I’ve been working with Ruida controllers for many years. My experience is that when I set the vendor setting "Laser 1 maximum power (%),” the controller display will show the actual power being used. So if the Laser 1 maximum power (%) is set to 70%, but the user sends a job set to 100%, Lightburn will show 100%, but once they begin the job, the controller display will show 70%.
This weekend a member used our Nova 63 without training, and ran his file at 100%. When I became aware of this fact I checked the controller display and it indicated that the job was actually running at 100%, which was quite distressing. I’ve run some more tests this evening, and I’m still getting the same behavior. Is the machine actually overdriving the tube at 100%, or is the display lying to me?
Do you have any idea what might be going wrong? We’re a busy makerspace and sometimes members do stupid crap like this. The "Laser 1 maximum power (%)” limit takes a big load off my mind knowing that at least they can’t accidentally burn out the tube with this kind of mistake. I need to know that when I limit a machine’s power via Lightburn, it will actually be limited. This is distressing.
The controller in the Nova is a “Thunder Laser RDC644XG-LY-1Gb.” The other Ruida lasers I have are “RDC644XG.”
Any information or advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated!
If I send a 200mm/s @ 100% power from Lightburn to the Ruida.
Ruida set internally for 70% power.
This is before and during the job …
Before the job is run, on the left you can see the Lightburn settings as 200mm/s @ 100% power. On the top right of this image is the 210mms @ 60% power that is set from the machines console as speed and maximum power. This displays what it’s currently doing or it’s settings.
Right as I’m executing the job, upper right the layer shows 70% power, which is the Ruida laser power limit and the loaded layer is corrected to the machines limit of 70%
At the end of the job the screens upper right will return to the console set defaults, like before the job run.
Thank you for your response. Yes, you have described what I’m used to seeing on my other Ruida machines, and what I was expecting to see here. You have basically given the answer that I would have given to someone else posting this. In this case, I checked many times and the readout said 100% before, during, and after the job.
Unfortunately the only ammeter on the machine is the one built into the LPS which is difficult to access. ThunderLaser has now sent me a test file and instructions for verifying if the amperage is actually exceeding its recommended limits, or if the controller display is failing to correct itself during the job based on actual amperage.
I’ve uploaded it again and it seems to have finished processing. I’ve set access to “anyone with the link” and this is the link to the new upload. Thanks for your patience.
Success with the video… I see what it’s doing, mine doesn’t work that way.
I’d suggest you measure the output of the Ruida and see what it tells you is happening… I doubt it’s going up to 100%…
That’s my only suggestion at this point.
Measure the voltage of the output you’re using, pwm (LPWM1) or the analog output (L-An1). They should be a percentage of the 5V. At 50% power, both should read 2.5V. At 70% 3.5V…
Can you set the Ruida tube maximum at 100%? I can enter it, but when I read it back it’s 99%. No point in a field that displays something that isn’t possible… makes you wonder…
I’m no longer at the shop for the day so I can’t look up the firmware version right now. I’ll check it out next time I’m there.
Meanwhile, Thunderlaser sent me a test file which I ran, and it seems to indicate that the power is indeed being capped at 70% power. The numbers I got for %=mA are as follows:
I presume this means that the controller itself is behaving correctly, even though the display is not. I’m waiting for explicit confirmation from Thunder that 31mA is the recommended max operating current for their 130w tube.
(I would have done some more basic tests to determine these numbers if there were an ammeter in any visible place. The only one on the machine is on the LPS which is in the back of the machine.)
I’ve installed new Nova 63/130w machines as a contractor for Thunder Laser NZ and my instructions were to not exceed 28mA for maximum tube longevity, so if I were you I’d limit the max power down even further - to something like 65%.
