Am I missing something

[Ron Moorehead]

Ok, guys I have been lurking around here for a while now. I have a 6 year old GCC LaserPro Explorer II laser that has been working great. I clean the rails and lens before every job in the morning, the mirrors as needed. Yesterday I was running a job and hear a loud bang and the laser stops, the fans are running but the control panel is dead. I shut every thing down. Time to take a break and look at it in the morning. As I am watching TV and thinking about the laser it dawns on me that I have heard that noise before, it sounded like a capacitor blowing up, (pass life) so I started to look at the power supplies today and sure enough I found the power supply for the control board had a bad cap on it.
I called GCC and got a dealer name to get parts from called and they were out of the office, I went to the internet and looked up Mean Well power supplies and found the same one online ADS-15548 for $50.00 plus shipping. I ordered it. The dealer called back and we talked I told him the power supply was bad, I had put in on the test bench and applied 120vac and had no output, he had one in stock so I asked about the price, he said they just went up in price, but he said he would sell it to me for $700.00. Once I picked my self up off the floor I told him I would think about it and get back to him. Wow 14 times the price of what I found online.

My question am I missing something, in looking at the images and spec sheet on the one I found online it looks the same right down to the mounting screw holes, and output voltages.

[Chuck Stone]

You didn't miss a thing.

[George M. Perzel]

Amen
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[Dave Sheldrake]

MeanWell are a Chinese manufacturer of PSU's, RECI branded PSU's are made by MW

or as Lev Andropov says in the movie Armageddon "American components, Russian components , all made in Taiwan!"

cheers

Dave

[Sotos Patistas]

If you haven't already ordered your replacement, I'd suggest you spend some some time on your laser tube manufacturer's site and track down the specs of your tube, specifically the current requirements. The PS you linked to only has an output of 3.2 amps, that seems awfully low unless your only running 15 or 20 watts (just guessing). My 35 watt Coherent tube has a requirement of 12 amps. It isn't unheard of for GCC to save a few $$ by ignoring the manufacturer's specs and putting in a lesser PS. Don't ask me how I know, let's just say that LaserPro and I no longer exchange Christmas cards.

[matthew knott]

I've used and specced lots of MW power supplies, great quatily, great value and very reliable, as good as XP or Lamda in my opinion but none of the cost

[Ron Moorehead]

The power supply that went bad and I am replacing is used to power the circuit board and servo motors, not the laser tube it has it's own power supply that looks to be good.

I am just wonder why a replacement from GCC would cost so much more.

Thanks for all the replies.

[Glen Monaghan]

"I am just wonder why a replacement from GCC would cost so much more."

profit. Because their typical customers wouldn't know to look elsewhere and would be willing to spend the money to get the right part to get back up and running quickly, GCC makes more money off the customer's naiveté.

[Sotos Patistas]

Ahhh, I see. Smart of them to do that I suppose.

The power supply that went bad and I am replacing is used to power the circuit board and servo motors, not the laser tube it has it's own power supply that looks to be good.

I am just wonder why a replacement from GCC would cost so much more.

Thanks for all the replies.

[Steve Morris]

try pricing a car based on spare parts costs, same principle sell you the product then have a lifetime of income