CW5200 Cooler

[chippypah]

Hi All,
Does anyone no if you can wire the circulation pump on a CW5200 to run on it's own, reason being was thinking of putting a small heater in it to keep the temperature up when it is cold.
Cheers
Pete

[SWMS]

Hi, I don't think you can. This is why I went for an aquarium chiller. A Teco chiller with integrated heater and a 25 litre drum of water. Its combining the non chiller way of cooling with the Teco chiller, which in my opinion, if your laser lives in a place that can get cold is a much better option. If you add a pond heater you have to remember to switch it off before operation as the chiller and heater can be working against each other. I'd also buy a temperature probe off eBay to check the drum temperature. The aquarium chiller knows when the water is up to temperature and just stops heating it and switches to chill.

Whilst the proper laser chillers need much less water, the chillers are far more powerful to deal with the lack of water. I'd also pop in some food grade anti freeze and some algaecide if you go down the aquarium chiller route.

[laserdude]

De-ionized water exposed to atmospheric CO2 will have a pH of 5.6. This is the pH typically exhibited by rainwater. Rainwater will not eat through a plastic drum!

[SWMS]

Well that's good news! You gather little bits of info here and there on various forums and some of it is rubbish. There isn't one site with all the info and you have to try and piece together what you can. Thanks for correcting me on that. It's a relief!