Powerful LASER from car headlight

Harvesting, exploring and powering a laser module with a powerful blue laser diode from an LED matrix + laser based car headlight (probably for a Range Rover). WARNING: this laser module is extremely dangerous, it can cut or burn things and it could cause a severe eyesight damage.
The teardown of the headlight:
• inside an LED matrix L...
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[@fredcrayon]

“The balls to power such a retina burner” 🤣

[@RaduTek]

Timestamp: 8:12

[@AmitabhAnkur]

Diode gone wild now.

[@ccshello1]

Indeed it is the crazy laser diode that causes Diode gone wild.

[@thisfeatureisbad]

2017 - Even more saaalt. 2022 - Even more current.

[@TheTemporalAnomaly]

There is nothing stopping you from using a secondary lens in front of the existing lens to focus the beam. Depending on the focal length and position of the secondary lens your focus could range from spot to infinity (parallel) You could also set it up to operate as a beam expander, so that it remains collimated over much greater distances. Great video as always, with first class presentation! Long time subscriber.

[@klydolph2]

Here in Norway it is forbidden since july 1, 2015 to own or possess lasers with a power of over 1 mW. After that all laser pointers with for instance the low effect of 5 mW had to be handed over to the police. But then again Norway is the last Soviet republic.

[@climatebreak]

wow, perhaps a dumb question but does this mean you can't own a laser engraver in norway?

[@firefox1136]

That sucks, here in Switzerland you can own stationary lasers of any power but you sadly can't own portable death rays... At least I can own stationary death rays tho :)

[@klydolph2]

@@climatebreak I'm not sure. The law that governs this is many pages long. If one gets permission from the authorities one can use stronger lasers, but the requirements are strict. Those who gets permission I think is for educational purposes (schools and universities), medical uses, the defence, surveying purposes. There are lots of requirements for those who imports, sells and handles such equipment and a lot of safety and documentation requirements. The state wants full control. Laser engravers is not mentioned, but I suspect that is not an important enough purpose to get permission. At a minimum I think one has to have a business and use the engraver for business.

[@sasakurtovic6850]

@@climatebreak This law is for the handheld lasers. Industrial laser engravers and cutters have slim to no chance of blinding anyone in the street or a pilot in a plane etc. so they are not covered by this law. If you disassemble it and carry the laser out (not practical in any way but let's use the idea for the sake of argument) it is then suddenly classified as handheld laser, hence falling into the forbidden category.

[@greenaum]

@@sasakurtovic6850 That's pretty reasonable. Nobody really needs a laser pointer of much more power, and since they're so cheap, there's a high chance of stupid kids doing stupid things with them. The temptation to buy some 1.21GW laser from Alibaba (they exaggerate the specifications!) must be something akin to the dick-measuring contest that people who buy expensive cars etc take part in. There's no need for China to put dangerously powerful blue lasers into handheld tubes, but they do, simply because silly people want to buy them, and that's dangerous. Just a fragment of a beam reflected, even if you don't notice it, can do eye damage, multiply that chance by every dumb kid, and adult, in a nation, and it's going to add up to real damage, and for what purpose? Just idiots having fun. Fun is no bad thing but you have to balance the costs and benefits. It would completely suck to be blind, or even partially blind, cos somebody on the other side of the room was playing Star Wars.

[@Vampyredh]

This guy's accent is so awesome!

[@lemlihoussama2905]

Got "even more salt" vibes in this video 😅

[@WagTsX]

I used in the past some machine that got a powerful laser to cut wood made from tungsten/halogen lamps in a row and optical lenses to focus the light from it into a very tiny beam. It uses mirrors to get the light from the lamps to the tip of the cutting arm and reaches easily into the tens of watts to be able to cut thick pieces of wood very quickly.

[@DiodeGoneWild]

This is not a real laser, but it does the job :) As a kid I tried something similar using a 12V 60W halogen lamp and lens. It was able to burn spots or holes in black plastic.

[@fadeoutfahim2899]

Wow!!! Loved it already, wanna see more experimental videos on laser diode. 😍

[@ovidiulu]

Diode has really gone wild at 7:59 with the speed of explanations. Maybe he used the Fire Extinguisher just as a precaution around this burning laser :) Thanks for doing these experiments so we don't have to! I would suggest to buy some PPE from the Patreon founds so we you can keep making videos safely. It's better to invest in PPE than in medical treatments later. Sadly, I know this from my own experience...

