Sci Fi Lasers 7 Watt 445nm Arcane 2.0

Aardvark777 said:

I've been told 2 minutes on and a minute off will be sufficient, though I've been running a duty cycle of 30s on and 45s to a minute off to be safe. Some heat builds after a minute of being on, nothing abnormal, but I like to play it safe.

Click to expand...

TaterMay said:

How does this laser, running at near 7 watts, have a higher duty cycle than the exact same host/heatsink with a 4.5-5W diode and driver?

Here is what Sci Fi lists on their site for the Arcane 2.0:
Duty cycle : 3-4 minutes on/off (2.6W-3W+) , 1.5 minutes on/off (4.5W-5W)


These diodes are a blast to build. I've built 6 now, and I absolutely love them.

Click to expand...

APEX1 said:

I thought there was a thread about that? Isn't it the heatsinking this build has over others that makes it have a longer cycle? could be wrong but that's what I thought!

Click to expand...

Aardvark777 said:

I play it safe. Joker assures me that he is yet to find the limits of the heat-sink in the Arcane 2.0. To be fair to him it is a bloody huuuuge heat-sink and weighs an enormous amount. The heat-sink alone weighs about what my entire SH-032 laser weighs. It does an impressive job. The longest I've run my 7W Arcane for now is about 1 minute, and I gave it a minute off. It wasn't even as warm as my 1.3W SH-032 gets after 30 seconds on. It's probably got something to do with the sheer bulk of the laser and that it's got a copper heat-sink in a nickel plated host.

The thermal conductivity on the Arcane 2.0 is excellent, and the heat-sink while not only large is directly air cooled as the heat-sink is exposed via a gap whilst the laser is focused. (Happy coincidence, or just a clever design?)

I still usually only go 30s on and 45s off or thereabouts. We'll have to ask Joker what he thinks about a max duty cycle on a 7W. I really love mine, I need to take it out and get more pictures sometime soon.

Click to expand...

TaterMay said:

But that isn't comparing it to other hosts/heatsinks, that is comparing it directly to a lower output diode/driver in the exact same host/heatsink(the Arcane 2.0).



It being a very large heatsink would certainly help, but I can't see why you would want a gap between the host and heatsink, as that would provide less dissipation than either having it touch the host(which would distribute the heat throughout the host for even larger surface area for dissipation) or having it directly exposed to the air, which would provide neglible gains in dissipation from the small amount of air moving over it. What are the dimensions of this host? It's hard to tell from the pictures posted. Maybe it's much larger than it appears.

Regardless, it does seem to be a nice laser, and those beamshots are absolutely brilliant.

Click to expand...

ChrisWhit said:

Does the Arcane 7 watt use an open can diode?

Click to expand...

Thejoker301 said:

This heatsink is very large.

and it does touch the host fully.

The heatsink is about 150-200 grams of copper alone. And it is being threaded into the host. So it touch it all the way long.

This whole host works as one big heatsink. I truly did not find this host limit. And even turning the 7W laser on for a minute , will not make this host super hot or heatsoaked.

The duty-cycle is more for the driver ... not the diode.

The 3W Arcane for example ... can run for ages ... but the driver will blow because of the heat. The diode will still be alive as this host really takes the heat really fast.

Duty-cycle again here is based on the driver part , the 7W use a X-drive and at that much current ... I do not want to run it too much.

:beer:

Click to expand...

paul1598419 said:

Eitan, do you heat sink the driver? That's what I did with my, now not so impressive, 3 watt 445nm MSSW. I was wondering as I plan on one of these builds soon and want to know the difference if you didn't heat sink the driver. :thanks:

Click to expand...