Laser Power Supply over amperage problem

[johnsonj26]

I just installed a new 60w laser tube and I'm having a problem where firing the laser the mA guage always goes above 20mA. I am using a AWC-608B controller and it's PWM is set at 20000. Even at the lowest power setting that will fire the laser the mA guage goes above 20mA. I had the same issue with my previous laser tube as well. Do you think my power supply or my controller are going bad?

[Tech_Marco]

Nothing seems wrong to me. You haven't locked up the max current yet. Go to Option from the LaserCad and set the Max_power. In your case, I'll put down 65% as the max. Then, set Max power on the LCD to 99.9% and press "Laser" to check the current. If it is over 20mA, then you may want to reset the 65 to lower. If it is under 18mA, then you may want to tune up the Max_power a bit more


Marco

[johnsonj26]

I set the LaserCAD MAX_Power to 65 and saved to the controller. When I try to set the max power on the controller to 99.9, it reverts to 65. Also as an FYI, the mA meter will show has high as 70mA when firing.

[Tech_Marco]

Did you mean 7mA or 70mA.

Marco

[johnsonj26]

70mA

[Tech_Marco]

Impossible. Even a 150W LPSU can output 38mA only
Either your meter is defective or you used the meter in different location

Marco

[johnsonj26]

I placed a multimeter between the negative green wire and the laser tube itself. I will take a video of it later and you can verify my process. I hope I am doing it wrong.

[johnsonj26]

Ok, it sucks to admit this, but I was wrong. I bought a new multimeter and I'm showing 18mA at 70% power. So I think I'm good. Thanks all for your help.

[Tech_Marco]

Marco