[@johncoops6897]

There is no medical treatment for burnt retinas of the eyeball.

[@ovidiulu]

@@johncoops6897 maybe retinal transplant is possible these days, but I was referring to safety in general (and to damage to my lungs due to inhaled fumes when I say about my own experience)

[@johncoops6897]

@Matt - spyropyro would be laughing at this puny little cat toy! His eyesight has certainly survived the wide variety of absolutely crazy shit he's done over the years.

[@mjouwbuis]

Well, it was probably for a reason that the 1,2A wood burning tests looked very red. I hope he didn't only put laser safety goggles on the camera but on his own eyes as well.

[@johncoops6897]

@@mjouwbuis - it was red because it was red hot and burning LOL BTW camera sensors (without IR filter) detect InfraRed (heat) as a purple colour, but I cannot remember why.

[@greenaum]

It's impressive that a phosphor, when presented with so much energy in such a small spot, manages to convert it into point-source light, rather than simply burning away. I wonder what it's efficiency is? And do the materials used have to be designed to conduct heat, and to be very stable and heat tolerant? Is the phosphor shaped into a little dome, perhaps, or incorporated inside a lens? It'd be interesting to find out how it's done. Also would be interesting to know how it gives a useful amount of light, when lasers are so low-powered and inefficient. How much of the reason for using this, is the point-source ability? And, honestly, how much is to sell it to overgrown manchildren as "LAZ0R HEADLIGHTS!!!!!" ? Like you could fire it at enemy cars in a traffic jam. Or at least fantasise about turning the beam power up a bit. Maybe add a movable nozzle so the screen washer can work like a water pistol.

[@oliverkykal8087]

Super nice and interesting video. Keep up you good work!

[@peterzeboroff7448]

Excellent video as always

[@christopherleubner6633]

Part number is proprietary but it operates at about 2.2A and 3W typical optical output at 445 to 450nm. Has a 5 channel multiple quantum well structure with each channel capable of up to 1.5w absolute maximum power. Lasing chip is mounted on a polycrystalline diamond heat spreader on a copper carrier. Diodes are made by Osram. 🤓

[@Speeder84XL]

Really interesting! I have read about cars using laser in headlights, but I had really no idea how those worked.

[@xerejuneseve6333]

The laser illuminates the phosphor through a polarizer, and the excited phosphor emits bright light.This is also how expensive flashlights work.

[@TheRealThisIsAlex]

@@xerejuneseve6333 any flashlights using this same principle? I want one

[@lubie_alternatywki]

@@TheRealThisIsAlex yes, they are called lep's

[@159357ahmed]

great video as usual , thanks

[@daveslomski9612]

I rate this experiment SUPER DODGEY

[@webjan_losthismotorcycle]

Great explanation 👍

[@agustinusreynaldi7101]

Even more salt! Even more Rosin *Even more Current!*

[@erickvond6825]

It is possible to add a secondary corrective lense to any lazer system. Though not recommend because it will reduce the output power by a tiny margin. None the less it will still work. If possible I would use the lense from the other side of the unit as it's already rated for the power level of the diode.

[@johncoops6897]

EXCELLENT - we have been waiting for this one! The wood burning was the best part, I was laughing out loud. It is almost 11pm here in Sydney, and everyone was asleep... but not now, after I started laughing!

[@Georgy-fg3bg]

I think, that those springs and two screws inside the laser module may be used to accurately focus the laser beam. I think turning the srews can change the distance between the phosphor and focus of the lens. The springs ensure that the settings do not change due to vibrations.

[@simonruszczak5563]

No.

[@ArifKhan-bp9zx]

16:34 even more current 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I worked with such diodes and we used to focus them using a lens with combination of two prisms to press the beam into smallest point possible.

[@ytrew9717]

stupid question but doesn't it burn/melt the prisms after a while?

@@ytrew9717 No, it's a piece of glass, never had any problems.

[@techtinkerin]

You're right about blue lasers being dangerous, I mistakenly reflected a tiny 5mw laser off a chrome surface into my eye and had a tiny spot in my vision for about 10 years!! 2000mw would be devastating.

