Cyonics Argon 40mla questions

[icecruncher]

I recently harvested 2 almost identical 40MLA cyonics argons.

I connected the pins for use and the first one fired right up.

7 lines and a beautiful 50mw beam. No issues

The second one is another story. The power supply had a different configuration on the plug for starters (I thought these were all standard household connectors? This was either a NEMA 5-20P or a NEMA 6-20P). So I used the power supply from the first one instead.

I have not pulled the cover off the head of the second one yet, but I'm getting a very slight glow out the front of the tube that appears more purple with a redish tinge also. And inside, the back of the tube appears to be an orangish red glow. These are my first argons, so I could use the help.

[absolom7691]

The orange you are seeing in the back of the tube is most likely the filament. Steve would be best to answer these questions but it sounds like the tube might be up-to-air (enough gas to ionize barely, but no where close to lasing). Nice that you got one working though! Argons are always fun to play with.

[Stoney3K]

Do you hear the starter firing once the power supply is on for long enough? (click-click-click)

If it fires but the tube fails to get a discharge, it may be up to air. If the starter doesn't fire, there may be something else wrong like faulty starter or anode wiring in the head.

Your tube is definitely not discharging judging by the colour of the light coming out of the head... the orange glow is from the cathode filament, and the purple glow is nothing more than thermionic emission of electrons from the cathode filament travelling to the anode. If there was a discharge in the tube, it would have a fairly bright blueish white glow, similar to the laser's beam colour.

[icecruncher]

haven't had a chance to listen for the starter firing (plus I don't know what to listen for and I'm hard of hearing), BUT I was tossing out one of the 373a cases from the case that the argon that isn't working was in.

There was a piece of masking tape on the sideof the case that said: 20a 125v T.L.

Also, like I said, the plug on this one appears to be a plug for a 20amp circuit.

Is there any chance it's just not getting enough current to fire from a standard wall plug with the other power supply?

[Stoney3K]

The other power supply was supposed to be 240VAC, so it may be more demanding on current, meaning it's a larger tube.

However, for as far as I know, the other supply should be able to start it up to the point of discharge if it's gas intact, but it may just max out at less current than the tube is able to run on.

120VDC and 4-5A should be no problem for both supplies and would definitely cause the tube to start discharging (if not lasing) if all of the electrics are right.

The starter board is inside the argon's head, not in the PSU, so it could be the cause of the problem.

[icecruncher]

Here are a couple pics from the one that is working.

Along with my BLM-100 473
I was comparing colors