Has anyone experienced this strange issue? A couple of days ago, one of my P1S printers started not powering up in the morning when I turn on the master power switch. Three printers are connected to the master power switch, the other two power up fine. This setup has been working fine for months.
The strange thing is that if I unplug P1S power cord and plug it back into the same power socket, then it powers up and works fine. I have also did the same with the other end of power core (female end connects to the back of printer), so it’s not the power socket.
Can you elaborate on this? What is a “Master Power Switch”. Do you have these printers all on a power strip? if so, there’s your likely answer, the startup inrush current may be too high and the switching power supply on the one printer in question may be at the fringes of tolerance. It may have worked fine for months but things like humidity, temperature and the age of the supply can be at the margins.
Have you measured the overall power draw at the wall outlet?
The setup as follow
Wall outlet → Portable Power Station → power strip → three printers.
I have another identical setup in other room that has been running a year without problems. The printer in question is less than 4 months old, and it’s only happening to it. Maybe its power supply is the culprit. I’ll file a support ticket. Thanks
IIRC, power draw for all three printers running is less than 600w.
One other thing to try. With the printer on move the cord right where it plugs in to the printer very slightly and see if the power cuts out. Sometimes the crimped connectors on the inside will get vibrated loose so that they are making an intermittent connection. Worth a shot…
They make a version for every part of the world and cost between $12-$20
These tools are so useful in that it really will show the culprit. In fact I have three of them kicking around the lab just for the purposes of verifying power draw and voltage spikes. If you have a marginal power supply, it may work for months and then start acting up. The power meter can help detect this. But it’s not fool proof but better than nothing. What you really want to do is measure the current(amps). TYhat will tell you a lot.
A more elaborate version can be found here that will allow you to record and graph the inrush current. Again, this is not instrument-grade measurement but better than nothing.
Yep, it’s a good UPS for 3D printing. Typical computer UPS doesn’t have enough capacity to run 3D printer for long.
It has saved a few 20+ hours print jobs. I’ve found printer’s recovery system only works well with PLA. If power goes out for over 10 min, warpy material like ABS top layer dried and cooled to a point that layer adhesion fails after resuming printing.
Ok, so you’re referring to a UPS. Why didn’t you just say that?
Now, regarding this statement:
UPS units don’t have instrumentation-grade power meters. They typically only report power available in Amp Hours, and to a lesser extent, the current draw and power. However, none of these readings are particularly accurate. To test this theory, place a power meter in front of the UPS and compare the results to the devices as they are plugged in without the UPS and you’ll get a feel for how far off the measurement can be.
So, what still hasn’t been addressed? Have you measured the current draw from the outlet with any accuracy, and have you independently measured the printers? This will reveal whether or not the switching power supply in your printer is being overtasked or is possibly near imminent failure.
Note: This is a trick out of the system builders playbook. When I build systems for customers, when we charge them for accelerated burn-in, one of the reports they get is power draw during power cycling. We use elevated temperature chambers to stress the components during burn-in. There is a formula for this is is detailed in Method 1008 of MIL-STD-883, if you care to view it for yourself. However, our burn-in were 24-90 hours, depending on what the customer was willing to pay for.
Portable power station’s main function is serving as a giant portable battery, and not all of them can be used as UPS.
I bought these BL printers because I’m done with tweaking 3D printers, 10 years of tweaking 3D printers is enough for me. BL marketing slogan “More Designing, Less Tweaking”, I’m going hold their words to it. Anyway, thanks for the input.
