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Thread: How quickly should a CW-5200 cool down from 25C to 22C?

  1. #1

    How quickly should a CW-5200 cool down from 25C to 22C?

    I am wondering if mine may have been damaged in transit, FedEx must have dropped kicked it off the roof a few times with how many holes the box had, but the unit appears undamaged, not even a tiny ding or scratch. However, I did find that a capacitor inside, which is glued in place had come loose.

    If I leave it running for say an hour or more, but not using the laser, I found the temp will climb up. My basement sits at 16-17C, and Over time I have seen the coolant temp go to 21-22 without any firing of the tube. Is this just from the pump running?

    When the temp reaches 23C, then the compressor kicks in, but it seems to take a while before it cools down, but it does eventually cool down. What can I expect time wise for the temp to drop when the compressor is running?

  2. #2
    Hi Todd, If you cw5200 came with paperwork I would read it and follow the set up instructions. The actual CW5200 is made by a real company with tech support that speaks English. If you have it hooked up correctly and running and the alarms set on the CW5200 and not the laser, then you will get beeping if there is insufficient flow. I test by pinching each line to see if it beeps indicating both correct flow and functioning alarm. When you have directed the unit to cool according to the instructions and set the temperatures then you will hear the compressor clutch kick in and out as the unit turns on and off often to control the temperature. If you are not on a dual laser they probably have a recommended method on how to combine the dual outlets and inlets. Like most hivac you can set the temperature to turn on at say 25 and turn off at say 22. If you set those numbers too close or backwards you might get what you want. Mine was smashed in shipping and it works just fine for years.
    Hope that helps marty

    PS if the unit is a 3000 seres then it is not a cooler but rather just a pump.
    shenhui 900x1200 dual tubes 150 & 60

  3. #3
    I've had my S&A CW-5200 for almost 2 years now. I'm not sure what it's temp parameters are supposed to be, and I've never touched it other than to fill it with distilled water and connect hoses. It did what I needed right from the box...

    When mine is turned on and 'acclimated', whether it's just sitting, or while raster engraving, or running my 80w tube full-on vector cutting plex, I've never seen the temp lower than 19.1, nor higher than 20.6. Never. In normal use when it hits 20 the compressor kicks on, it'll hit 20.1 briefly, then kicks off at 19.1, then slowly climbs. If the garage is around 80° and I'm hard-cutting, I've seen it get to 20.6, but never higher.

    The ONLY time it's higher or lower is if the garage's ambient temp is higher or lower when I first turn it on. Today for example, the garage was a bit warm and it came on at 23.6, and it was down to 19.1 within 2 minutes, probably less.

    I know the settings are adjustable, I just never needed to
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  4. #4
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    If the compressor is running, no adjustment needed. If its running and not cooling then you have an issue. Mine cycles on and off the temperature is consistent and within minutes. The Chinese are not very good at brazing lines, mine has got a very, very small leak, someplace. Lucky for me I still have my refrigeration skills and a little refrigerant.
    Retired Guy- Central Iowa.HVAC/R , Cloudray Galvo Fiber , -Windows 10

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Kev Williams View Post
    I've had my S&A CW-5200 for almost 2 years now. I'm not sure what it's temp parameters are supposed to be, and I've never touched it other than to fill it with distilled water and connect hoses. It did what I needed right from the box...

    When mine is turned on and 'acclimated', whether it's just sitting, or while raster engraving, or running my 80w tube full-on vector cutting plex, I've never seen the temp lower than 19.1, nor higher than 20.6. Never. In normal use when it hits 20 the compressor kicks on, it'll hit 20.1 briefly, then kicks off at 19.1, then slowly climbs. If the garage is around 80° and I'm hard-cutting, I've seen it get to 20.6, but never higher.

    The ONLY time it's higher or lower is if the garage's ambient temp is higher or lower when I first turn it on. Today for example, the garage was a bit warm and it came on at 23.6, and it was down to 19.1 within 2 minutes, probably less.

    I know the settings are adjustable, I just never needed to
    Thats what I was afraid of. Seems like all the kicking around by FedEx may have damaged it as it takes a long time to cool down. Thanks guys.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Todd Heide View Post
    I am wondering if mine may have been damaged in transit, FedEx must have dropped kicked it off the roof a few times with how many holes the box had, but the unit appears undamaged, not even a tiny ding or scratch. However, I did find that a capacitor inside, which is glued in place had come loose.

    If I leave it running for say an hour or more, but not using the laser, I found the temp will climb up. My basement sits at 16-17C, and Over time I have seen the coolant temp go to 21-22 without any firing of the tube. Is this just from the pump running?

