Newer 60W power supply went "bang" - now what?
Posted: Mon Jan 30, 2017 5:18 pm
Hello,
I bought a 60W "Jupiter" branded power supply from LightObject 12/7 , and have since put perhaps 2-3 hours on it. Several nights ago I was running a job cutting 3mm acrylic @ 60% power. The supply made a loud "crack" sound and blew the mains fuse.
I had a spare (much smaller physically) supply from another vendor in the shop, also supposedly 60W, so this Saturday I replaced it. The machine is running fine now, although the new "spare" supply won't quite reach 22mA with the power set to 100%. (I normally don't run a 60W tube over 20mA, this was a test)
The reason I bring this up here instead of just contacting LightObject for warranty is because although the spare supply won't quite reach expected current, tests at different power levels show that the current tracks the power level much better than the Jupiter supply. For example, The spare supply runs 20mA @ 100% power, and 10mA @ 50% power. The Jupiter supply ran 22mA @ 100% power, roughly 15mA @ 50% power and roughly 10mA @ 25% power. The tube would also stop lasing below 15% power with the Jupiter supply, but I haven't tried that yet with the spare.
My question is: Is it normal for the Jupiter supply to be so non-linear in the output? It seems to be much better designed and built than the (cheap) spare supply I have installed now, but it did fail and the PWM duty cycle "power" vs output current is skewed toward the top.
Power supplies aren't cheap, but since I have to partially disassemble the laser to replace one I want the best quality supply I can get. I don't use the machine a lot, but I need it to be reliable. Any suggestions? I replaced the tube when I installed the Jupiter supply, so it only has 2-3 hours on it as well. (I bought the tube from a different vendor, LightObject was out of stock at the time and apparently still is)
Thanks,
--jim
I bought a 60W "Jupiter" branded power supply from LightObject 12/7 , and have since put perhaps 2-3 hours on it. Several nights ago I was running a job cutting 3mm acrylic @ 60% power. The supply made a loud "crack" sound and blew the mains fuse.
I had a spare (much smaller physically) supply from another vendor in the shop, also supposedly 60W, so this Saturday I replaced it. The machine is running fine now, although the new "spare" supply won't quite reach 22mA with the power set to 100%. (I normally don't run a 60W tube over 20mA, this was a test)
The reason I bring this up here instead of just contacting LightObject for warranty is because although the spare supply won't quite reach expected current, tests at different power levels show that the current tracks the power level much better than the Jupiter supply. For example, The spare supply runs 20mA @ 100% power, and 10mA @ 50% power. The Jupiter supply ran 22mA @ 100% power, roughly 15mA @ 50% power and roughly 10mA @ 25% power. The tube would also stop lasing below 15% power with the Jupiter supply, but I haven't tried that yet with the spare.
My question is: Is it normal for the Jupiter supply to be so non-linear in the output? It seems to be much better designed and built than the (cheap) spare supply I have installed now, but it did fail and the PWM duty cycle "power" vs output current is skewed toward the top.
Power supplies aren't cheap, but since I have to partially disassemble the laser to replace one I want the best quality supply I can get. I don't use the machine a lot, but I need it to be reliable. Any suggestions? I replaced the tube when I installed the Jupiter supply, so it only has 2-3 hours on it as well. (I bought the tube from a different vendor, LightObject was out of stock at the time and apparently still is)
Thanks,
--jim