[@chucknorris2952]

😯

[@LutzSchafer]

Did it get better over time?

[@timothylegg]

I've found a lot of early Asian lasers were substantially stronger than labelled. I have a red LASER pointer that warms your skin when contacted. Ironically, the switch button is so horrible, it barely lights now.

[@electronic7979]

Nice video

[@werza]

Those transparent silicon lenses are pretty cool too.

[@vartikcsaba]

This was super interesting!

[@hyperion8008]

Brilliant video. You should make a laser torch using the lens and housing.

[@eb999uj]

Very interresting, Thanx, Hardware Hacker!

[@MarekKnapek]

Did you use eye protection? Are you able to measure wave length of the laser light, is just one wave length or wide spectrum of light?

[@bluerizlagirl]

Lasers are necessarily monochromatic. What makes a laser special is all the crests and all the troughs of the waves lining up perfectly, and this is only possible with a single wavelength.

[@MarekKnapek]

@@bluerizlagirl I know that lasers produce coherent light. In theory. But practice is often different from theory.

[@albatross_v2]

Very nice

[@Langendimi555]

Nice teardown! So we should keep spare laser diodes in our cars now in case we loose a headlight? 😅 My car also has these. Really fancy, but I kinda miss the incandescent bulbs. Life was easy those days.. Btw, do the knots in the wire in your clamp meter upset the DC amp readings?

[@ruimvp]

What a great box of resistors

[@climatebreak]

3:03 boof! great video and experiment as always, many thanks!

[@Pirelli.]

Niiice 16:35 😯Thank you Dany for another great vid! ☺

[@michaelclark6610]

Does anyone have a link for aftermarket purchase of the laser diode assembly with the phosphor housing?

[@benwhittle7204]

Would really like to know exactly where that part come from, I know you said you think it’s from a Range Rover but it would be great to identify the part exactly. We there any identifying numbers in it?

[@chongshenchang9367]

Sir, can we use laser from DVD player lens or Drive from computer CPU...?

[@tbavister]

Was half expecting a replay of the holes through furniture shenanigans 😄

[@Ahzr]

The most impressing part of the whole video, literally, is your unknown, never-heard-before super unique accent. :')

[@williama29]

i wonder if diode gone wild was able to smell burning paper or matches i seen some low powered lasers that are used as pointers and or for to play with cats and dogs with laser pointers

[@BRUXXUS]

I should really look it up for myself, but what advantage does laser pumped phosphor have over LED? I'm guessing it's smaller and more efficient, but seems a lot more complicated and sensitive to, well... everything. Can't imagine that phosphor lasting long being continuously grilled by a high power laser.

[@mofo78536]

If you look at LEP flashlights you can see that there is very minimal light spill. In context of car lights, this increase road safety by avoiding blinding of other drivers.

[@johncoops6897]

They probably do it to try and get more of a Point Source. One of the biggest problems with LED is that, due to heat in the LED Die, you cannot get heaps of light in a small enough place. This really limits the ability to focus, since a parabola to focus a light source needs to be at least 7 times it's diameter, and if you want good cutoff it needs to be even larger (to make it deeper). To get reasonable output from conventional LED dies you need multiple sources, and that means a (relatively) huge reflector.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

Very small spot size, so it can be focussed into a very narrow beam

[@hyperion8008]

It's another way for expensive car owners to annoy other motorists with their brighter than the sun headlights!

[@NotAnRCExpert]

@@hyperion8008 You Are not right, laser pumped beam is operated exclusively by car brain itself and one of many conditions is "no other car in front".

[@johnhill3507]

Thanks that was fun

[@PP-xy9bg]

how does the beam look without the lens?

[@afb9999]

Nice video! Show us how it looks with the phosphor in it

[@The_Hanter]

Jaký je vlastně smysl tohohle komplikovaného způsobu osvětlení? Ono ta mají být dálkové světla? V čem je výhoda použití laserových diod a následné fluorescence oproti klasické LED? Pořad tomu nechápu.

[@nakrul987]

what does the beam look like with the phosphor?

[@BrianSu]

I've been using a 3 Watt one from a laser projector, it's crazy powerful.

[@andyapple9]

Can you please explain soft and hard switching? Thank you!

[@user-kn7ps7wr7o]

Was this Borat? Very Nice! Great Success!

