Playstation 3 Laser Testing Guide (KES 400A)

I have found little or sketchy information about how we can test and repair a faulty laser, so I have decided to write a small blog which should be easy pretty straight forward for even the beginners, some of you may already know this information, some wont, this is for those that don't. Please be cautious and only try this if you are confident about performing such a task, read on and learn How to fix a Playstation3 laser.

Has your Playstation 3 stopped reading discs or freezing during game play? You may actually be able to revive your harware without the need to keep continously purchasing PS3 related hardware over and over again due to the high failure rate nowadays (not as bad as the xbox i might add), all this can be done with basic tools commonly found within your electrical tool box. Check out my guides which may resurrect that laser and enable you to get considerably more life out of what seems dead technology.

I have 2-3 years experience of fixing faulty lasers (presumed dead), please read on and find out how to repair your playstation laser.

What you will need:

• 9V battery (the cheapest ones are the best, I recommend the Panasonic pictured on the right)

• 9V battery adapter as pictured below OR two small individual wires (Standard grade speaker wire will do)

• Your PS3 Laser :) 

How you find out its really faulty:

I have found from experience, about 4 in 10 lasers can actually be repaired.

Step 1. Strip back your wires about 2-3cm on one side, and about 1/2 a cm on the other ends. or alternatively a better option is to get yourself a 9V battery adapter pictured below.

Step 2.

Connect the 9V battery adapter to the battery ;) 

If you haven't got a 9v battery adapter then connect your wires to the (+) and (-) terminals on the battery to achieve the same result.  Maybe hold them there with a little electrical insulation tape.

Step 3. 

  Now the battery is setup, get hold of your laser and find the diode.  See image below for an illustration of the location and the pinouts reference for the KES 400A laser only..

  

 

Pinout: 

VLD: Violet (405 nm) laser diode anode (+ve).
RLD: Red (660 nm) laser diode anode (+ve).
IRLD: Infra-red (780 nm) laser diode anode (+ve).
PD: Monitor Photodiode anode

Step 4. 

Take care at this point, if you are using a battery that is too powerful you could cause permanent damage to your unit.  Connect the battery negative wire to the GND pin, either by soldering or you can hold it in place if you have steady hands and your laser on a flat surface..

Step 5.  

You are about to create the current that will send power to the laser, if successful you should see a bright blue light shine from the eye (lens), if its a feint blue light or no light then unfortunately your laser is dead and only a new diode will repair it, good luck finding a supplier nowadays (if anyone has diodes then I have about 70 dead lasers sat here so contact me, iim open for a trade :)

Take care connecting the next wire, protect your eyes and don't look at the beam for prolonged periods..

OK then here we go, you need to touch the positive (+) battery wire to the VLD anode, this will hopeflly give us a bright blue/violet glow.

Illustration of battery and diode terminal link.

Black or ( - )Negative to Ground 

Red or ( + )Positive to VLD anode

You should now personally be capable of testing your laser, if you need to test the other beams like Red or infra-red then connect the positive feed from the battery to the respected pin out terminals stated above.  If you require any help then  contact me and ill see what I can do.

I surely hope you enjoyed reading this post which is a straight forward guide for testing your unit with household items and little expense.  If you would like to ask any questions then feel free to contact me either in the comments section or via email.  If anyone would like to add more content or simply has any reasonable advice then feel free to do so.

I will soon add Yellow light of death fixes, although there are thousands out there, none of them last longer enough to write home about, unless you can find someone technical enough to re-ball the RSX chip.

DISCLAIMER 

Try this at your own risk, I do not endorse or recommend that everyone tries this, unless you are capable of keeping yourself safe while practicing with light technologies.  I will not be held responsible for anyone who tries this and causes injury or accident by neglect and mis-use.

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