Hello, just looking to see if there is a way to add an hour counter to lightburn somehow… just a way to know total hours spent actually running all jobs in total up to the present date. Would be useful in troubleshooting any laser issues with the manufacturers. “this laser has a 10000 hr lifespan but i have only ran the laser for 4 hours!” etc… 
Im no programmer but seems like it may not be a difficult thing to keep track of how long a job is going for and total of all jobs ever…. anyway thanks for listening
I just started using with the D1 from Xtool so maybe a way to edit the hrs as well to give an estimated starting point… for example I think I have run my d1 for maybe 2 hrs… so I would want to edit the counter to start from 2 hrs. Might be getting complicated now but also would be nice to have the counter tied to a machine as well… in case Im running 3 different lasers, To keep track of each laser independently. ok again thanks for reading…
Agreed. This would be a most valuable feature. You will find this in the Feature Suggestions section, where it should be upvoted.
Here is another request for the same feature
https://forum.lightburnsoftware.com/t/laser-operating-meter/68750?u=peter.s
I believe if you go into Edit/Get Controller Info in LightBurn, there is counters in the RUIDA controller that track this data. Can’t recall for sure what they are called, and don’t have access to a RUIDA machine to see at this time, but there should be something in there.
The device itself doesn’t maintain that information and that’s the problem.
You couldn’t apply that logic to vehicular millage…
You could run it for 4k hours with lasergrbl and 10 minutes with Lightburn then use Lightburns ‘run’ times.
You could run your machine with no laser or motors, so only the controller is operating. Lightburn or any other software would have no way of knowing… neither would the controller…
My Ruida doesn’t know if the lps off or on. It accumulates what it ‘thinks’ is it’s run time.
Good luck
I don’t exactly follow about vehicular mileage… What I’m requesting is just a counter to get an estimation of hours that lightburn sent a job to any machine and keep data separate for any given machine. This would “approximate” how long said machine was used for. When you click start to when it finishes a job, and then keeps a running total. I only use lightburn. Why I would run a job without the laser enabled or attached I have no idea but whether the laser is on/off as long as lightburn in itself keeps a running tab on how long a job was run for regardless of the laser completed said job or not…. that would be useful to me personally. Especially if the time was editable. I do understand all this would be an estimation, as I run jobs that say 2min but the laser is running closer to 3…. Just another means of gathering data that I can use or look at to approximate the use of my machines. I think a history of jobs run maybe with a total minute/hr.
I’ve run both of my lasers to ensure they have the clearance and follow the proper path before I enable the laser. I hate to waste material.
I could understand the desire. Are you aware that you can post ideas to be implemented and voted on via the Feature Selections up by your avatar.
Good luck
Hi Jack,
But the laser is not being fired and the software knows that so can take that into account. Moreover the software knows the pulse width modulation and can take that into account as well. It should be possible to get quite a good estimation. As Steve says, high accuracy is not the goal. What we need is a reasonable working estimate, which will be much better than our present subjective thumb sucks.
Frank,
I think this is an excellent suggestion. I would extend it in one way by keeping a histogram of the hours spent in ten bins from 10 to 100% operating power. This would immediately show how “hard” we are driving the laser module.
That is not true.
When I turn the lps off, the controller has no way to know that. When I unplug or remove supply voltage from the laser module on my led laser the controller has no way for it to know there is no supply voltage for the laser and it is not operating.
I can remove power from the motors and they won’t work, the controller will only know this if it’s trying to home otherwise it will continue as it it’s all working.
There is no communications ‘backwards’ after the controller.
Some of the new 32bit controllers will ‘load’ the gcode and run it, much like the Ruida, the software that created the code has no idea if it was executed or not. That would mean it’s only applicable to certain types of controllers…
It might be usable for streaming, but if it hangs or fails, how is the software to know where or when it failed.
It might be a handy option for your type of board, but I doubt the implementation of it in Lightburn would be a simple task.
This is my opinion, I’d suggest you post it in feature suggestions and let the users vote on it.
Good luck
There are hundreds of meters like you’re looking for. Do a web search for AC RUNTIME/HOUR METER.
Great idea that would be extremely helpful as well
Do these meters know when the laser is being fired or just when the machine is on? I ask as I am unfamiliar with them. My machine doesn’t have the beam on until I run a job.
I have one on one of my compressors, it just measures the ‘on’ time.
There is no feedback to controllers about if the laser is or isn’t working.
Yea that wouldn’t help me much, my machine is on way longer than any laser is being fired from it. But that sounds like a cool add on to some of my other equipment
I have, a while ago.
It is, and for many others like myself.
Yes, of course. But we may have different opinions. I happen to believe that some knowledge of the operating time, even if imperfect, is far better than our present state of near total ignorance. Moreover I believe that something can quite reasonably be done. You don’t, so let’s just politely differ without a protracted discussion.
As a professional software developer I know that is generally true but we forge ahead anyway.
And true to that principle(since this question has aroused my interest) I am designing and constructing a small board that will be attached to the top of my laser diode module. It will be powered by its 12V power supply and will monitor the PWM signal, using that to calculate operational hours. I am using a tiny module based on the RPI 2040 with an integrated display. I am waiting for that board to arrive from China but shipping is quite slow these days. These are the details:
https://www.banggood.com/RP2040-Development-Board-with-0_42-inch-LCD-Supports-Arduino-or-MicroPyth-p-1947673.html
An important consideration is that the added weight should not unduly increase the inertia of the module. Given how small the RP2040 board is I don’t think that will be an issue.
I have already completed two other projects using RP2040 boards and have fallen totally in love with the RP2040. So I am confident that such a simple project can be easily completed. I will publish the design and implementation on Github once testing is complete. Can something similar be done for CO2 lasers? Probably, but I have not looked into it.
Are you able to mount the module on the controller side or possibly on the left side of the gantry if there’s an intermediary connector there? There’s no need to have it directly on the laser assembly and I think you’d be surprised how big an impact a small amount of added mass would have.
Yes, you are right.
Indeed, that is true.
Yes, and on second thoughts that makes more sense.
I’d be interested on how you implement the RP2040 board for your purposes.