I just can't get it fired up!

[danielbriggs]

I'm talking about my Argon...
It's a nice little JDSU 20mW SL 2011 something something, and I've had it going many many times. However I've not had it fired up for about 3 months due to being back and two from uni. (And it won't fit in the boot with the rest of my stuff It's either my xbox or the argon )
I usually keep it in good order, giving it at least a few hours every month or so, if not more in between.

However cutting to the chase, when I plugged it all in tonight and turned the key, I got NOTHING...
(after the 40 sec delay obviously). Tried checking all the cables, and they were in and tight, and everything seemed kosher. Powered down and tried again, still nothing... gave it a few more attempts but still nowt.

Checked the interlocks: fine (green LED on and all cables secure)
Checked the cables + connectors: fine
Checked the keyswitch: fine
Checked the PSU was whirring away happily: fine
Checked the laser head: fine (the heater coil whatsit thingy was glowing merrily as it usually does)
Checked all the fuses as a last ditch attempt: fine

But NO magic 'click' after the turn-key-delay, NO pretty plasma glow, NO argon goodness out the business end

Is it the way you hold your lip? or has the 3 months downtime put the tube to bed? It's only got about 6,000 hours on the 10k elec-chemical counter.
Should I get my multi-meter at the ready?

Some one put me out me misery please!?

Ta,
Dan

[mixedgas]

hold a white card in front of the output end and look for ignite pulses, listen for the click.

Steve

[danielbriggs]

Cheers Steve,
I'll try that tomorrow; it's late now.

I swear I didn't hear any clicking or clunking before, but I'll check again and with the white paper.

Ta,
Dan

[wilf]

Hi
The last time i experienced that problem it was caused by the igniter capacitor,
I notice you are in warrington , i think i have got 5 left if you want one ?.


Neil

[danielbriggs]

That's 3 of us on PL that are from sunny Warrington then!
Should it be the capacitor that need's a tinkering, I'll drop you a PM and perhaps we could sort something out. But I'm still on the fault finding mission

Cheers for the offer,
Dan

[danielbriggs]

OK, this is weird...
I just got the Argon out of its box and switched it on first time. *click* it's on fine
The ONLY difference was between this and last night was the fact I was using a 2m extension lead from the plug yesterday. The extension lead is a 13A fused, bog standard lead, nothing fancy or surge protected.

I can't work out why that caused the PSU not to kick over the tube current when the key was turned, as everything was powered up fine...

But it's working now, so I'm happy. I'd just like to know why that lead caused it to stick?

Ta,
Dan

[buffo]

Maybe the extension cord is going bad (high resistance) and the voltage drop was just enough to prevent the ignitor from firing?

Or maybe the cap is starting to go bad, and you caught it on a bad day yesterday... Certainly wouldn't hurt to slap a new one in there, if it ever fails to start again. (Especially if it fails to start and you're *not* using the extension cord.)

Adam

[drlava]

You've got to give her the good stuff to get her fired up!

[GooeyGus]

I once had a 'monster cable' surge protector/outlet bar that i tried to run my small argon on. There was NOTHING else plugged into it and it wouldn't start the tube until it tried like 15 times... 15 clicks on a tube that ALWAYS starts on the first click (this is the laser used for my avatar picture... hehe). Well, I thought maybe the tube was going high pressure since it sat for a couple months so I let it run for about 3 hours. All the sudden the laser wasn't running and there was just a high pitched beeping from the power bar. The bar was rated at 120V/20A but couldn't handle an argon running 5A for more than a couple hours... it got really hot and self destructed. It was a 100 dollar power strip too

[danielbriggs]

That sounds more or less exactly the same as my situation...
(except my power strip was about £2 )

I guess the good stuff is no good either!

Strange old thing lasers...
I can only imagine how much more messing around, fiddling and twirling valves, knobs, dials, levers, pulleys, cranks and pistons is needed to get a SP-168 on it's feet and lasing
(Nudge: Rob, and GooyGus!)

Ta everyone for the help.
Dan