Infrared IR Laser Illuminator Circuit Build Instructions Schematic http://www.stevesafarik.

net/illuminator/

Instructions for Building an Infrared Laser

Illuminator
This document explains how to use the laser diode shown below to build an effective infrared illuminator,
used for night photography with an infrared-sensitive camera such as the Sony HI-8, night scope, or many
b&w webcams. I still have some of these laser diodes for sale, or you can occasionally find them on eBay
(search for "infrared laser diode illuminator"). I've done my best to give accurate information here, but I don't
guarantee the results you may obtain. A number of comparable professionally built versions can be seen on
pages 164-167 of this catalog (7meg .pdf).

Telephoto Night Shot.

Laser Diode.

Contents of This Document:

Safety
Electrical Details
Choosing the Resistors
Parts List
Construction
Heat
Battery Life
Laser Diode Specs
Optics
Performance with Cameras

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Performance Relative to Other Illuminators

Photos of Results
Photos of the Prototype

Overview

You just need to add a lens, power resistors, batteries, switch, wiring, and appropriate mounting hardware
such as a box or an old flashlite. Most of this can be obtained from Radio Shack.

Results can be seen in the photos below, and are video stills from a Sony HI-8 video camera with an IR
setting. Without the Illuminator, even with the camera’s IR mode turned on, you can barely see anything at
night. When the Illuminator is turned on, the video image lights up brightly, and details can be seen nearly
clear as day.

The combination of this illuminator with the laser module in it and a cheap Sony black & white video camera
(many are sensitive to IR) is a powerful night vision device with considerable range. It can make what
appears to be total darkness to the unaided eye into a well lit scene. Similar equipment can be very expensive
The surveillance, security, nature and hobby applications are nearly unlimited.

Safety
Caution:
Note that you accept full responsibility for building and operating this device. It emits coherent infrared light,
and can cause eye damage if not used safely. In addition, the diode can be burned-out easily if not operated
within specs for even an instant. A quick current spike as short as several milliseconds can kill the diode, so
you should be knowledgeable about what you are doing before attempting it.

Eye safety:
Infrared energy can rapidly damage your eye. To increase the safety, the energy delivered to the eye needs to
be reduced. This can be done by either making the infrared less bright, or reducing the duration of time it
shines into the eye. We will assume for argument's sake that someone might look at the output for an
extended period of time. That means we need to reduce the energy density, and this can be done either by
wearing protective goggles, or by spreading the infrared light out over a wider area so that only a portion of
it could go in your eye. We'll assume that no one will be wearing goggles, and certainly none of the bunnies
or chipmunks you're filming will be, so the only thing left is to spread out the beam.

An Example:
Let's assume we have a laser diode optical output of 1.0 watt, and a pupil size of 1/4" in your eye (dilated at
night). If we shine that 1w directly into your eye, you'll be blind instantly. But if we put the 1w through a
lens, and spread it out into a circular area, we should just need to have a large enough circle so that the
fraction that would go into your eye is a safe amount. Since the area of a circle is π * r^2, we can just figure
the fraction of the pupil's area to the larger circle's area. We just need to set an eye-safe level, which I'll call
1mW. So we have (laser power) * (π * (1/4")^2) / (π * r^2) = 1mW, hence 1000 * (1/16) / (r^2) = 1, and r
equals roughly 8 inches, or a circle of 16 inches diameter. This means that if you have 1 watt of light, going
through a lens, and spreading out into a 16 inch circle of light, and that shines directly into your eye, your
eye will see 1 milliwatt of the energy.

Note that I don't claim that this is a safe level, although I believe it is. You need to do your own research on
the subject. In addition, the illuminator talked about in this article would most likely be producing a wider
beam, perhaps tens of feet, making the energy density that much lower than in the example above.

Electrical Details

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My experimental setup used 1.0 Ω precision power resistors, and a stable bench power supply set to 3.00v.
Two D-cell batteries in series will not give you a solid 3 volts, but closer to 2.4v under load (see the section
below on Battery Life), and consequently, the amperage and optical power will both be reduced from the
values shown in the examples.

Caution: Due to the laser diode being particularly sensitive to transient current spikes, you should only
operate this from batteries. Do not use a plug-in ac adapter, or other power source. Note also that you cannot
use Ohm's law to calculate the resistor to use. Diode's are not linear devices, whereas Ohm's law is a linear
law. You can use either of the schematics below. Which one you choose depends on which resistors you
have.

