Welcome to Laser Pointer Forums - discuss green laser pointers, blue laser pointers, and all types of lasers

LPF Donation via Stripe | LPF Donation - Other Methods

Links below open in new window

ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Green HeNe woes.

Trevor

0
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Messages
4,386
Points
113
Hmm, where to start. So, yesterday I got home from DC to find two packages waiting for me - one was optics from Surplus Shed and the other was a huge box containing a green HeNe + PSU and a 10mW Hughes HeNe head (by the way, any ideas for a power supply?).

I opened it eagerly and fire the green up. It lased happily. I plugged the red into the power supply to see if it would fire - it did, but the PSU made an unhappy buzzing (hence the PSU question) so I turned it off.

I then noticed that the front part of the housing on the green was slightly rotated, so I carefully rotated it so the label would line up correctly (and ostensibly the guts of the laser would line up too), and I heard a pop. My stomach did a flip.

I then slid the front of the housing off - it came off without any resistance. Inside I found a doughnut assembly (the beam exits through the hole) that contains the ballast resistors. Two ground wires lead to it, and a blue wire comes off of it (I could tell this one was attached to the head).

This confused me, because if I remember correctly, we quite often just wire ballast resistors in series with the head. These seem like they're wired strangely. On closer examination, I found where the two black wires (I'm assuming / hoping they're grounds) were attached, and I think I've figured out the original orientation.

My question is - if I reattach the ballast resistors with the positions of the black wires (ground?) reversed, will I kill the tube (or PSU)? The green HeNe head was built by Siemens.

-Trevor
 





LSRFAQ

0
Joined
May 8, 2009
Messages
1,155
Points
83
Siemans green heads use a weird resistor scheme. If you search the laser FAQ, you can find a diagram that you can use to reconstruct it.

Just email Sam G and he can send you a link.

Steve
 

LSRFAQ

0
Joined
May 8, 2009
Messages
1,155
Points
83
Siemens green heads use a weird resistor scheme. If you search the laser FAQ, you can find a diagram that you can use to reconstruct it.

Just email Sam G and he can send you a link.

Steve
 

Trevor

0
Joined
Jul 17, 2009
Messages
4,386
Points
113
Email sent, I never could find the schematic.

Depending on his response I may end up writing it off as a total loss at this point.

-Trevor
 




Top