    When the temp reaches 23C, then the compressor kicks in, but it seems to take a while before it cools down, but it does eventually cool down. What can I expect time wise for the temp to drop when the compressor is running?
    The default mode on the CW-5X00 chillers is "Intelligent" mode which will chill to a set number of degrees based on ambient temperature in the room. The recommendations I've seen is to turn that off and put it in Manual Control mode where you can set the temperature that it will keep things at. The manual is pretty hard to understand, but there is a good video done by someone in clear English available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND0rBX7Jybc Goes into detail about what all the programming options are, and how to change them.
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  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Utick View Post
    The default mode on the CW-5X00 chillers is "Intelligent" mode which will chill to a set number of degrees based on ambient temperature in the room. The recommendations I've seen is to turn that off and put it in Manual Control mode where you can set the temperature that it will keep things at. The manual is pretty hard to understand, but there is a good video done by someone in clear English available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND0rBX7Jybc Goes into detail about what all the programming options are, and how to change them.
    I have made settings changes for the set points. It all works as far as the controls go, but the actual question I am looking to get answered is how long should it take to cool down. I feel that it is not cooling as it should which will be an issue once I go full bore with the laser. This unit did get banged about pretty good by FedEx, but has no visible damage other than a capacitor that was glued on broke loose.

    My other concern is that when running, the temperature of the coolant rises above ambient even though the laser isn't even on, and that concerns me as well. When I do fire the laser, I can see the expected rise in temps, but when not firing, I would think the temp would gradually return to ambient. This is in my basement, and the floor is a constant 61*F, and the air temp is never more than 65*F. When I first turn the unit on, it shows 17.1C, which is just under 63F, and after an hour or more it is up over 18.5, If I have it on for over 4 hours with an occasional laser run of say 1 or 2 minutes at 30% power, it will be over 23C which is where I have it set to cool, with 22 as the cut off. The compressor will kick on, and after about 30 minutes it will shut off and be at 22. Seems as though for a 30 minute cycle it should have been down to at least 18C by then.

    Does this seem normal, or is it not cooling as expected?

  8. #8
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    Two things, for you and others.
    The intelligent mode, which the true S&A machines are sent out with is anything but.
    It doesn't cool to a set point. It takes ambient and cools to +- a couple of degrees. Actually quite stupid.
    You do need (and it sounds like you have) set it to cool to a SET POINT the manual calls it Constant Temperature mode. Mine is 19C. And compressor comes on at about 20.1C
    If I remember right, you can change the variance allowed.

    But in my basement, which right at 20C, my chiller is sitting at 20.4C. If it is idling, laser off, it does heat up enough to kick on the compressor about every 30 minutes.
    Temp at 21.1 to 21.4 when it come on. And it cools to 19.2 or .3C and cuts off. Takes about 30 seconds.

    When cutting, it will come on and hold temp at about 20 to 21C with my 80Watt laser and 18-20 milliamps
    Last edited by John Lifer; 07-24-2019 at 11:31 AM.
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  9. #9
    OK, just fired my 5200 up and jotted down times. Temp changes happened quick at times, but here's the countdown:

    Room temp is 77°F, laser is off-- switched chiller on, started my stopwatch:
    :00 temp 22.5
    :32 temp 22.7 (assuming tube water is warmer than water in the chiller)
    :35 compressor kicks on
    1:48 temp 22.5
    2:11 - 22.4
    2:17 - 22.3
    2:36 - 22.1
    2:40 - 22.0
    2:52 - 21.8
    3:07 - 21.7
    3:10 - 21.6
    3:19 - 21.5
    3:30 - 21.3
    3:45 - 21.0
    3:55 - 20.7
    4:05 - 20.5
    4:23 - 20.2
    4:33 - 20.0
    4:40 - 19.8
    4:45 - 19.6
    4:55 - 19.4, and compressor kicks off, temp remains 1.94...

    So it took longer than my original estimate of 2 minutes, but this is the first time I've actually kept track. Also, while typing this, the compressor kicked back on at 15:45, (watch is still running), I checked the temp, 20.7 then 20.8 for about 5 seconds, then back to 20.7 - so I have to revise what I thought was a 20.6 max to 20.8 or 20.9. I honestly haven't seen higher than 20.6 in a long time, but keeping track of the chiller isn't exactly way up my priorities list That said, I've never seen 21.anything while in 'normal use'. Anyway, at 16:59 the compressor kicks offs again, but didn't see the temp...

