Laser wont turn on for values less than 165

#1

The XY Laser upgrade to 1.6w will not turn on for values less than 165, This makes it absolutely impossible to do any raster of an image as there is no “grey” scale, When the laser gets a number less than 165 it simply will not turn on. I have tried values in intensity and low light setting as well. This is unusable on anything less than wood or leather because I cannot turn the laser down low enough to cut paper or to mark paper without cutting.

I am using Benbox as the mlaser software will not work with my Orion board, mlaser will update the firmware on the board and then promptly say it cannot connect to port, then when I open port dialog and connect it connects but will not drive the machine, neither motors or laser.

Is there some other software other than Benbox to try? Is this a board issue? is this a laser issue? I am getting very frustrated.

EDIT: I put a multimeter on the pins at M2 where the laser is plugged in and found that a setting of 165 equates to 7.5 volts given to the laser module. It appears that this module needs at least 7.5 volts to work. It will go all the way to 255 which is 11.5 volts from my 12v power supply that came with the kit., I believe that this laser module should come on at 5v which would be around a setting of 10, however that does not work.

I can give you the makeblock serial number from the laser module, but I believe that this module is at least partially bad and would request that you send me a new one, or send me the specifications for this laser specifically.

#2

Hi Chood,

This is normal. according to the power spec of the 1600mw laser. Its working voltage is DC 12V ± 30%.
The mLaser software is for the Laserbot only.For XY plotter, you can use the Benbox software and the mDraw software.
But with the mDraw software, the result is same, you need set the power to a large proportion to lit up the laser.
image

#3

I am using Benbox , and the laser simply will not turn on with a setting of lower than 165, so there is no way to do greyscale pictures because 165 is high enough to burn wood and paper. The 165 power setting equates to 7.5 volts.
Why will the laser not come on at 5volts,

I believe it should work from 5 volts to 12 volts. The 5 volts settings should turn the laser on at a setting of around 10.

Please reply with all of the specs for the laser.

#4

Hi Chood,

Here is a screenshot for the spec of the Laser to you for reference:
image

For the issue that it burns the wood and paper when you do gray scale with setting 165, what is the Burning time you set on the benbox software, you may need decrease the burning time have a check.

#5

Thank you for the specs. Should this laser turn on at 5v?

#6

Hi Chood,

I have consulted the engineer, the 1600mW laser has a started power, but the supplier of this laser didn’t provide it to us. This laser may be light up if you directly provide 5V power to it with power adapter.
While, lighting up it from the software is different with lighting it up directly from the power adapter since the software is algorithmic processed. According to our test, it is true that need set value to 165 and above on mDraw software to light up the Laser when use the 12V/2A power adapter.

#7