Ranger Laser Hall HTII stacker

[nick ferro]

Have a Hall HTII stacker with sudden Ranger laser problem.  Swapped the laser and still have same problem.  Noticed on the problem stacker the yellow light is not lit and the beam coming from the laser is VERY weak.....not counting at all.

Other stacker has the light lit and the beam is bright red & counts, etc.

Checked the F3 fuse and the IO module.  Power supply voltages are good.......

What am I missing?

Thanks..........

[nick ferro]

Follow up........turns out the light on the laser is indeed a bulb and the bulb was bad.  Replacement laser has a full beam and works fine.  Not sure now if the power cable was connected correctly......when I removed it and put it back on, the laser (spare) had the full beam.......Perhaps the original laser went bad - will check into that tomorrow.......

[nick ferro]

Okay - so much for the previous posts about the bulb and possible laser power cable not being connected correctly.  This stacker / laser will work for a shift or two, then the laser will get dim and not count.  I swapped lasers and get the same symptom.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  Looking at the laser power supply and that seems like a lot of wires to remove and replace..............any Hall stacker gurus reading these posts that may be able to help?

Thanks,

Nick

[Steve Poehls]

I don't have the hall stacker, but it sounds like a bad plug. maybe a bad solder joint or one of the pins loose, and being pushed back, so not always making contact.

[keldred]

Many many years since my Hall stacker days. I seam to remember we did go through a power supply once. Have you tried moving the power supply from one stacker to another and see if the problem moves with it? That would be the next thing I would try if I had more than one stacker, see if you can move parts one at a time from one machine to the other until you move the problem, then you will know what is bad.


Kevin

[drusso]

Nick,

The yellow indicator lamp on the side of the laser fails before the laser needs to be repaired.
The indicator shows low voltage at the control board.
The best way to trouble shoot the problem is to use a known good laser.
Plug it into the "bad stacker" and see if the red beam is still weak.
The connector pins could back out of the large connector or the 12 volt power supply could be failing inside the stacker. You would need to use a volt meter to determine if the power supply is ok.
The laser head itself can cause the power supply to fail or the laser assembly could need a rebuild.

thanks,
dave

[nick ferro]

Ordered a new Power One 12 volt power supply.  Will post back once I install and test.  Had the plug apart and did find one wire off the connector but have tried the stacker since that repair and still see the laser beam change in strength which also coincides with the weaker yellow bulb on the side of the laser.  Same problem using a known good laser, so hoping the new power supply solves the problem.  More to come!

[nick ferro]

Five shifts with the new Power One 12 volt power supply and all is happy with the laser.  Thanks to those on the site who replied and a special thanks to Tom Toth and Mark Thompson for their suggestions.