    It just came on a again at 25:30-ish, so it likely came on before the 15:45 time once or twice, this garage is still warm at 76°f...

    So, mine took about 5 minutes to initially cool the water 3.3°c, and roughly a minute-15 to reduce the temp about 1.4°c. And last night I was full-power cutting some plex headlight covers, the chiller had no problem bringing the temp down to the mid 19's, just took longer to do it- but not that much longer, maybe 3 or 4 minutes tops. If you're unit is taking 30 minutes for 1°, IMO there's a problem with it...
    ========================================
    ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
    FOUR - CO2 lasers
    THREE- make that FOUR now - fiber lasers
    ONE - vinyl cutter
    CASmate, Corel, Gravostyle


  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by John Lifer View Post
    Two things, for you and others.
    The intelligent mode, which the true S&A machines are sent out with is anything but.
    It doesn't cool to a set point. It takes ambient and cools to +- a couple of degrees. Actually quite stupid.
    You do need (and it sounds like you have) set it to cool to a SET POINT the manual calls it Constant Temperature mode. Mine is 19C. And compressor comes on at about 20.1C
    If I remember right, you can change the variance allowed.

    But in my basement, which right at 20C, my chiller is sitting at 20.4C. If it is idling, laser off, it does heat up enough to kick on the compressor about every 30 minutes.
    Temp at 21.1 to 21.4 when it come on. And it cools to 19.2 or .3C and cuts off. Takes about 30 seconds.

    When cutting, it will come on and hold temp at about 20 to 21C with my 80Watt laser and 18-20 milliamps

    Ok, so that answers my one question that it creates it's own heat while running. Thanks.

    I will drop the temp on it and see what happens when I do some cuts. Since I am in the learning process of transferring shapes from blueprints to PC, I have been using heavy card stock for the test cuts, which is 30% power, or 7mA of power. I tape sheets together to get the desired blank size and let the laser do it's thing(which BTW my Chinese laser is working pretty darn good for what I paid for it). Each sheet of parts takes a little over a minute to cut and mark, so I will fill up 4 pages with these sheets and give the chiller a workout to see if it is indeed chilling or lost it's refrigerant.

  11. #11
    Thanks, that is much appreciated. I did find this, for troubleshooting purposes. I have a message in to the seller as well that the package was damaged by Fedex, and may need to be replaced. When I get home I will run some diagnostics on it and see if it is indeed not cooling before proceeding further.

    Your post has been very helpful, thanks again.

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Todd Heide View Post
    Ok, so that answers my one question that it creates it's own heat while running.
    The act of simply moving water with a pump heats it. Many years ago one of our kids and his friends used our hot tub while we were at work. The tub had 2 pumps, one had an off-timer override, and they left the pump running. In 6 hours the 500 gallons of water went from 101° to 115°, just from pumping friction...
    ========================================
    ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
    FOUR - CO2 lasers
    THREE- make that FOUR now - fiber lasers
    ONE - vinyl cutter
    CASmate, Corel, Gravostyle


  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kev Williams View Post
    The act of simply moving water with a pump heats it. Many years ago one of our kids and his friends used our hot tub while we were at work. The tub had 2 pumps, one had an off-timer override, and they left the pump running. In 6 hours the 500 gallons of water went from 101° to 115°, just from pumping friction...
    That is correct, same thing with air being moved by a fan, it will pick up 2 or 3 DegF sometimes more. If the motor is in the path of the air you need to add in the heat produced by the motor.
    Retired Guy- Central Iowa.HVAC/R , Cloudray Galvo Fiber , -Windows 10

  14. #14
    Last night I disconnected it from the laser and put it on my bench and ran it. I went through a couple videos and set it up as they did and let it run. Once I got the programming in properly so it maintains a constant temp, I set it to 15C. It cooled down in about the same time frame as posted above, pretty much 5 minutes to drop it 2 degrees below ambient. I then read through a couple different manuals for this same chiller that has many different brands and looks but is basically the exact same machine. In one manual, and only one, it mentioned placement, requires 30cm of open space on either side, and minimum 6cm from the back.

    Well, discovered the cause of it taking so long, I had it sitting right next to the laser, so one side was pretty much blocked as it was 2 inches from the side where there is no openings. I moved it the required distance so it has plenty of airflow and NOW it works as it should.

    Lesson learned, Chinglish manuals aren't the best. LOL The manual that came with mine had no mention of airflow requirements, and I figured that one side being fully open would be enough. Guess that is not the case.

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