Power issue with my ULS 3.50

[Joseph Tovar]

Hi all,

I need a bit of help troubleshooting my ULS 3.50.

Last Tuesday I made some aluminum business cards with no problems. When I was done I powered down the laser and headed out to ISA in Las Vegas for the next 4 days. The only thing I left on in my shop was my PC and a my printer in standby mode. Whe I came home yesterday I tried flipping on the light and nothing happened. I looked and noticed that all the standby lights on my other devices where off ans so was the PC. I thought maybe a circuit tripped or something. I went to the breaker and noticed that nothing was tripped. I headed back to the shop with the flashlight and tried a few things(unplugged everything, etc). Finally I noticed that the power was coming into the main GFCI unit and stopping there. I couldn't reset the GFCI so I waited until this morning to go buy another.

This morning I shut off the power and replaced the outlet. I pushed the reset button, flipped the circuit, and tada, I had power. $12 later I was happy so tunred off the breaker and plugged everything back in. I went to turn the breaker back on and poof their was no power again. I pressed the reset on the GFCI and it stayed on for about 5 secs and poof it went off once more. I removed all the plugs and reset it again. Lights were on and their was power. So one by one I plugged all the devices in and when I got to the laser, poof, the power went out. I checked the fuses in the laser and nothing blown.

So everytime I plug the laser in, it trips the GFCI unit. The laser is not powered on, just plugged in. Any suggestions? Do you think the power supply just simply died? I'm hoping to get a few suggestions to try before I dismantle the PS to see if anything is blown. I sniffed around and didn't smell any blown caps or components so I'm not sure what might have happened while I was away.

Anyways, I'd love to hear any troubleshooting tips before my $12 GFCI turns into several hundreds for a PS.

Thanks!

[Bruce Volden]

Joe, were it me I guess I'd have to try supplying the laser power from another source (extension cord). Seems very odd that the GF would trip since there is only power applied at the switch and you never turned it on.!? On my Epilog the supply cord is like a PC's--I can unplug it from the wall AND the machine--any chance you have a "bad" cord?? Somewhere to start anyway.

Bruce

[Joseph Tovar]

Hi Bruce,

I gave it a go on another circuit without a GFCI plug and it works fine. I'm not sure what this means though. Everything in my shop...the print/cut machine, cutter, heat presses, PC, etc all work fine, but plug in the laser and 'pop' goes the GFCI. This has been the setup since I built the shop over a year ago and everything has worked fine until now. I researched a little about GFCI plugs and called my contractor. Looks like it's not a big deal to have the GFCI in the shop since everything runs back to the circuit breaker anyways. I replace the GFCI with a regular plug and everything seams to be running fine with the laser plugged in.

Not sure what the cause was, but I hope the laser's power supply isn't going to die on me anytime soon.

[Dan Hintz]

Why are you plugging all of this stuff into a GFCI?

[Joseph Tovar]

When the shop was built, the inspector required a GFCI plug at the entry point for the electricity...why, I'm not sure. So the wiring comes in and the first plug is a GFCI unit, then it goes around the shop to the other regular outlets. Nothing is plugged into the GFCI outlet plug, it's just the one that trips and causes the whole shop to shut down.

[Dan Hintz]

So that one circuit runs the entire shop? How big of a circuit is it? I'm guessing by the $12 pricetag it's a 20A circuit, and that won't run a whole lot when you're talking the entire shop... the computer, the laser, and a very small dust collector, at best. Even then, I wouldn't run the DC on the same circuit as the laser and computer due to the nasty noise it creates on the line and the power spikes when turning on/off. A laser printer powering up pulls a lot of juice, too.

Sounds like you have too much on that one circuit, and the inspector wasn't too kind allowing you to put the lights on it, as well... safety issue, IMO.

[Joseph Tovar]

Yep, it's a 20A circuit and there aren't a lot of items running at once. When I use my laser, my PC and laser are on. When I print/cut onthe versacamm, the verscamm and PC are on. When I heat press, the press and PC are on. I never have the PC, laser, print/cut, and press on at the same time.