New Ortur 10W Output laser suddenly very weak (LU2-10A, Ortur LM2PS2)

Hi there,

Earlier this week, i purchased the LU2-10A 10 Watt Output laser module, to upgrade my Ortur LM2 Pro S2.
The first week, it worked perfectly and was way stronger than the last module. I was able to cut through 1.5mm plywood like butter at 650mm/m 90% power, and i deliberately only used 90% power this week, in hopes of prolonging the lifespan of the laser module.

This morning however, when I tried to make a cut at settings that worked fine yesterday, suddenly they simply dont work. 650mm/m 90% power didnt cut through consistently, neither did 550mm/m 90%. Even 500 was inconsistent. This threw me off, so I ran some tests to try and diagnose the cause of it.

I posted some photos of those test results on reddit here at r/OrturLaserUsers

The 10W laser module needs a 24V2A power block to use its full power.
I did two cut tests at 650mm/m 90% power

one with both power blocks plugged in (Motherboard, and the extra laser one)
one with only the motherboard power plugged in

Both cuts produced very similar results, even though the power should be nearly double with the second block.

This was very confusing so I did more tests. Switching the motherboard and laser power blocks (they are identical) did nothing.
Its especially strange, because the laser module DOES receive power from the block - if the module is unplugged from the motherboard but still has its dedicated power block, the fan spins up and lights light up as expected. But, the power output is effectively unchanged.
Giving each block a different outlet did nothing.
I double checked connections on the interface board,
quadruple checked laser focus,
checked the lens for dust buildup (it is spotless, since the laser is less than one week old)
I dug through every setting I could find in lightburn, checked for errors in my files, couldn’t find anything. Wasn’t able to find anyone with the same problem elsewhere. There were some similar stories in this forum, but most were for the other weaker laser modules or didn’t disclose the specific module (I have the LU2-10A)

All these efforts turned up nothing, so I’m at a loss. The performance dropoff is significant and seemingly has no cause. I have to cut over 30% slower to achieve the same result I could achieve just yesterday.

I have already submitted a support ticket to Ortur, I hope something can be done about this. I’ve been loving this module since it arrived on monday and now it is just weaker for no apparent reason.
Throughout my tests, it seems the performance is degrading further, too. After my first tests failed at 650mm/m, i found that 550mm/m was enough of a speed reduction to cut through easily.
But, then when I tried cutting out a set of parts, they failed just as poorly as the 650mm/m did. I fear it will only degrade further.

Thanks for any help, here’s hoping my support ticket goes somewhere. Cheers

Thanks for documenting your experience and sharing.

Gil from Ortur who posts here frequently mentioned that Ortur target (or maybe actualize) a 3% failure rate on their lasers. I’m not sure exactly how that’s measured but I took it to mean that 3% of lasers experience a premature death with an expected minimum lifespan of 1 year. I assume with this new model of laser module initial failures are likely to be higher but let’s see.

There’s a misconception here that I wouldn’t to clear-up. Doubling the number of power supplies does not double the power to the laser. Current is drawn by the laser module and it will either be sufficient or not. Insufficient power supplies will struggle to provide the current and will likely overheat and fail. However, assuming that you have sufficient current in both scenarios the output power should remain the same.

This was the first thing I thought of but guess that’s been covered.

You should test your old laser module to see if it’s performing the same as it used to. Will be a good reference for if anything else might be going on.

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I fear that’s the case, itd suck if my module continues to degrade further in the next few days.
I expected a finite lifespan, something like 1-2 years before I’d seek out another upgrade.
But this one hasn’t even had 20 hours of runtime yet. I’m a student working full time this summer as a designer and the project I’m working on relies on this new machine to produce and prototype alot of parts, so this poses a few problems.
Ortur support has been helpful in the past, so I’m really hoping my support ticket will go somewhere.
Its good to see they’re somewhat active in these forums

I figured it wasn’t literally double, but since my last module was 5.5W output and this one is a 10W output I assumed any extra power output must be coming from the second power block.

Is it still reasonable to expect a significant performance difference if an entire block is left out? It was described in the manual as more or less essential if you wanted to get the full power output from both 5W diodes

I’ve been basing most of my theories off of that. I figure if the performance is unchanged by the presence of a second power block, that the problem lies in either the interface board that merges said power block with the motherboard laser cable, or the laser module itself.

Thanks for your reply, I’ll continue to document whatever I learn here. Be the lightburn tech support thread you want to see in the world

I’ve been very happy with Ortur’s level of support. And if you’re communicating with them now it’s likely Gil that you’re working with.

The system depends on the addition of the second module to provide sufficient current. But it’s possible that your original supply was rated high enough or being overdrawn to provide sufficient amperage through the motherboard.

I haven’t looked yet to know the current requirements for the 10W but I suspect one of the reasons that Ortur and others have moved to a 24V system is to manage current requirements. So going to 24V basically halved their current requirements and provided for some more headroom.

EDIT: Just looked it up and looks like that module is rated for 3A input.

I’m not certain but I suspect you’d more have the scenario of the laser not firing or the controller or power supply going up in smoke if you didn’t have a properly rated supply. I wouldn’t expect a linear and smooth reduction in power but I may be wrong as I haven’t experienced your particular scenario.

