My X1C started to give glitches on the (240V) net recently when a new print starts. There are 3 consecutive glitches.
I notice this because of a computer (that is switched off at the moment) that uses a master slave switch to turn on a compressor when the computer is turned on.
When I start a new print on the X1C the contactor (heavy relay) is switched on off 3 times in about 1~1.5 sec.
Can this be the start of a dying power supply?
It just started and this X1C is now about 2 years old.
If you’ve been running it consistently for 2 years, yes. If you have not used it much in 2 years and it is beginning to glitch, no. Wear and tear, just like tires on a car.
No, it’s the heatbed, nothing else in the X1C draws any significant amount of power. The heatbed does not run through a power supply.
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So the heatbed runs directly on mains power? That would be a cost reduction due not having to have a huge power supply.
If that is the case the master slave switch might be dying.
Yes, just like a space heater or hair dryer.
I wouldn’t call it a cost saving but more a logical step to enable higher power and therefore faster heat up.
My Ultimaker2 has an enormous power supply and still needs 3 times as long to reach target temperature.
Of course you also save something on the power supply. On the other hand, powering the heat bed directly from mains implies increased efforts to fulfill the much higher safety regulations.
So it is the technically better solution at the cost of higher effort.
In my first printer, a reprap back in 2009, I did the same. The bed was a slab of aluminium about 8mm thick. On the bottom I made power resistors and powered them with a phase controller. For me it was a lot cheaper to do it like that.
3D printing came a long way since then.
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