HV power supply help!

[georgehine]

so I installed a ammeter to my laser and found a strange thing I cant figure out. the ammeter reads 1 as if it is out of range until I cut/engrave. Also the most power I can get through my laser is 13ma and it should get around 24ma. If I unplug the 110v power to the HV suppl then the ammeter reads 0.0 as it should. any ideas. perhaps my power supply is bad.

[Techgraphix]

How, exactly, did you connect the Amp-meter? What kind of meter is it (Analog, digital)
If you can laser through wood without the Ampmeter, there is probably nothing wrong with your supply.. It works or not.. There is not much in between..

Kees

[georgehine]

OK big thanks to StigOE he helped me solve this problem! I had my ammeter hooked up to my 24v power supply with a 7812 voltage regulator to drop the volts to 12v. for some reason this made my laser power supply only allow 13ma of current. also made the ammeter read out of range when there was no current flowing. I don't understand what was screwing it all up, but it was for sure not right. I added a separate power supply just for the ammeter and it cured all my problems. if anyone can explain the half power my laser was getting i would love to know what was happening.

[macona]

The input of the ammeter is not isolated from the power supply and you had a ground loop.