LaserUser.com Forum (formerly RDWorksLab)

Hi guys,

I have a Chinese red and black 100W, with a CW-5200 S&A Chiller. I have not change any settings on the chiller, and the water temperature goes from around 20 to 26 degrees Celsius (Centigrades) do you guys think it is ok, or should I change some chiller parameters?

I have one temperature sensor and display, do you think I can put it on the outside of the laser tube, with some tape, just to check the tube temperature?

Thank you for your support

I would tweak the setting a bit,.

Glass laser tubes function optimaly at 15-20c water temp.
If you run at 23c your tube will not die tomorrow, but you may lower the expected life time by a couple of weeks or month.

To achive long life and get the best performance over the lifetime, keep temperature around 20c.
Whats happens when the temperature is too high the regenerative gas is harder to regenerate inside the tube which lowers the power output over time.

Hi Pete,

Thank you for your reply. I will try to figure out what the parameters to change and how to...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0soQMapbIU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efNSuNt0zbU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XxM8XDbmgo

If you haven't changed any parameters, oddly, most chillers by default are set to maintain a temperature relative to the room's temperature. You need to change the settings so chiller maintains a specific actual temperature all the time. 18C is a good one for most tubes.

I believe the reason the chiller temperature is set relative to ambient is to prevent condensation from forming on the laser tube if the water temperature is significantly lower than ambient.

The minimum value for the "allowed highest water temperature" is 20C.
I have set the values for:
"allowed highest water temperature" = 20C
"allowed lowest water temperature" = 15C

On my shop, the temperature never goes bellow 15 or 16C on the winter, on summer it can goes up to around 26 or 28C.

Thank you for you help.

>>I have set the values for:
"allowed highest water temperature" = 20C
"allowed lowest water temperature" = 15C<<

Your chiller can hold a much tighter temp range. Tube output can be affected by temps so if you want to eliminate a potential variable you could set a tighter temperature range.

Thank you for your reply.

Doug Fisher wrote: Mon Jun 08, 2020
Your chiller can hold a much tighter temp range. Tube output can be affected by temps so if you want to eliminate a potential variable you could set a tighter temperature range.

So, what range you think I should set? 18/20? 20/20?

FWIW, I set mine either 17/18 or 18/19 (not at the laser, so I can't confirm). Maybe it is a bit of overkill but the chiller has no problem keeping it in that range and I want one less variable affecting my cutting power.