I printed an AMS Riser for my X1C (AMS Riser V2 Remixed by maCyo42 - MakerWorld) and am currently getting it installed. In order to improve the lighting in the chamber I would like to replace the stock LED bar with an LED strip (6500K White LED Light Strip) and I‘d love to still be able to control it with the same software „light“ button. Since I will be removing the light bar I thought I could use its connector on the AP board which provides the required 5 V.
What I‘m unsure about though is if it‘ll be able to supply the necessary current. I measured the current drawn by both LED elements and while the stock bar draws around 200 mA, the strip I cut to size is almost at 1 A… (which makes sense, because the aim is to increase the lighting) If it were a slight current increase I’d just try it out since it should be designed to have a certain margin but with a 400% increase and a 150 € board I thought it’d be wiser to seek some advice.
Would anybody happen to know the specifications for the AP board, more specifically for the maximum current the light connector can supply? Or have you tried this mod yourself?
I think I found my answer… : )
I was about to contact support with the same question but the AI Bot was able to point me to the article „Bambu Lab Mods to be cautious about“ (Bambu Lab Mods to be cautious about | Bambu Lab Wiki) stating:
LED lights connected to the AP board
The AP board of the X1 and P1 series is designed to supply up to 0.3A of power to the LED bar used for iluminating the enclosure. If the printer is upgraded with a more powerful LED light which generates a higher power draw, the AP board can be damaged.
We strongly recommend avoiding a higher power LED light as it can lead to damage to the AP board which is not covered by warranty.
For dedicated lighting, we recommend using the 6500K White LED Light Strip with external power or connecting it to the P1 USB port.
Thanks so much for your answer! I found the same thing just now and I‘m glad I didn‘t fry my AP board (wondering if it has overcurrent protection). I‘ll probably go with a relay or transistor approach.
Just a thought but many people like the bento boxes for filtering the air in the printer chamber to reduce harmful concentrations of tiny plastics and various chemicals.
I recently got my own and it came with its own power supply that has plenty of headroom to run LED strips. I have mine on the same outlet strip as the printer so the bento box runs whenever the printer has power and so would LEDs if you used power from the bento box supply.
You’d just need to make sure all fans, LEDs, and the bento supply were the same voltage rating and you’d lose the remote control ability, but like @PrinterMcgee said, a relay could still be used to get that back if important.