[@mysock351C]

The arrangement of the capacitors on the board without any direct connection to ground suggests that its PWM driven and having both the anode and cathode floating gives more flexibility with driving it (e.g. differentially). The low value 10nF capacitors to ground on both the diode and sensing circuit are probably there so that any voltage spikes are conducted away to the chassis ground. For the NTC thermistor there ins most likely a star-point ground for the sensing side of the circuit and the 100k resistor and 10nF cap provide the local decoupled "supply" for measuring the NTC thermistor. Grounding for the heatsinks is probably just tied to the nearest part of the chassis or a general ground. That's usually how things are done in cars from my experience.

[@JamesBrown-ux9ds]

@floating - i thought the same. And potentially a better protection against vagabonding high voltages (currents and riple) on the chassis from spark splugs. Even more so if with time not all ground points on the chassis would be on the exact electriic Potential anymore, maybe due to corrosion at the ground point connections. Better no potential ((for all);than a wrong one (in addition) possibly interfering one each as as well. And of course the temp sensing is kept electricly far away and completely independent from the lasers and their triggered currents and voltage. And of course you want to start to have no unnecessary double ground points in the lamp itself, right at the beginning ( - inside the lamp is right at the end of course, the light starts there, but the electric 'ends'). But this sees everybody immedeately. It's quite obvious.

[@johnconrad5487]

not pwm

[@mysock351C]

@@johnconrad5487 There's almost certainly going to be some form of current regulation for the laser diode in the control module that drives the headlight. Being a diode in nature you can't just stuff it across the battery and expect it to work. PWM with some form of current sensing in the module that runs it is the most obvious way. In that case some basic suppression at the load will help keep noise down from parasitics. This is unless you have some direct knowledge to the contrary, which would have been helpful to state at the outset so we know what you are referring to. 😉

[@mysock351C]

@@johnconrad5487 Have a look at 12:00. We can immediately see its not 12V but something closer to 4.5V, indicating there has to be some form of a diode driver on the other end.

[@LimbaZero]

I think some of these 3 pin laser diodes had another photo diode for sensing beam strength. I think case is common for both diodes.

[@DiodeGoneWild]

Yes, this is common in laser diodes, but this one seems to be the other type - no photo diode and an isolated laser die. This allows laser diodes to be connected in series, it's common for example in laser projectors. Maybe the two ones in this headlight were actually in series.

[@fouzaialaa7962]

i know you love dodgy things and i think you found the perfect laser module for you next laser cnc etcher project !!! can you tell us what car this came from ? i live next to a salvage yard and i may find this part near me !!! i have a cnc but i dont have a laser for it becoz its too expensive on aliexpress this would make a good substitute until i find money to buy a good laser

[@johncoops6897]

Apparently it's from 2018 Range Rover. The headlights are approximately $3000 each (per side) brand new, so you may be lucky to pick up a used one for under $1000.

[@Zenodilodon]

There are now these nuts single package devices with phosphor that has 2 lasers shooting at it from the sides at angles. We got a sample of one from LDI but haven't powered it up yet. I heard it has incredible output, maybe 10w in a 2x2 phosphor. 2:45 ~ PTSD kicks in ~

[@ClintCompton1]

This guy's accent is reminiscent of Nandor the Relentless. Nice video

[@bronzalba1159]

Suitable for making mini cnc engraving

[@prt1527]

4 controller chips 2 laser diodes, tens of LEDs plus some discrete semiconductors for a single headlight, if you wonder why there is a global shortage this is part of the answer.

[@kemi242]

I was missing the bottle of beer next to some real fire hazard.

[@celsoneves2368]

Good!.

[@comshin]

Dangerrrooos!

[@garretthaynes8814]

That 0.0 ohm is a ferrite bead to impedance match. It’s such a small amount of impedance, it reads short.

[@lmwlmw4468]

Very dodgy......but it works...!!! Still I don't see the service fire extinguisher.......Great video.

[@rosco4659]

If you need drill diameters' between millimeter sizes i recommend getting an imperial set of drills.

[@1marcelfilms]

I wish there was laser lamp that could light up an entire room with the weird noise speckle effect of lasers. it would be so freaky

[@thatgeezeruk]

Super interesting, but if I have ever seen an over engineered product in all my life this is it. Being back incandescent or just stick with led 🤯

[@mamidinaresh4053]

Good

[@foolishfish7575]

is there an english version of this?

