Page 5 of 6 FirstFirst 123456 LastLast
Results 41 to 50 of 54

Thread: Another Dead Laser - Warning Thread Contains Swearing!

  1. #41
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Salisbury Maryland
    Posts
    29

    Default MAXyz 200mw 660nm flaw

    Ok this is the tread I have been looking for. I purchased the 200mw Maxyz 660nm moduel and it has failed 2x on my now. I bought it off ebay and returned the unit once and it was repaired for me. The failure mode was "Very low output under 1mw" and I think it is the TTL circut that is failing. I contacted the seller on ebay a second time and he/she asked for the serial number of my unit. I provided the number and never heard back. Is the guy "David" that you all keep mentioning here the seller of MAXYZ moduels on ebay? I found a link on the web for a girl who has a sight all about the Maxyz moduels and I thought she was producing these units but I must be wrong about that. Does anyone know the fix for this condition?

    Thank You
    Chris Utter..... Laserdisplay NYC

  2. #42
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Salisbury Maryland
    Posts
    29

    Default flaw in maxyz moduels

    Ok this is the tread I have been looking for. I purchased the 200mw Maxyz 660nm moduel and it has failed 2x on my now. I bought it off ebay and returned the unit once and it was repaired for me. The failure mode was "Very low output under 1mw" and I think it is the TTL circut that is failing. I contacted the seller on ebay a second time and he/she asked for the serial number of my unit. I provided the number and never heard back. Is the guy "David" that you all keep mentioning here the seller of MAXYZ moduels on ebay? I found a link on the web for a girl who has a sight all about the Maxyz moduels and I thought she was producing these units but I must be wrong about that. Does anyone know the fix for this condition?

    Thank You
    Chris Utter..... Laserdisplay NYC

  3. #43
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Lancashire UK
    Posts
    1,379

    Default

    Hi Chris

    sorry to hear about your problems .... unfortunately a similar tale to quite a few people here

    you need to read this thread to understand

    http://photonlexicon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5183

    hope this helps ...

    Karl
    Last edited by Banthai; 11-07-2008 at 09:04.

  4. #44
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Charleston, SC
    Posts
    2,147,489,446

    Default

    Welcome to PhotonLexicon, Chris. I see you are in New York. There are a few members in your area that might be able to offer their assistance with your problem. Unfortunately, it's going to require some do-it-yourself work. (See below)
    Quote Originally Posted by skacutter View Post
    I purchased the 200mw Maxyz 660nm moduel and it has failed 2x on my now. I bought it off ebay and returned the unit once and it was repaired for me.
    About how long ago was the initial purchase? Do you remember? Also, when did you first send it back? Dates can be important, because as you'll see below, you are but one victim among many. Any information you have will be another piece to the puzzle.
    The failure mode was "Very low output under 1mw" and I think it is the TTL circut that is failing.
    Maxyz modules have supported analog modulation for several years now. If yours was a TTL-only model, you may have purchased an older, possibly used unit. Do you remember the name of the E-bay seller you bought it from? And was it listed as a new unit?

    As for the failure mode - the most likely cause is back-reflection, not a driver failure. Backreflection causes instantaneous (and permanent) damage to the diode face. Most Maxyz modules failed because of this, mainly because they were operated very close to their absolute power limit. That makes them more suceptible to damage due to back-reflection. For a while, you could get them repaired at cost, even if it was back-reflection that killed it. But lately that option has vanished.
    I contacted the seller on ebay a second time and he/she asked for the serial number of my unit. I provided the number and never heard back. Is the guy "David" that you all keep mentioning here the seller of MAXYZ moduels on ebay? I found a link on the web for a girl who has a sight all about the Maxyz moduels and I thought she was producing these units but I must be wrong about that.
    The "David" that we are talking about in this thread is David Wu, of Lasever products in China. This thread doesn't have anything to do with the Maxyz modules, but rather the Lasever DPSS units (especially the 473 nm blue ones) that developed power output problems after a few months use. However, there are plenty of other threads devoted to the Maxyz modules.

    The guy that makes the Maxyz modules is Chuck Barber. He is registered here on PhotonLexicon as "Marconi". Also, his girlfriend (Maxine) is registered here as "K-car". Maxine used to help Chuck with the sales of his Maxyz modules. (That's where the "Max" in Maxyz module comes from.) My guess is that the girl you dealt with was probably Maxine, and yes, they both had E-bay accounts and sold an awful lot of Maxyz modules through E-bay.