Schematic #1

Schematic #2

The switch determines high or low power output, with the center position being off.

Note that examples 1-3, below, assume a steady 3.00 volt power supply. If you are using D-cell
batteries, see the table following the examples for resistor values to use, and optical output to expect.

Example 1 (medium power mode):

Suppose we want to run at 3.00 volts with a current of 1.00 amp, to give us a medium power output.

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According to ohms law we’d have 3.00v = (1.00A) * (3Ω), and so we need 3.0Ωs total, including whatever
resistance the diode is. The diode's resistance varies with the amount of current flowing through it, and it
turns out that a 1.0Ω resistor gives the 1.1A seen in experiment. This can be either a 1.0Ω resistor, or two
0.47Ω resistors in series.

In this medium-power mode, the voltage across the resistor measures 1.2v. This means the resistor is
dissipating 1.2v * 1.1A = 1.3 watts. Use at least the next higher rated resistor, which would be 2w, or even
better, 5w.

Example 2 (high power mode):

Suppose we want to run at 3.00 volts with 2 amps for maximum power. A 0.5Ω resistor (or two 1.0Ω
resistors in parallel) results in a measured current of 2.0 amps.

In high-power mode, the voltage across the resistor measures 1.0v, giving the resistor dissipation of 1.0v *
2.0A = 2 watts. You’ll need a resistor capable of dissipating at least 2 watts total, or if using two parallel
resistors, 1 watt each. This is an absolute minimum, and is pushing the rating limits, so it’s best to play it safe
and use a higher rating, perhaps double. Meaning either a single 5w resistor, or two 2w resistors.

Note that this high power mode is at the max power output for the diode, and you will see a shorter diode
life, shorter battery life, and the resistors will get hotter than with the lower power modes. It's preferable to
operate at lower power if you can.

Example 3 (low power mode):

If we want a low-power mode at 3.00 volts, and 0.5 amps, we can use a resistance of 2.0Ω. The total resistor
power dissipation is 0.8 watts, and you could use two 1.0Ω, 1 watt, resistors in series.

Choosing the Resistors

Use the tables below to see how many amps you need, and the corresponding resistors to use in the circuits
above. Use these tables rather than trying to calculate via Ohm's law, since diodes are not linear devices.

TABLE 1 -- Current vs Resistance using Various Power Supplies (values from experiment)
Optical Resist. w/ 3.00v Bench Resist. w/ 2 Resist. w/ 3 Power
Amperage
Output Supply D-cells D-cells Dissipation
0.54 amps 0.20w 2.0Ω 0.8w
1.00 amps 0.56w 1.0Ω 1.1w
2.00 amps 1.18w 0.5Ω 2.0w
0.48 amps 0.17w 2.00Ω 0.5w
0.70 amps 0.33w 1.00Ω 0.5w
0.92 amps 0.50w 0.50Ω 0.5w
1.12 amps 0.64w 0.25Ω 0.3w
0.52 amps 0.19w 4.00Ω 1.1w
0.64 amps 0.28w 3.00Ω 1.2w
0.81 amps 0.40w 2.00Ω 1.3w
0.95 amps 0.51w 1.50Ω 1.4w
1.10 amps 0.63w 1.00Ω 1.3w
1.40 amps 0.85w 0.50Ω 1.1w
1.70 amps 1.02w 0.25Ω 0.8w
1.50 amps 0.91w

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TABLE 2 -- Resistor Specs using Two D-cell Batteries

High / Low Optical High / Low Resistance Parallel Resistors Series Resistors
0.33w / 0.17w 1.00Ω / 2.00Ω Two 2.00Ω, 2w Two 1.0Ω, 1w
0.50w / 0.33w 0.50Ω / 1.00Ω Two 1.00Ω, 2w Two 0.50Ω, 1w
0.64w / 0.50w 0.25Ω / 0.50Ω Two 0.50Ω, 2w Two 0.25Ω, 1w

TABLE 3 -- Resistor Specs using Three D-cell Batteries

High / Low Optical High / Low Resistance Parallel Resistors Series Resistors
0.40w / 0.19w 2.00Ω / 4.00Ω Two 4.0Ω, 2w Two 2.0Ω, 2w
0.51w / 0.28w 1.50Ω / 3.00Ω Two 3.0Ω, 2w Two 1.5Ω, 2w
0.63w / 0.40w 1.00Ω / 2.00Ω Two 2.0Ω, 2w Two 1.0Ω, 2w
0.74w / 0.51w 0.75Ω / 1.50Ω Two 1.5Ω, 2w Two 0.75Ω, 2w
0.85w / 0.63w 0.50Ω / 1.00Ω Two 1.0Ω, 2w Two 0.5Ω, 2w
1.02w / 0.85w 0.25Ω / 0.50Ω Two 0.5Ω, 2w Two 0.25Ω, 2w

Use the least optical power you can get by with to still have a visible scene. You’ll extend both the battery’s
life and the diode's life, plus you'll waste less energy as heat. The above measurements were made using new
batteries, and you should expect the power output to go down as the batteries go down (obviously).

