HeNe hookup - am I doing something wrong?

icecruncher said:

OK, I've connected a dozen HeNe tubes and never had a problem until now.

I just bought a 3227H-C-59 Melles Griot head with a 380T power supply.

I connected it as per what I thought was correct from the info below.

The power supply has a green/yellow, a brown and a white lead. I'm getting nothing.

All the other AC supplies are yellow/white/white and I've done a bunch of them. I'm worried that the PS or head are bad. I just bought from ebay.

Any reasons why this wouldn't work? Any help?



Helium Neon Laser Power Supplies - Laser Drive

http://www.laserdrive.com/pdf/henehook.pdf

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daguin said:

It should be AC = brown to white with the green/yellow as ground

After you hook it up for a bit, when you pull the Alden, short the contact pins on the Alden. Does it spark? If so, the tube is getting power, but won't light.

If not it could still be either the PSU bad or the tube is bad

If the tube is bad, it could be the tube itself or a wire broke or one of the resistors is blown

Any testing of that stuff will require you to open the ends of the housing and deal with exposed high voltage

Can you connect the PSU to another tube to check it?

Peace,
dave

**EDIT** -- Oh yeah -- Welcome to the wonderful world of used gas lasers

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icecruncher said:

Thanks for the help.

My other power supplies are not nearly rated as high as the 380T, which I why I got it.

I don't want to tear anything apart, this was supposed to work when I bought, so otherwise, I'll get a replacement or refund.

I'll try what you suggested.

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