[@LutzSchafer]

The oblong shape of the beam comes from the rectangular aperture of the emitting surface.

[@jakub3851]

Please make some high voltage build videos

[@chanheosican6636]

7W yikes. Good tear down. 3D cutting possibility?

[@ivanoteroyt]

Hello from Chile. Please test an negative ion generator from cheap air purifier.

[@16BITMEME]

Amazing ❤️🦍

[@johnconrad5487]

you may have installed the lens incorrectly so you were getting that weird light output shape.

[@hamzamalik7305]

Found way to fire matches i gues have to install in kicthen.

[@johngarritzcx6733]

Laser DIODE gone WILD😊😀😂😂

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

it might have marked somewhere on the light unit.

[@adamkekow6558]

What are the adventages to use lasers in car headlight?

[@n.shiina8798]

more focused and longer throw beam. these lasers seems to be used as high beam assist

[@adamkekow6558]

@@n.shiina8798 thanks

[@cooliocrib4409]

Why you didn't try 1.5a then 2a till it blows? Where is the limit we need to know.. then we know the power of the headlight

[@TinLethax]

Wondered if these lasers are made by OSRAM or Nichia 🤔

[@Tierone1337]

Wow I love listening to your accent, where are you from?

[@Gooberslot]

If the beam isn't a spot then doesn't that mean that that tiny shield won't stop the beam if the phosphor fails?

[@DiodeGoneWild]

It's a tiny spot where the shield is, and it diverges from this point on.

[@GUCR44]

You can get the end result better if I angle the lens to correct the beam path

[@freeshooter3163]

PLTB450- 450nm blue laser diode, 1.2W optical power, 1.5 A current

[@Deadwindshadow]

Good way to kill camera pixels ;)

[@kacpreusz9911]

*even more current, even more salt*

[@zjoesmoe2670]

No wonder these lights are so expensive manufacturing that goes into him holyshit

[@szevlin]

even more current is the new even more salt 😁

[@dancoulson6579]

0:25 - Look at all that needless crap in a modern headlight. Maybe I'm stuck in my ways. But I much rather have the bog standard, boring halogen lamp that I can replace myself.

[@144GENERAL]

Styropyro : Uhh

[@nowheremanjk8624]

3 silniki krokowe, arduino i zrobisz maszyne do grawerowania, a nawet extremalnego tatuażu ;-}

[@hullinstruments]

can't imagine destroying such a precision and useful piece of photonics equipment. Like seriously... I'm a full time laser and photonics nerd... So I'm a bit partial.... But Jesus Christ dude 90 extra seconds and it would have been totally unnecessary just to f*** all that up

[@slimeedude]

wall piercing beam Blody hell , is this a hole?!

[@xerejuneseve6333]

With these you can do wery powerfull flashlight.

[@meherhjb7170]

even more current

[@MiamiMillionaire]

🔥👍

[@Delali]

total destructive tear down indeed....hahaha

[@zoltanfeher4099]

I wonder how the white light produced by the laser with the phosphor looks like.

[@fss1704]

Like any conventional white LED, they're just glorified blue light sources with phosphor.

[@rezatavan5048]

❤❤❤❤

[@MegaSunRise3]

Amazing badass video man. Btw, isn't saying laser radiation the same as lcd display? :)

[@vaclavtrpisovsky]

I never heard that saying... Is this some hilarious myth?

[@virtualtools_3021]

@@vaclavtrpisovsky ATM machine ram memory hdd disk

[@johncoops6897]

"isn't saying laser radiation the same as lcd display?" - what the hell is that supposed to mean?

[@Tekwyzard]

@@johncoops6897 LCD = Liquid crystal display, LCD display = Liquid crystal display display; you do the research for the LASER acronym, but you get a similar redundant word as suggested by the OP. One that really annoys me is PAT test, in my world PAT = Portable Appliance Test, PAT Test = Portable Appliance Test Test, Grrrrr!!!

[@johncoops6897]

@@Tekwyzard - Oh FFS. That is just as idiotic as me saying that you have a redundant L in your surname! Perhaps you both should _"do the research "_ and find something constructive and useful that you could do with your lives.