What is the power rating for each of your power adapters?

Both power adapters are identical and came from Ortur, they are both 24V 2A output.
I figured if the 10W laser is made of two 5W diodes, that without the second adapter it would simply disable one of the two diodes reverting to a 5W one.
I’m not very knowledgeable on how all that stuff works, though, so thanks for explaining.

It’s possible but I think unlikely that there’s any intelligence like this built into the module but I could be wrong.

I’m trying to sort out how this would work. Did one of these come with the laser module? If the laser module itself takes 3A and the laser adapter is connected to one of the 2A power supplies that wouldn’t be sufficient current.

Reading through this, as I have a 10w module - but my motherboard is currently dead :frowning: - if you have a multimeter, make sure BOTH power supplies are actually working and putting out 24v.

I do have a multimeter, but I’m not very knowledgeable on using it. Could you explain how I can test the power supplies with it? Where should I touch the pins?

Today, power output is similar to yesterday, but I think it is a little weaker. now at 500mm/m cuts are becoming inconsistent. I have to use 400/450mm/m at 90% power to cut the material I could cut at 650mm/m 90% power a few days ago.

Sure… set the multimeter to DC and a voltage range that is acceptable for 24v - my digital meter would happen to be 200 volts. The outside of the plug is negative - hold the negative lead from the multimeter on that surface - by convention, that lead would be black, but you may not have your’s plugged in that way. The center of the plug - the “hole” - is positive. Place the positive lead/probe in that hole with the power supply plugged in. You should get a reading of around 24v. I’d say +/- .5v would be OK. I know one I have reads 23.7v.

This is not an absolute test, as the voltage could drop once a load (e.g., the laser) is applied, but if you’re way off from 24v, then I’d say that power supply is bad.

Hope this helps, best of luck!

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My multimeter gave 23V for both power supplies. My multimeter’s settings go 200m, 2, 20, 500
500 was the only setting that spat out a number, 20 didn’t read out. 500 doesn’t give decimals, but since both are giving 23V id guess the power supplies are working. Thanks for the tip

Ortur’s support has replied twice so far. They first asked for pictures of the clean lens, which I provided. Today, they sent me a test file to complete and send results of to them. I’ll share those test results here, as well.

The test results look fine to me, but the laser is still plenty powerful for engraving, its only lost significant performance cutting.
to recap:
Days 1-4, I could cut 1.5mm plywood at almost 700mm/m 90% in one pass. I settled for 650mm/m, for consistency. All the following measurements are also 90% power, one pass.
Day 5, suddenly the laser no longer produces the same result at 650mm/m. I have to use 550mm/m
Day 6, the laser now only cuts through reliably at 450mm/m.
Day 7 the laser is performing the same as yesterday, it works reliably at 450mm/m.
Still double the abilities of my previous 5.5W unit, but 200mm/m slower than it could when it first arrived, around 30% weaker/slower.

Can you confirm if the 2A supply came bundled with the laser module?

Yes, both power supplies are identical and both came from Ortur.

The first came with the original machine, the second came bundled with the laser module upgrade.
Both are 24V 2A


Okay. Something is odd in their specs then if they’re supplying a 2A supply for a 3A laser module, assuming you received the intended supply.

This implies that you could probably run the whole setup with a single 3A supply connected to the controller.

You are very welcome. I’d say 23v is close enough and that’s probably not where the trouble lies. Good luck chasing it down!

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They are providing a combined 4 amps from the two supplies. If you have the LM2 Pro 2 model, you should be able to direct drive w/out the board IF you supply a 4 amp or higher power supply. I hope to confirm this later today.

My understanding of the way the adapter was wired was that the laser module gets power exclusively from one supply while the controller and steppers get power through the controller. Or at at least the adapter isn’t meant to get power from both a dedicated supply as well as pass-through from the controller. At least this is how Neje adapters work. I’m less familiar with the Ortur adapter.

So instead of a “combined” power source these are treated as separate power sources.

In that case, a single 2A supply should be underspecced for the 3A rating on the laser module.

Something doesn’t add up so I’m assuming one of my assumptions is incorrect or the listed specs are incorrect.

One power supply is connected to the motherboard, the motherboard then has a dedicated laser wire.
This laser wire goes into an interface board (for lack of a better word)
The second power supply goes directly into the interface board

Then, a 5 pin connects that interface board to the laser module.

This video on their youtube channel explains the setup, if that helps.

Also, through my support ticket Ortur has agreed to replace the module under warranty due to the weak power output. Hopefully that next module does better, I’ll continue documenting the current one until it arrives.

I had to look very carefully at the board but I could see the pinouts. Looks like they have you connect a 3-pin cable from motherboard to the interface adapter that does include the 24V power line in addition to plugging in the additional power supply. I’m accustomed to seeing only the PWM and ground wires being plugged in when the external power is also connected.

So looks like that confirms the scenario that the power supplies are running in parallel. That also means that the laser is drawing about 1A from the motherboard side which is probably fine. What’s odd, though, is that when I lookup the specs of the 5W laser it indicates a max input of 2A… this would already be the full capacity of the provided adapter. So still confusing to me how these specs are being handled.