OPT Lasers LPLDD 5A Driver w/ Pics

I just got this OPT Lasers LPLDD 5A driver in to compare against my Blackbuck 8. I haven't done a side-by-side comparison yet, but I did take some pictures of the driver in action.

The pictures here are with it hooked up to my NUBM44 prototype rig.


The driver as it arrived. A little bit bent, but no biggie.


All octopus'ed up, and with heatsink attached.


You can see here, it is set to 4A.


Adjustment pot set at about nine o'clock position.


Dial at twelve o'clock position.


Dial all the way up. It was so bright I had to point it at a blacker spot in the fireplace!


Testing out the laser tube. This is again with the driver set to 4A, turned all the way up. It claims to be OD4+ and seems to do a pretty good job blocking the light, except for leakage around the edges, which I'll need to find a solution for.

After doing all the testing--around 1-2 minutes worth--I measured the temperature of the various components. The TO220 packaged thing (voltage regulator?) got quite hot, up to around 60 C, but with no noticeable change of performance.

Videos too:

Testing out sweeping up to full power at 4A.


Vaporizing some wax.

Thanks for reading!
:beer: