Author Topic: How to controll a laser pointer from a microcontroller  (Read 3456 times)

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Offline ConscriptedTopic starter

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How to controll a laser pointer from a microcontroller
« on: March 29, 2010, 02:46:39 PM »
Good afternoon all,

I'm in the design phase of a new project. I need to connect a laser to a microcontroller and I'm not sure what the best approach is. I intend to use a cheap off the shelf laser. I suspect that the laser may draw to much power to be powered by the microcontroller itself. Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks
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Offline SmAsH

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Re: How to controll a laser pointer from a microcontroller
« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2010, 02:57:44 PM »
If you use a cheap laser could you not just use the battery that came with it and put a transistor where the switch normally is? Yes, a laser would draw to much current :)
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Offline Soeren

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Re: How to controll a laser pointer from a microcontroller
« Reply #2 on: March 29, 2010, 06:44:17 PM »
Hi,

I need to connect a laser to a microcontroller and I'm not sure what the best approach is. I intend to use a cheap off the shelf laser. I suspect that the laser may draw to much power to be powered by the microcontroller itself. Anyone have any experience with this?
A simple NPN transistor and two resistors will do, if the LASER can live off the same voltage as the controller. If it's a standard 3-cell pointer, a diode like 1N400x inline will drop a 5V line to around 4.35V, which should be just right for a 3-cell.

Do you need a schematic for this?
Regards,
Søren

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Offline nottoooily

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Re: How to controll a laser pointer from a microcontroller
« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2010, 02:28:49 AM »
Be careful with the super-cheap laser pointers. I've found that the laser itself has about the same operating life as the batteries. Maybe I just got a bad batch, but it could be endemic!

Offline ConscriptedTopic starter

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Re: How to controll a laser pointer from a microcontroller
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2010, 05:55:30 AM »

Do you need a schematic for this?


A schematic would be great thanks

Offline Razor Concepts

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Re: How to controll a laser pointer from a microcontroller
« Reply #5 on: March 30, 2010, 08:46:07 AM »
Replace LED and resistor with laser:

Offline Soeren

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Re: How to controll a laser pointer from a microcontroller
« Reply #6 on: March 30, 2010, 06:09:57 PM »
Hi,

Replace LED and R1 with LASER and diode, in case of a 5V supply.
Make R2 somewhere around 3k3 to 4k7.

Regards,
Søren

A rather fast and fairly heavy robot with quite large wheels needs what? A lot of power?
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Offline Hawaii00000

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Re: How to controll a laser pointer from a microcontroller
« Reply #7 on: March 30, 2010, 08:16:19 PM »
I just thought I'd tag this on while we're talking about it. I tried this one with a spare transitor and a cheap laser, but I didn't work completely. It was on constantly (even when it wasn't supposed to be) but it got brighter when power was applied to the transisor. Suggestions?
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Offline Soeren

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Re: How to controll a laser pointer from a microcontroller
« Reply #8 on: March 30, 2010, 11:05:13 PM »
Hi,

It was on constantly (even when it wasn't supposed to be) but it got brighter when power was applied to the transisor. Suggestions?
You clearly didn't drive the transistor from a CMOS output, so it didn't shut off the transistor fully.
If you just used a switch, a push button or a functional equivalent which didn't drive the base low, put a resistor (say 10k) from the base to the emitter/ground.
Regards,
Søren

A rather fast and fairly heavy robot with quite large wheels needs what? A lot of power?
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Offline amando96

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Re: How to controll a laser pointer from a microcontroller
« Reply #9 on: April 03, 2010, 11:03:00 AM »
I like using these bad boys:
http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheet/fairchild/4N35.pdf

they are easy to use, and a laser malfunction won't damage your micro!
It's also a good idea to use these with serial port/USB diy projects, your ports will be safe from little errors that could damage them...

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Offline Soeren

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Re: How to controll a laser pointer from a microcontroller
« Reply #10 on: April 03, 2010, 11:33:21 AM »
Hi,

they are easy to use, and a laser malfunction won't damage your micro!
It's also a good idea to use these with serial port/USB diy projects, your ports will be safe from little errors that could damage them...
A transistor (in OC configuration) won't backflow a malfunction either. It's a waste of money using opto-couplers here.
Regards,
Søren

A rather fast and fairly heavy robot with quite large wheels needs what? A lot of power?
Please remember...
Engineering is based on numbers - not adjectives

Offline Admin

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Re: How to controll a laser pointer from a microcontroller
« Reply #11 on: April 06, 2010, 10:26:34 PM »

 


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