available and a PLer had seen the prototypes.
    So the one watt green finally appears. As expected, beam quality was not awesome, because you can only do so much with current density in the die. I'm not surprised that the "5 watt" was really only a 2.5 watt, its just scaling the die to its limits. As to how these get "back-doored" out of the production line I do not know.

    Probably the best person to ask would be DTR. I would not blame him if he is coy or plays possum about his source though.

    Steve
    Last edited by mixedgas; 05-12-2014 at 08:05.
    Qui habet Christos, habet Vitam!
    I should have rented the space under my name for advertising.
    When I still could have...

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    St. Louis
    Posts
    526

    Default

    That is pretty much exactly what I know of the situation. From what I have been told there was a 10K piece sample run where all the diodes we have been getting are coming from and when gone they are gone. There is no expected price decrease that I know of more likely they will start drying up. I hope I am wrong but so far I have not seen any evidence that is not true.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    5,704

    Default

    TBH I can't see where Nichia's liability would come from, but then again US law is very different.

    I mean:

    1. They are not the manufacturer of the projectors so any obligation to prevent removal for safety reasons by the end user, lies with the projector manufacturer, surely.

    2. In respect of the manufacturer, provided warnings are given not to disassemble the product and a disclaimer as to liability, plus the case is sealed, I can't see why there would be any reason to specially secure the diodes. Aren't transformers dangerous and capacitors? Yet they don't require special means to prevent removal.

    It all smells to me as to being a red herring as to another possible reason, that of keeping prices high by preventing builders circumventing the normal supply chain. Only my opinion though.

    The only good news as I see it, is the fact that it's pretty much impossible to secure them in a manner that can't be circumvented.

    The real threat comes from diode arrays being so small in individual numbers as to be uneconomic to harvest. Can't see why only 2 or 3 520 would be required to balance 26 x 445. Yep green is more luminous, but with most projectors with 532, 540, 445, a 1:1:1 produces a balanced white. So surely 520 isn't that different?

  5. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Switzerland
    Posts
    1,410

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by White-Light View Post
    The real threat comes from diode arrays being so small in individual numbers as to be uneconomic to harvest. Can't see why only 2 or 3 520 would be required to balance 26 x 445. Yep green is more luminous, but with most projectors with 532, 540, 445, a 1:1:1 produces a balanced white. So surely 520 isn't that different?
    Simply because with a direct green source there is no huge losses compared to the process of transforming a big quantity of blue into green with a phosphor wheel.

    I guess that only 1/10 (a total guess) of the total blue emitted by all the 26 blue diodes are really used for displaying blue light on the screen.

    Now if you would have a projector with direct diodes for all three primary colors, the 1:1:1 would make sense

  6. #16
    mixedgas's Avatar
    mixedgas is offline Creaky Old Award Winning Bastard Technologist
    Infinitus Excellentia Ion Laser Dominatus
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    A lab with some dripping water on the floor.
    Posts
    9,890

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by sbk View Post
    Simply because with a direct green source there is no huge loss, I guess only 1/10 (a total guess) of the total blue emitted by all the 26 blue diodes are really used for displaying blue light on the screen.
    With the demonstrated 462 nm diodes the higher apparent brightness would require even less diodes if used with the Green diode. However this possibly raises the cost of the blue diodes to a level unpalatable to the projector manufacturer. Remember the economies of scale.

    Steve
    Qui habet Christos, habet Vitam!
    I should have rented the space under my name for advertising.
    When I still could have...

  7. #17
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    The West
    Posts
    1,285

    Default

    I doubt that they would stop manuf. 520 diodes all together, based on them being sold by large laser co.'s , as a finished product/module,
    if they were just manuf. for "marketing" purposes, then there would be major problems with the co.'s selling them as finished modules (laserwave, kvant, RGB lasersystems, etc.)
    right now, you can buy completed modules with warranty, what happens if they were to stop making the diodes??
    my guess is they don't come down In price, but still available at current prices...

    just my .02
    RGB laser projectors
    Pangolin Beyond .NET
    APC40 Midi controllers
    Pangolin FB3 controllers
    DZ splitter
    LS MegaWatt Green Machine

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Santa Cruz, CA
    Posts
    309

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by carlos3621 View Post
    I doubt that they would stop manuf. 520 diodes all together, based on them being sold by large laser co.'s , as a finished product/module,
    if they were just manuf. for "marketing" purposes, then there would be major problems with the co.'s selling them as finished modules (laserwave, kvant, RGB lasersystems, etc.)
    right now, you can buy completed modules with warranty, what happens if they were to stop making the diodes??
    my guess is they don't come down In price, but still available at current prices...

    just my .02
    Companies offer extended warranties all the time on products that become discontinued within a years time. In those cases, companies will replace a product with another product that most closely matches the former. Most warranty agreements probably state this in their terms. With that said, existing warranties are not a reliable indicator of the future availability of a product.
    Last edited by discothefunkyhippo; 05-13-2014 at 11:56. Reason: word choice

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •