Running from an inverter or generator....

[StarLoc Adhesives]

Having moved all our laser cutting for kits to Bulgaria we have no mains here laser cutting is in 2 outbuildings on the farm and we are totally off grid using just solar and if required the generator kicks in to feed the batteries.

No info on the case anywhere ( they may have been...10 years ago ), but does anyone know how many watts the old version....very old blue hpc 3040 with parallel port draws, the tube is 40 watts ? the rest cant draw much....can it?

Anyway.....I can run off the solar , or the generator, generator 6000W and is running the big laser cutter, but very noisy.....so hope to avoid generator direct feed and use 12v batteries

Wondering if the electrics in the small lasers need very very stable current......, do i need a sine wave or modified sine wave inverter? want to get dedicated inverter for it?

Or if i run off the generator, should I use an UPS system to smooth out the power, or in case the fuel runs out? to keep pump circulating

Just wondering if anyone has tried them off non mains supply? how stable does the current need to be?

[Spooky]

The tubes are about 10% efficient Doc, so a 40 watt pipe is going to need about 400 watts to power it (give or take)

I'd go with a UPS that can supply a stable 600 watts+ if it's just the machine it's powering, if there are any ancillaries...well you know the rest

cheers

Dave

[Lightnin]

I have one of these

https://energenie4u.co.uk/catalogue/product/ENER007

(I guess other brands and prices are available)

it's quite useful (and cheap enough) when you need to know how much power you are using , and for what.
It's not quite quick enough to show the start up surge, which you could do with knowing for an inverter.
Not such a problem for the laser, but for other machines with induction motors it won't show the considerable start up current.

Personally , I'd recommend a sine wave inverter dedicated for the laser, as then you don't need to worry so much about spikes and dropouts when you start another machine mid cut. Thats based on my common sense/experience , rather than proven fact

...Sine wave, as the Tube PSU is a switched mode, which can be finicky, I have fried a desk top computer PSU with a cheapo inverter.


I'm on a limited supply to the workshop, so try not to start anything heavy (which would include a generator), when the lasers are cutting.

[StarLoc Adhesives]

Thanks, will look try and find a UPS, will have to bring it over on next trip back from the UK as nobody will post to here

This no mains anything causes a lot of unusual problems with lots of things, but better than the mains electric that is on and off every day over and over again, you wouldnt believe Im still on the original tube from 2005 and have never used distilled water, I used tap water in the UK and the last 2 years or so when Ive used it its been on well water....with a bit of sodium hypochlorite to keep it clean....