To determine which resistors to use, decide first if you will be using two or three D-cell batteries, and which
output level you want (higher = brighter but shorter battery life). Then look at the matching line of the
appropriate table. For example, if using three D-cells and moderate power, you would look at table 3. The
line for 0.63w/0.40w says you can use either two 2.0Ω, 2w, resistors, or two 1.0Ω, 2w, resistors depending
on if you use the parallel or series circuit. It doesn't really matter which -- it just depends on which resistors
you can find.

Note: You can substitute resistor values with others that are close. For instance, you can use a 0.47Ω or
0.51Ω resistor instead of a 0.50Ω resistor. You can also substitute higher power resistors (main drawback
being that they're larger). Use a power resistor that is rated at approximately double the number of watts that
it will actually be dissipating.

Parts List
•1.2 watt infrared laser diode with fiber pigtail and collimating lens.
•Two power resistors from either table 2 or table 3.
•DPDT switch with a center off position (RadioShack #275-664).
•Two or three D-cell batteries, and Battery Holders (RadioShack #270-386). Do not use an AC adapter --
voltage irregularities can burn out the diode in milliseconds!
•Surplus 50mm (more or less) camera lens.
•Case, box, PVC pipe, old flashlight, etc, depending on your mechanical skills.
•Wire, glue, and soldering tools.

Construction
Electrical
You have a number of choices depending on which resistors you can find, how bright of a light you want,

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and how long you want your batteries to last. Radio Shack sells 1.0Ω, 10 watt, power resistors (RadioShack
#271-131), and 0.47Ω, 5 watt, power resistors (RadioShack #271-130). Either of these will work, and you
can use the 0.47Ω where the tables call for a 0.5Ω.

Mechanical
You need to find some sort of box, or PVC pipe, or perhaps an old flashlight, that can hold the resistors,
batteries, laser diode, switch, and lens.

You will want to experiment with how to fit the lens. The photos below show a 50mm camera lens, and the
theoretically optimal arrangement would be to place the focal point of the laser diode’s collimating lens
(which is about ¼” from the lens) at the focal point of the 50mm lens (which will vary, but is probably an
inch or two behind the lens).

In practice however, you may want a different size of spot illumination. Experimentation with the example
below showed it working better when the collimating lens was removed, and the fiber end was shown
directly into the 50mm lens.

The laser WILL damage the rear metal parts of the lens if you aren't looking at what you are doing. The focal
point of the laser output is concentrated infrared energy (i.e. "heat"), and may burn things such as paper or
plastic.

The photos below show it built into an old video camera box, with the batteries external. It's not the best
setup (though it works OK). It should be possible to mount it all into a 3 D-cell flashlight, using 2 D-cells
with the extra space for the diode and related circuitry. That way the batteries and everything will be in a
much handier and more useful container.

The flashlight style setup may be better, and it should be straightforward to assemble the whole package.
Modify an existing flashlight, or build something new from PVC pipe. Replace the reflector with a lens, use
the old bulb holder to position the fiber optic end from the module. Behind the lens there should be room for
the two D-cells and the diode and resistors also.

Naturally, as with any installation using this laser, there are serious safety and usage precautions to keep the
laser beam from hitting someone in the face. Eye damage is a real possibility, and depends on how focused
the beam is, the power of the beam, and how long it shines in the eye. Use common sense, and play it safe.
You take full responsibility for building and operating this.

Resistor Heat
The power resistors can get quite hot if you run this from a 12v supply, since you’d be dropping approx 9v
across the resistors, and at 2A that’s 18 watts! When only 3 volts is used however, you’re only dropping a
small voltage, with a similarly small power dissipation.

Regardless of how you operate it, when you first turn it on, monitor the temperature of the various
components with your finger. If the resistors or laser diode body get much more than warm, then you'll need
to do something about it: either lower the power, or add a heatsink, or use higher rated resistors.

