Upgrading Chinese 2.5W to 15W

[bfuller123]

I'm a newbie to lasers and need some help.

I purchased a 15W blue laser to upgrade from a 2.5W which was working great, but I wanted to try something a little stronger.

I included photos of the control boards.  The first is the laser board and the second is the controller that came with the 2.5W setup.
I've figured out that I need to run each on separate power supplies and have the appropriate power connected.

BUT....

The laser comes on immediately (full power).  I can manually switch it to low power by pressing the switch on the board.

That's as far as I've gotten.

I'm not sure how to connect the laser to the control board.   There is a connector (2 conductors), but I'm not sure if it is the right setup or not.  It is connected to the TTL on the laser and to the connector next to "LASER" on the controller.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

[ianchia]

This thread should hopefully contain all the information you need.

"Topic: Need help connecting Laser module to mana se" http://benboxlaser.us/index.php/topic,2436.0.html

- Ian

[ggallant571]

It appears from the pictures that you will need two 2-pin connectors at the controller and one 3-pin at the driver end. The pins marked '+' are for a solid steady state 12V 5AMP (or better) power. GND also will conduct the 12A. The PWM is 5V TTL. You could use 2 headers at the driver if you want to connect the PWM signals on separate cables..  Connecting 12V to the PWM input on the driver may be a killer.

[bfuller123]

Thanks for the info.

So if I understand, I need to connect the "Laser" -/+ on the control board, to the -PWM/TTL+ (+ to +, and - to -). Right?

Any idea why the laser comes on immediately?  Is it because the proper connections are not in place?

Thanks again for the help.

[ianchia]

It appears from the pictures that you will need two 2-pin connectors at the controller and one 3-pin at the driver end. The pins marked '+' are for a solid steady state 12V 5AMP (or better) power. GND also will conduct the 12A. The PWM is 5V TTL. You could use 2 headers at the driver if you want to connect the PWM signals on separate cables..  Connecting 12V to the PWM input on the driver may be a killer.

@ggallant571's point about accidentally connecting 12V to the TTL killing your laser is a good one. Test the TTL pins' voltage with a multimeter before connecting or your could fry your laser.
'
My setup is somewhat similar with a seperate laser diode driver board (with it's own PSU) and I also helped a friend hookup his laser module bought seperately to his Eleksmaker gantry with Mana SE sans laser just last week. We had the puzzling situation where his laser would turn on all the time if I just hooked up the TTL pin from the Mana SE to his laser's TTL input, and drove it seperately with the laser's supplied seperate 12V power supply. It only got fixed when I hooked up the three outputs from the Mana SE's laser output (+/-/TTL) directly to the Laser's PSU & TTL. But in your case, this may or may not work, because the Mana SE won't have enough power to drive a 15W laser. Hopefully, if you hooked up the same thing, AND connected the power on the laser to your 15W's seperate supply, the design of your laser driver means that a similar thing will drive some switching that uses that main laser PSU for enough oomph. What do you think @ggallant571 - you're much more knowledgable in this area than I - I'm mostly a software guy. (Do you think we also need to connect ground on the 12V rail for both supplies or is that a baaad thing? I don't on my setup and it works fine.)

- Ian

[ianchia]

Oops, looking again at your main controller board - that's looks like a Mana SE clone, and I can't see a TTL pin. Is there one on the board somewhere?

[ggallant571]

+ to +, - to - on the power.  The laser comes on due to a poor electrical design. Lots of users have this problem. The NANO PWM signal defaults to a input on reset. The driver sees this as a high or ON condition. Solutions:

   1, Don't turn on the laser power till the firmware is active (about 2 seconds).
   2. Add a pulldown resistor (approx 2K) to the PWM/TTL line.

 

[ianchia]

Also, look at Zax's comments on this thread http://benboxlaser.us/index.php/topic,2383.msg28147.html#msg28147 if you can't locate a dedicated TTL pinout on your controller board. I remember soldering directly to that pin on my older style L7 Eleksmaker board.

[bfuller123]

Sorry for being so long getting back.  Life demanded attention elsewhere.

I attached another photo with what I've got.
Found TTL and PWM on the laser controller.  What I marked "Power Supply for laser" is input from a power brick.  There is also an extra wire there.  No idea what is does. I don't have any matching connectors on either board.

Since I've got an independent power supply for the laser, should I connect straight to the TTL/PWM on the laser board, from the header where the 2.5W was attached?  I did not get any readings on that header on the right hand board, but did get 12V on both those others.

Sorry for being so dumb about this.  This stuff is just not my thing at all and I don't want to fry any thing!

Thanks again.

[bfuller123]

Well, I gave up on the clone board and ordered a Eleksmaker Mana SE.

Currently have the "S" pin on the Mana connected to the PWM/TTL on the triple header where the laser power supply attaches on the laser controller. Running separate power supplies for each board.

No change.  Laser comes on full power even after loading firmware.

[Zax]

Connect the - pin (actually a ground) from the Mana "laser" connector to your TTL - on the laser controller board.

[Niko10]

Just went over this again... in one of these threads the .pdf of the set up. And additional from what was gathered here. Might help some visually. ? Using two separate power supplies. The "15w" driver has its own on off, procedure turn one on first then the other Which one? the one with the benbox you got, then the laser driver (only guessing,  )
Zac anyone, correct if wrong. or needs amending.