i did not find any information on the topic; maybe due to bad google-fu.
Is there any option to monitor the overall active time of a running laser?
In our setup alot of different people are using our FabKit (CO2, Rudia controller) and with the energy crisis emerging we are forced to collect fees from our users for working with the laser cutter.
As CO2 lasers loose their power over time, it would be neat to know how long the tube was active. Basically like a shutter counter of a DSLR camera or lamp runtime of a projector.
Would it be possible to add this feature in the software or do you, girls and guys have a good idea to solve this request?
Ruida controllers have a built-in timer, here you can read passive and active operating time.
But that is only part of the bill, extraction, cooling and compressed air are also direct costs of a laser production. And if you live in the northern part of the world with winter half the year, then heating the workshop and lighting is the most expensive part of the bill.
I have a power meter on my fuse group which counts all power to the laser (laser machine-60W+cooling+air+extraction) average consumption for my production hour is approx. 0.56 KWh. Fortunately, it’s only a modest part of the total bill, but yes, with this crappy Russian war, a KWh right now costs $1, which is 2/3 more than usual here in my country. Those who started the terrible war against Ukraine are not going to freeze in the future, as far as I have heard, it is reasonably warm in hell.
Next step would be grabbing that information with a script to transfer the data to a database. Have to figure out if there is any API for Lightburgn or how to grab that Info from USBserial in Linux. I’ll keep you up to date if i managed to solve that automation
in our makerspace i installed smart power metering plugs recently and log the data into a database. Next step is some user input for device usage times so we can bill our users correctly and transparently. We’ll see how that works out.
In the end regarding costs light and heating (we got an AC in an old shipping container; it’s insulated) for the laser workshop are covered by the membership fees. But power and wear of the laser cutter are not.
