Adjusting power supply for max power?
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Adjusting power supply for max power?
Hello Forum,
I recently upgraded my Chinese blue/white "50 watt" machine with the following 2 products from Lightobject:
https://www.lightobject.com/Laser-Power ... wer-Supply
and
https://www.lightobject.com/Laser-Tubes ... er-Tube-1M
I have added an ammeter to my system and adjusted max power to 16mah within the controller (Ruida 6442?).
I am currently using Lightburn software and also sent max power of 45%, which is 16mah, to the controller. The problem is that 45% is more of a choke on the laser, if I set my cut at 45% in my designs it's 16mah, if I set at 80, 90, 100% it's still 16mah. I'd like to be able to set say 50% and get 8mah. So I was wondering if there's some manual way (like a potentiometer on the power supply) to actually turn down the max power so I have more fine control? I don't really see anything in the manual on here specific to this power supply. Or if maybe someone runs a similar setup, is there some way in the software that I'm missing?
FWIW, the new tube and power supply work fantastic, I've been cutting a ton of 1/16"-1/4" ply and hardwood as well as 1/8" and 1/4" acrylic with nice clean cuts. I've also upgraded the mirrors and lens to the Lightobject brand just prior to tube/PS install, and even with my original tube I saw a good increase in cut speed. Thanks!
Dan
I recently upgraded my Chinese blue/white "50 watt" machine with the following 2 products from Lightobject:
https://www.lightobject.com/Laser-Power ... wer-Supply
and
https://www.lightobject.com/Laser-Tubes ... er-Tube-1M
I have added an ammeter to my system and adjusted max power to 16mah within the controller (Ruida 6442?).
I am currently using Lightburn software and also sent max power of 45%, which is 16mah, to the controller. The problem is that 45% is more of a choke on the laser, if I set my cut at 45% in my designs it's 16mah, if I set at 80, 90, 100% it's still 16mah. I'd like to be able to set say 50% and get 8mah. So I was wondering if there's some manual way (like a potentiometer on the power supply) to actually turn down the max power so I have more fine control? I don't really see anything in the manual on here specific to this power supply. Or if maybe someone runs a similar setup, is there some way in the software that I'm missing?
FWIW, the new tube and power supply work fantastic, I've been cutting a ton of 1/16"-1/4" ply and hardwood as well as 1/8" and 1/4" acrylic with nice clean cuts. I've also upgraded the mirrors and lens to the Lightobject brand just prior to tube/PS install, and even with my original tube I saw a good increase in cut speed. Thanks!
Dan
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Re: Adjusting power supply for max power?
What you need to do is to add a three prongs potentiometer to the input of your laser power supply and you may able to do 100% at 16mA and 50% at 8mA (roughly)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potentiometer
Marco
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potentiometer
Marco
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Re: Adjusting power supply for max power?
So could I set it up like as described in this article?
https://k40laser.se/diy-how-to/upgrade- ... ower-knob/
I realize I don’t have a K40, but would the setup be the same even though I use a Ruida controller?
Thanks,
Dan
https://k40laser.se/diy-how-to/upgrade- ... ower-knob/
I realize I don’t have a K40, but would the setup be the same even though I use a Ruida controller?
Thanks,
Dan
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Re: Adjusting power supply for max power?
Still trying to get my head around this. Doesn’t the power supply in take PWM from my Ruida controller? Will a simple pot wired in series be able to do what I’m asking? I’m handy, but not super electronical. It sounds simple enough, but I don’t want to fry anything while I’m testing this out.
Thanks,
Dan
Thanks,
Dan
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Re: Adjusting power supply for max power?
Let me draw you a simple diagram and will post it once done
Marco
Marco
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Re: Adjusting power supply for max power?
This is perfect Marco, pretty much how I pictured it except I didn’t have the 3rd leg to ground. I’ll give it a shot and report here if it works out.
Thanks again!
Dan
Thanks again!
Dan
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Re: Adjusting power supply for max power?
I finally got around to trying this, but it doesn't seem to work. I don't know that limiting voltage from a PWM output works this way, PWM is the width of 5v pulses, not the actual voltage, so I either get nothing or full power. Pretty sure I have it wired as per diagram above, but I think somewhere in there the PWM needs to be converted to voltage 0-5V from PWM (5 volts with variable width), with this I think I'm just limiting the height of the pulse. My background is not electronics, so I could be wrong here? Thank you.
Dan
Dan
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Re: Adjusting power supply for max power?
Found that my controller actually has an analog output as well as PWM. Some images of the Ruida RDC 6442G-B (EC) show a 24V in this location, while others show L-AN1 on the same spot on the controller (different pictures even in same manual, gotta love it). I also found I had a bad potentiometer which wasn't helping me figure this out. New pot, connected to L-AN1 and I'm in business!
Dan
Dan
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