Hello.
As you are aware, a while back I got a pair of HD DVD write lasers from drives.
Now we have used and defective Blu Ray drives turning up.
Got the laser from a Blu Ray recorder, was after the hard drive for another project.
I did the exact same mods as for a HD DVD recorder.
Since this was a 4X machine the power levels are higher, much higher.
I have no idea as to the actual power levels but have set focus and tested things.
I am not sure of the correct voltage settings or what is maximum, I simply get the thing in the write mode for a second and measured it with a peak reading voltmeter and scope.
I am running a flat 5VDC at 780mA, 3.9 watts!
I have a large heatsink and even this gets hot is just a minute so it is not that effective.
At 4.5 volts it drops down to 410mA, still way more power than the HD DVD laser.
Remember that the faster the drive the more powerful the laser needs to be.
The hard drive out of this thing is good, the trouble was in the transport.
There was also a nice switching power supply that does +5VDC and +12VDC that is an independent board.
Now to come up with a collimating lens for this thing, the optical array has several lasers and all sorts of mirrors and such.
If I can get this thing down to size I will install it in a Maglite housing and call it good.![]()