I was looking for an Uninterrupted Power Supply or UPS to feed the P1S.
Has anyone ever tried something and would share its device’s specs?
Data I collected: The peak power required from an X1C (data not found for P1S) is 1000 Watts.
I might need a “Line interactive” type to save some money, there would probably be no need for an “Online” class device which has no delays of milliseconds but is more expensive (this has to be confirmed)
I need one with a real power output of 1kW so there’s a rule of 60% which says I should go for a 1666 VA (yes, voltamperes are a thing it seems) or so.
What can you suggest me also generally, given that the goal is to avoid power interruptions or at least save the print keeping the bed and the chamber heated?
How can I find some info on how the P1S behaves when a power interruption occurs while printing?
If you are in 240V world, the startup power draw can exceed 1000W, in 120V world, it tops out at around 350. As the bed heats, the draw drops. Steady-state printing is about 120-130W.
Old APC Smart UPS 1500VA 230V does the job for me. X1C causes UPS to beep for 10-15s of initial bed heating, P1S causes ~10s longer beeping (both printers max out ups capability at 230V). Later load drops to ~15%.
Note - such UPS is only for short outages (I would say 30-45 min max - didn’t test exact time).
I usually run both printers at this UPS at the same time - just starting job on second printer after first “beeping” ends.
Thanks anyone for the very fast responses, guys. I wasn’t expecting fast like that.
Your Info is very useful to me: As I suspected our Bambu hardly tops the max current draw indicated in the X1 TechDataSheet.
You’re saying that it in fact only does it at startup!
So, surely I won’t start any print when the grid power is off. In most cases my printer will have to handle less than 200! And this is a good new!
A 2000 VA / 1200W output UPS should not only keep the printer up but keep it printing for like 20’. Which is the most time someone here can survive without electricity, given the case the print is running and I’m away but there’s someone in the house, and he takes no hurry since he’s unaware of my print in trouble.
How much can be the max current draw of the Bambu when, let’s say, printing with nozzle at 300°C, plate at 90°, chamber over 70 and some fans? Would it top around 300W, or is it more?
Asking as your previous was unclear because the “apocalypse” scenario would be like (for me) printing PA-CF like 120 bucks per Kg, have to leave a 15hs print to dang sleep, and be sure to have those 10’ of the printer keeping printing before I can even think to be running in the cold outside to restore power.
Thanks you too for the speed in answering and the useful info!!
So, you got an old one which is like 75% the capability of the 2k VA size which I found to be common and have a good price per VA let’s say.
It beeps you say, confirming that -on Startup- a Bambu exceeds the 1kW indicated in the X1 data sheet, and as the other guy pointed, it only uses 15% of the max load while normally printing, which should be around 15% of 750W for your 1500 VA, confirming the 120W he said.
Good to know that a recent one with capability of 2000 VA more than suffices to hold more than 2 printers depending how long.
And yours keep a Bambu up and running for half an hour no prob, which fulfills my initial requisites.
If I got you both correctly, a standard UPS of the selected capability does the job without having UFO stuff (to me) like 100% synusoidal wave, be an Online one or having fancy no-delay systems as the standard 20ms time of the cheaper ones still does not interrupt the print.
A tension stabilizer even, one of the most basic functions I’ve seen all them do, is suggested but you’re saying it’s not mandatory.
Am I all right?
Once the bed and hotend are up to temp, the draw varies between 100 and 130W while printing - at least that’s what I measured on 120V. I doubt it would get much higher no matter what your settings. The bed is powered directly from the line voltage, which is why it draws so much more power on 240V, but it also heats much quicker and thus settles down.
I have my printer on a 750VA UPS (120V) and never a problem.
I would like to revisit the topic, as I am also in the process of choosing a UPS for my P1S printer. While I understand the required power capacity, I am not sure whether it needs to be a UPS with a pure sine wave or if a modified sine wave would suffice?
I have a 600W APC UPS, as initial bed heating spikes to 1000W at 220V, this UPS becomes overloaded and shuts off. With a trick of manually incrementing the build plate temperature with a step of 2 degree at a time till target temperature before starting the print avoids the 1000W spike I am able to run the X1C + AMS combo with 600W UPS. I guess one feature can be added in printer to heat build plate slowly for this use case.
Apologies for reviving this thread, but I’m new to Bambu (but not to UPSes). I have a minor contribution & a question:
My contribution to the thread:
I’ve had great success with the CP1500PFCLCD (available on Amazon; unfortunately I don’t have permission to post links yet) – I have about 5 of these around the house that are going strong after 5 years in service. It’s quite affordable in Canada & not bad in the US.
I’m in a 120V area, so that’s definitely overkill for my new P1S/AMS, but obviously it’s better to be over- rather than under-powered (and this one will also run an old iMac).
I’ve also found that Bambu maintains a wiki at (change the hxxps:// – sorry)…
hxxps://wiki.bambulab.com/en/general/power-consumption
…with the power consumption specifications for their printers, in case that’s useful to anyone.
My Question:
Is there any way for the printer to be notified of a power loss, so that it can pause the print at a location that is unlikely to cause issues when resuming?
Most of these UPSes have a USB interface that will notify 1 device that mains power has been lost (e.g. right now my iMac will shut off after 5 mins running on UPS power). Some of the fancier ones have networked communications that can notify multiple devices.
Or would this just be a waste of time, since the print bed cooling down is the biggest issue & a controlled “pause” wouldn’t be useful (i.e. it’s better off just continuing to run until the UPS is depleted)?
Hi everyone. I agree with tree_frog’s question. I’d also like to pause printing when the UPS detects a power outage and then resume when the power returns. This would make the batteries last much longer, reducing the risk of losing prints during longer outages.