Battery Life
I set up a test using two new alkaline D-cell batteries through a 1Ω resistor and the laser diode. This test
setup was controlled by a relay on a 50% duty cycle, with 1 minute on, and 1 minute off. I measured the
battery voltage and current at regular intervals. The use of two D-cells through 1Ω gives us a medium-low
power output, with a current of roughly 0.6 amps. Note that battery life will be substantially reduced if
constantly on, rather than at 50% duty cycle.

One thing to monitor is the open-circuit battery voltage. New batteries measured 3.23v across the pair.
During the testing, I measured this at the end of the 1 minute OFF period, giving the batteries a chance to

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recover slightly. After 60 minutes of cycling, and 1 minute of recovery, the batteries read 3.00 volts. After
2.5 hours, and one minute of recovery, the batteries measured 2.83v. After being disconnected, and
recovering overnight, the batteries read 2.95v the next day.

Another thing to look at is the battery voltage under load at the beginning and end of the 1 minute ON
period. Immediately after the laser was turned on, the voltage read 2.48v. At the end of the first minute we
get 2.45v. So 2.48v & 2.45v are our initial baseline load voltages. After 60 minutes of cycling, the respective
voltages are 2.44v & 2.40v. After 2.5 hours, these load voltages were 2.36v & 2.33v. I would tend to guess
this would give a battery life under these conditions of perhaps 8 hours. Your mileage may vary.

The last thing to care about is the current delivered since that's what really matters in this whole thing.
Throughout the first minute of testing, I measured 0.66 amps. After 60 minutes of cycling, I still measure
0.65 amps. After 2.5 hours the current was down to 0.57 amps.

I measured at more time points than I'm listing here, but the bottom line appears to be that battery life is
nothing to worry too much about (at least at this moderate current draw). After 2.5 hours, the current was at
86% of the initial value, which doesn't seem too bad.

Laser Diode Specs

These specs are for the laser diode shown in the photo. The label says "PRESSTEK, INC.", but the actual
manufacturer is unknown.

• Has a short multimode fiber optic cable with an SMA connector that attaches to a simple collimating lens.
• Fiber core diameter is 100um.
• Center wavelength: 870 nm
• Spectral width: 5-6 nm at 0.5 W output
• Spectral shape: Highly multimode with a half dozen peaks between 865-871 nm

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Lasing threshold: 236 mA

• Optical Power out at 0.54 A: 0.2 W
• Optical Power out at 1.0 A: 0.56 W
• Optical Power out at 1.5 A: 0.91 W
• Optical Power out at 2.0 A: 1.18 W

Slope efficiency between threshold and 1.5 A: about 0.7 W/A, drops off above that. However, I'm not
actively cooling so could be a thermal effect. No damage detected in going back down to lower currents.

Tests done with ILX3900 laser diode driver, Ando optical spectrum analyzer, and Newport power meter.

Here are some photos...

Inside the laser diode. You can see the fiber held in place by a drop of epoxy, then with a blob of solder, and
it ends at the little dark square just right of the solder.

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Another photo.

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The electrical leads go to a protection diode (in case of reverse polarity), a small capacitor ("102"), and
through some bonding wires to a couple of metal plates (where you see the allen bolt). At the edge of the
plates is a small dark square which is the actual diode with bonding wires attached.

Optics
The beam out of the collimating lens diverges at roughly a 35-degree angle. To get a more narrow beam,
you'll need to add an additional lens, and otherwise know what you're doing.

The light output is high, but it's oddly mottled, probably because it is coherent laser light. It improves
markedly (gets much brighter, more concentrated and has LOTS more range) with an external lens. The
Escher laser transmitter lens worked best of three different lenses tried. All three were the front lens off
either video cameras or the Escher laser transmitter. Another of the lenses seemed to work pretty well, but I
would have to move the fiber back and fourth to focus the lens at different distances ... the 50 mm Nikon
camera lens (a specially modified Escher transmitter lens) has a built in focus and makes it the better of the 3
lenses for that reason. Maybe any 50 mm (or 75 or 125 mm) camera lens would work. Guess the laser power
thing might come into play on those. (The lens that also worked had a few elements removed from the back
end of the lens.)

In other words, the laser works best for an illuminator with the collimator lens removed and the fiber shot
directly into a 50 mm camera lens. If the distance between the 50mm lens and the fiber is correctly adjusted,
the focusing on the camera lens will project the laser beam at different distances to narrow or broad lighting
spots.

