New Argon Laser help!

Hi guys,

after a long time searching for an argon, I came across a great little laser from Diachi (thanks) but I've just got a few questions before I power it up.

It came with a controller, laser and power supply (friggen huge) but it didn't come with a lead to hook the power supply up to the mains, from what I can see it looks like the vertical 3 pin plug you have on your computer power supply, so would it be ok to use a spare computer PSU cable? It is a little loose but does cover all the pins.

Second question, is the fan says 12V 1.6A, and Diachi gave me a little help sheet stating I should feed the fan 1A, but I have managed to find a plug that outputs 12V DC at 1.6A, so would it be ok to use this?

And finally is there anything I should check for before I turn it on, should I turn the controller pot all the way to the left so that there is no current on it and I don't blow it when I turn it on? Then hook my DM to measure the current and turn it upto the rated 8A?

Cheers guys, I did PM Diachi but I imagine he's a little busy and I can't wait any longer to get this powered up

-Ash

At the risk of being out of turn here....

That fan will be fine with the power that you described, and those plugs are standardized, so that should be fine too. (the power cord)

Since I don't own one of these yet, I cannot offer anything concerning the controller.

Yea I assumed just the standard plug would work, and the transformer should be fine because I hooked it up to a cold cathode earlier without any problems.

Last issue is whether I should turn it on with the pot to the max, or to the minima :S

Cheers for your reply

I would start at idle and slowly work up from there, judging by what I have read on here.

Have you tried to google the model number, sometimes a data sheet is available online, or check the sams laser faq.

have fun.

Woo, plugged it in!

At first it wasn't doing anything, turns out I just needed to plug the cable in a bit more, and then wait around 15 seconds and the laser started up, I have it set at 8amps, and it's amazingly bright

I kept it on 4A while I was sorting things out, now I'm going to start working on a fancy controller for it

Don't suppose anyone knows:

a. what plugs you would use to plug a DMM cable in

b. How do you make a little text reader display like from maplins, display V or mV?

thanks

Congrats!!!

I'm going to bow out and let the Argon gurus answer the more specific questions.

I do remember reading about proper shut down procedures.......

Can't wait for pictures!

It might help us if you gave the PN's of the head and PS.

HMike

Sorry, that would have been a good idea.

I spoked to Diachi now and sorted it all out, I'll make a thread tomorrow with some pictures

I also managed to make a trip to Maplins and put together another controller, it feeds the D-sub 25 pin lead into a little box where it connects up to a pot to control current output, and I also have two little plugs on the surface which my DMM can be plugged into It all looks nice and pretty but was a pain in the arse to make without a drill, I had to hand screw all the holes with a philips head screw driver which happen to be the perfect size for the pot and plugs lol.

Congrats looking forward to some pics.

Asherz, congrats on the ArIon laser. Looking forward to seeing some pics - is yours multiline or singleline?

When you shut it off, wind it back to idle, let it run for a few minutes, then turn off the discharge and let the fan run for a few minutes more, then shut it off. Dont run the fan till its completly cold, the tubes dont like the major thermal stress it creates. My laserphysics (in my avatar) runs the fan for 2 minutes after I shut off the beam (discharge).

Cheers
Ben

Glad everything is sorted

I know the fan says 1.6A on it, but it only draws around 1A when it's running from my bench-top PSU. It won't go any faster either, it appears to have a voltage regulator built in so that above around 13V it remains at a constant speed. The PSU will jump to 10A on the starting pulse, but only for a 1/4 second or so and then it will return to whatever you have it set at. This is just to get it started and you probably noticed this from the output anyway.

Everyone else covered anything that I may have missed out, like how to shut it down etc. Thanks

If you have any questions please PM me

Thanks for the tips guys,

when I switched it off, I didn't let it idle for a few minutes, but I did leave the fanning running for a short period of time after.

I'll make sure I leave to idle a little next time, I'm about to fire it up now with a new controller I built and the fog machine

Lsrfaq (Steve from SAMs FAQ) suggests starting an ion laser at around 3/4 power to reduce stress on the power supply components; especially the power supply's passbank; and for shutdown to run them at 5 or so minutes at idle power, then shut off the discharge and let the fan run for a few minutes.

These procedures will lengthen the life of your plasma tube and psu.

Steve (lsrfaq) please feel free to correct me if I am wrong

vk2fro said:

Lsrfaq (Steve from SAMs FAQ) suggests starting an ion laser at around 3/4 power to reduce stress on the power supply components; especially the power supply's passbank; and for shutdown to run them at 5 or so minutes at idle power, then shut off the discharge and let the fan run for a few minutes.

These procedures will lengthen the life of your plasma tube and psu.

Steve (lsrfaq) please feel free to correct me if I am wrong

Click to expand...

Has already been posted elsewhere .

I noted however that these JDSU lasers ramp up to about 8-10A at startup for a second and then return to whatever the current is set at by the controller, so this shouldn't be as much of a problem with these.

Not sure - but I don't think these use a passbank, I'm pretty sure these are switching ( Especially the newer models ).

Could be completely wrong since I've never seen a schematic, just going by what it looks like inside the PSU

Asherz, what kind of Argon is it? Is it Multiline?

aryntha said:

Asherz, what kind of Argon is it? Is it Multiline?

Click to expand...

single line it's in my sig. I had it running for an hour last night, soo prettyy lol