    Maxine was handling *all* the shipping for Maxyz modules from late last year (2007) until the early part of 2008. However, around that same time the complaints started piling up about Chuck. People weren't getting their diodes, and Chuck wasn't answering e-mails or phone calls. Granted, he had back surgery during that time period, so some people were willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But the complaints kept comming.

    Since then it's gotten much worse. There are a number of members here that did not receive their lasers. Some people were owed warranty repairs, while others had paid in advance for new lasers and never received them. Still others sent equipment to Chuck to be modified and never heard from him again. Some of these deals that went bad ended up costing the members thousands of dollars.

    The last time I talked with Chuck was in May or early June of 2008. Since then I haven't spoken with him or received any e-mails from him, and I don't know of anyone else that has spoken with him either. I think he's avoiding the forums. That sucks for his former customers, but there's not much else we can do at this point.

    Search for "Chuck" and "Maxyz" and you'll find plenty of threads explaining all the above in much greater detail.
    Does anyone know the fix for this condition?
    If the problem was caused by back-reflection, there is no fix other than to replace the laser diode. If you are comfortable doing the work yourself, you can replace it. There was a discussion recently about the inner components found in a Maxyz module, and the consensus was that there isn't anything special to be found.

    Adam

    PS: Be sure to fill in your profile; that way you don't have to always post your location at the end of your messages. Also, it will make it easier for folks in your area to see that you're local to them. With any luck, one of them might be able to help you get a replacement for your dead Maxyz module.

  5. #45
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Salisbury Maryland
    Posts
    29

    Default Thanks

    Adam: THANK YOU... You just clarified a whole lot for me.

    Chris

  6. #46
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    1 hr from everything in SoCal
    Posts
    2,753

    Default

    This is the first I have heard of back reflection. Does this only happen on open can diodes where there is no AR window? I have a DVD diode that has been running now for almost a year. I have pushed it pretty hard too 200+mW. It is TEC cooled. The interesting thing is, I am only using a resister for limiting the current from the Cell phone charger that I am using for the PSU. As for inrush voltage/current, how would one stop this from happening. I have heard horror stories about reds dying all the time. Mine is shining away happily. Am I just lucky?
    Last edited by absolom7691; 11-07-2008 at 14:37.
    If you're the smartest person in the room, then you're in the wrong room.

  7. #47
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    SoCal / San Salvador / NY
    Posts
    4,018

    Cool Sorry to threadjack, but...

    Hey Chris! -

    Quote Originally Posted by skacutter View Post
    Adam: THANK YOU... You just clarified a whole lot for me.
    I think we may know each other - did you work for Stone Mountain at the Roch, NY Install, ~95/96-ish? I seem to remember your name / Co name from some fuzzy place in the past... PM-me if you're down with catchin-up...

    ...OK, now back to our regularly-scheduled griping!

    sorry...
    j
    ....and armed only with his trusty 21 Zorgawatt KTiOPO4...

  8. #48
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Cairns, Australia
    Posts
    1,896

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by absolom7691 View Post
    This is the first I have heard of back reflection. Does this only happen on open can diodes where there is no AR window? I have a DVD diode that has been running now for almost a year. I have pushed it pretty hard too 200+mW. It is TEC cooled. The interesting this is, I am only using a resister for limiting the current from the Cell phone charger that I am using for the PSU. As for inrush voltage/current, how would one stop this from happening. I have heard horror stories about reds dying all the time. Mine is shining away happily. Am I just lucky?
    Ive had times where diodes would run fine on bare PSU's. If your worried about spikes etc, just grab a electrolytic of a fairly large value and slap it accross the + and - or the diode. BE VERY CAREFUL!, If the capacitor becomes disconnected from the diode while the power is still on, it can reconnect and send a huge spike into the diode, which will = a LED

  9. #49
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    1 hr from everything in SoCal
    Posts
    2,753

    Default

    It would be soldered to the leads for permanent connection. Would 1000uF suffice?
    If you're the smartest person in the room, then you're in the wrong room.

  10. #50
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Salisbury Maryland
    Posts
    29

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by dsli_jon View Post
    Hey Chris! -



    I think we may know each other - did you work for Stone Mountain at the Roch, NY Install, ~95/96-ish? I seem to remember your name / Co name from some fuzzy place in the past... PM-me if you're down with catchin-up...

    ...OK, now back to our regularly-scheduled griping!

    sorry...
    j
    Ah.... YES.... SML in rochester for near 10 years. And you are????

Posting Permissions

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