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Performance with Various Infrared Cameras

When running an experimental setup of 470 ma current, an immense light output resulted with both the video
camera and the el cheapo night scope. With an 870 ma current, the result was a HUGE light output. Note that
the results you obtain will depend on the wavelength your camera or nightscope is sensitive to. A camera
with peak response at the diode's peak output wavelength (870 nm) will give the best results.

The laser performance (as an illuminator) varies widely with different devices. Tried were both a Sony hi-8
(with the IR switch selection) and one of those common Russian el cheapo 1st gen night scopes. In the Sony
(in IR mode) the laser is immensely bright and nearly overloads the camera optical circuit at 40 feet
bouncing off the leaves of a grape vineyard. Booming bright with the 50 mm lens; sort of bright and widely
diffuse spots with just the bare fiber. In the Russian scope the laser is barely visible. Clearly the Russian
scope does not favor the wavelength of the laser module very much. Its low power built-in IR diode
illuminator is a close competitor for the laser module performance. The illuminator built into the Russian
scope does not show in the Sony either. A large glass IR lens filter (5" diameter) was put on the front of a 3
D-cell maglight and tried with the Sony and the Russian scope to contrast against the laser. The laser beat
that setup to death with neither scope seeing that filter / maglight very well in comparison to the laser
module. The laser module with the 50mm Escher / Nikon lens combo, along with the Sony Handycam in IR
mode, could clearly see into a front room window of a darkened house a block and a half away, bright as day
(the camera set to 12 X optical zoom). You get the feeling that with a little more tweaking of the lens setups,
one could see a LOT further with the help of that laser module. Seems to have lots more performance left to
exploit, in it. Without the laser module the Sony is nearly blind and couldn't see a hand waving in front of it
(hardly, but it does have it's own built in IR illuminator that has some VERY short range abilities but also
very poor ones).

I think you'll like the pictures of the laser in operation. This video camera is nearly blind at night, even with
the IR selection for the camera operation. The laser makes everything like daylight and at the distances it
works also. Definitely a "cheap and easy" see-in-the-dark system that records too. Add in analog and digital
zoom and you have a dynamite package. Much better and far less expensive than those new "see in the dark"
video scanners on eBay.

Some notes about the construction seen in the photos:

•Heat conductive white silicone glue to hold things in place
•Thick styrofoam to hold the fiber optic end in place behind the lens
•50mm Nikon lens from an Escher laser communicator. Probably any 50 mm camera lens would do.

Performance Relative to Other IR LED Illuminators

Here we compare this project with several other infrared illuminator systems.
•The IR illuminator built into a Sony HI-8 camcorder,
•A 72 LED IR illuminator,
•An incandescent spotlight w/ IR filter,
•A shoe-box-sized professional night CCD camera.

The first three listed above are all basically in the same category. However, the spotlight throws the brightest
view at a distance of the yard, the 72 LED throwing a weaker but wider light over everything, and the
built-in illuminator, in the HI-8 camera, barely shows anything at all more than a couple feet away. The laser
is gazillions of times brighter than all of them added together, though it might be that the laser and the HI-8
are merely more compatible regarding the wavelength of the light. Maybe the 72 LEDs would work pretty
well with some types of ultra low lumen b&w CCD cameras that I have not tried.

The shoe box sized professional night CCD (cost $2200 new) worked just like you would imagine that all the
basic 3 (the spot light, the 72 LEDs, and the built-in illuminator) would work if you dreamed in your mind
how they should work. It has about 100 IR leds inside the front cover. This CCD camera will illuminate the
whole yard, broadly, for about 70 feet and does a wonderful job of it. When mounted in a corner of a house,

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under the overhang of the roof, the shoe box illuminated an approx 40' by 70' area and looked like broad
daylight. You could come inside the house and look at the 14" monitor and swear it was daylight outside,
then you'd go out there and couldn't see anything. Pitch black. Truly impressive. I got similar results with a
box (an 8" tall X 18" deep X 15" wide box with a 45 degree bevel on the front with a black looking plastic IR
filter covering the whole front of the box) using two 75 watt flood lamps inside the box with a muffin fan to
cool them. I used a common .01 lux, b&w, board CCD camera with that illuminator. It was also impressive,
but the shoe box camera worked slightly better.

Both of these systems had a limited over-all brightness (if something was hidden down behind something it
might be kinda hard to make out in an IR shadow), and only went so far then stuff went black rather quickly
out of range of the illuminator. The laser, on the other hand won't cover a wide area very well, but it is
intense at what it does illuminate. Properly focused, I'd say it would easily make the HI-8 work over 100's of
yards (not just 40 - 70 feet like the other two), and a 2nd gen starlight scope maybe 1/4 to 1/2 half mile or
more. Of course, to see anything the scope would have to have an 8X to 12X, or more, lens on it.

When using the HI-8 or a 12X starlight scope, the laser is hands down the winner and then some. But if you
want large, wide area coverage for a CCD security system, then the shoe box beats everything else a bunch.
Kind of apples and oranges, though.

Comparing this with one of those 72 IR LED illuminators gave the following info. Once again, like with the
Russian night scope, 2nd generation quality American night scope, CCD board cameras, and HI-8 cameras,
there seem to be large differences in the sensitive wavelengths, and consequently widely varying results. I
hoped the 72 led board would give me some similar results as the shoebox camera.

The experience was that the 72 led board was surprisingly poor at what it was supposed to be doing. It had
rather poor long range performance and just barely lit-up the far side of the back yard where the solar lantern
is hanging, doing noticeably better than the built-in camcorder illuminator, but FAR worse than the laser.
The laser was better by a factor of 10,000 with the HI-8 camera. I will say that a 4X wider area was
illuminated by the board, but it was on the dim side, and rather disappointing after using the laser in the same
place. There is absolutely no comparison between them for brightness and distance. The laser is excellent,
and the 72 IR board is just so-so. Also, the 72 led board gets very hot, and to use one for any extended period
of time, I'd say a person would have to make liberal use of some kind of silicone heat compound to a metal
fin set or container housing. They draw more current than the laser (nearly an amp) and you seem to get less
for it. I'd say that the 5" military automotive spotlight IR filter grafted to a Pep Boys standard 12 vdc spot
light outperformed the 72 led board at any distance too.

Probably some different CCD cameras would perform better than others, but using the HI-8 camcorder
(which zooms, records etc), the laser easily wins in a head to head shoot out. Naturally, the 72 IR LED board
is safer than a laser.

Photos of Results
Here are still video shots of the laser illuminator in action.

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Daylight view across the back yard, with grapevines near fence, behind those a wooden fence, then a tree,
then behind that a washed out view of a neighbor's house, the roof line barely visible (note the banana tree
leaves in the right foreground).

Daylight view zooming in. Notice the garden lantern hanging above the grape vines, middle of the tree
behind the fence (you'll see this for reference in the later pictures).

Night view through the video camera, with the "IR" feature activated -- basically a black picture with almost
no detail. You can just barely make out a ghostly looking banana tree leaf on the right and it is only about 5
feet from the camera.

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Same setup, but with the illuminator turned on. Video camera at widest angle of view, laser lighting across
the top of the fence to the back of the neighbor's house, about 100 feet. You can already see some detail
inside their darkened living room.

Same basic setup, but with the video camera zoomed in somewhat. You can see the mottled look of the laser
beam, but still a pretty good night view. Remember that NO visible light is to be seen by the naked eye at
this time, this view is totally dark to the casual viewer.

More zoom.

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And more zoom.

Max zoom. Notice the lantern from the second photo.

Note: The camera needs a fairly bright scene to focus properly and thats why some of the pics are a bit fuzzy.
You can see that the max zoom is the clearest and best looking pic (exactly how you would want it, anyway).
In all of the pictures that were obviously taken in the night, absolutely NOTHING could be seen with the
naked eye. No one that was looking at any of these scenes could see anything but black.

Photos of Prototype

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Infrared IR Laser Illuminator Circuit Build Instructions Schematic http://www.stevesafarik.net/illuminator/

Side view.

Another side view.

Front view.

Back view.

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Infrared IR Laser Illuminator Circuit Build Instructions Schematic http://www.stevesafarik.net/illuminator/

The insides, showing some of the wiring and layout.

Cheesy mounting of the fiber optic output in some styrofoam.

Front view showing the exposed fiber end.

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Infrared IR Laser Illuminator Circuit Build Instructions Schematic http://www.stevesafarik.net/illuminator/

The switch.

50mm lens.

That's pretty much it. I'm leaving it to your own ingenuity to figure out the mechanical details and how you
want to mount the lens and all that. I hope I've given you enough detail to get you well on your way. Good
luck.

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