Hi everyone,
every night after I finish printing, I turn off my P1S.
Do you turn them off?
I read comments on facebook of people who haven’t turned off their printer since 2023.
Are there any good practices?
Thanks
1 Like
Turn it off. Most people don’t understand the wear and tear of electricity.
1 Like
Turning it on and off could be better or worse than leaving it on. The answer is tricky. Power cycling causes “inrush current” stress on components, there’s an initial surge. Operating heat also stresses components. And components can’t fail if they’re not powered on. So powering it off can be beneficial.
If you’re printing for >=12 hours/day, I wouldn’t power it off.
If the powered-on idle time will be more than 12 hours, especially if it’s when you’re asleep, I’d power it off. BBL had an issue last year where some people’s printers started printing on their own. Unlikely to happen again, I’m sure, but…
2 Likes
It really depends on how much you use it. I switch off myself. And there’s an argument that for security reasons (mentioned above) it’s a good idea for it to be off when you’re not monitoring it.
Also I wonder if that “initial surge” problem that is often cited is a bit exaggerated, or maybe it was more of a problem with older electronics. Although, everyone knows that modern manufacturers enjoy having their stuff fail eventually, rather than work forever…
Inrush/surge is very real. At turn on capacitors are charging and inductors may look like almost direct shorts give or take. You can avoid a lot of that with zero-crossing solid state relays but you can still have charging currents and such on the first cycles. How tolerant the circuits are to that depends on lots of things.
Yeah I hear you, I don’t doubt that there’s an impact. But as infrequently as I’ve seen hardware fail when it’s being turned on and off daily (or more), I just have a lot of skepticism that it’s a big concern.
No idea. I’ve got an SSR turning my printer off and on. I almost always turn mine off when it’s not in use to not age it or waste the energy. And as others noted the security risk and also safety. Anything internet connected that can be commanded to do bad things doesn’t get power when not in use. But everyone’s mileage may vary.
2 Likes
The act of turning electronic equipment on and off causes stress on the components. Also the electrical supply can be as bad, often shortening the life of the device. Voltage sag is worse then voltage spikes and both are bad. I use UPS devices on my expensive electronics. Most of it is left on if it gets a lot of use.
1 Like
At this point, I just don’t turn the printer off sometimes because of a huge print queue, but if I can, I will, and you should too.
1 Like
I work at a powerplant that is online for 18 months at a time and was built 40+ years ago, the most likely time for things to break is startup and shutdown of the different systems. I try and leave my printer energized if I can because there is negligable wear from electricity going through most componenets. Especially this printer compared to my last is more likely to tell me hey something is wrong look at me which saves me time finding a problem. Just my .02$.
3 Likes
Maybe Bambu can add a feature where the printer makes an annoying noise if it is left running but not printing. My printer is SOOOO quiet, I forget it is even on. I had a Cetus MK1 that sounded like the air conditioner was going out. I had no trouble remembering to turn it off. Why did I go from the Cetus to the A1? I had some spools of filament about the printer and some how knocked one of the spools onto the top of the printer. Level - smevel, the poor thing is now in parts and I love the ■■■■ out of my Bambu A1. Wish I had the money to convert it to a combo but I don’t so that is a sad story for another day.
I leave mine on, it runs through a UPS and I’m not concerned about power consumption. Prints probably 12 of 24hrs a day anyway.
I had a geek squad guy tell me one time never to plug my printers (not 3D) into my UPS. He explained it at the time and I understood pretty much. I take it that this is not the case with a 3D printer? I would be happy to plug my P1S into a UPS if it were safe for the printer. I definitely believe in protecting my things. Especially pricey things. You aren’t the first person to mention plugging into UPS.
Well I’ve always used UPS and the like for all my electronics.
Because of where I work I have Panamax and Furman Power management for my TV/Theater/game systems. I have an APC for my resin and a Goldmate for the Bambu. I prefer the surge protection and constant power they offer.
Have my wife’s monitor, printer, and laptop dock on an APC, daughters A1 Mini on another. Where we live power goes out if you say the word storm, so they’ve proven worthwhile with no issues.
2 Likes
Maybe Best Buy is paying them to say that so your printer gets “accidented” by a power surge and hey, we sell printers bro, need a new one?…!
That’s a joke, but seriously I don’t believe any of these rumors that using a UPS with electronics is so terrible. Maybe a cheap one would provide “dirty” power that might not be great for electronics longevity, I suppose. But how much that really matters seems like guesswork.
I hesitate to use a (cheap) UPS if something draws a lot of power. These 3DP pull a lot when heating up, but I bet a good UPS could handle it as long as it’s sized appropriately.
1 Like
No way to know what he was referring to specifically but there can be issues. I assume you’re talking about laser printers and those pull a lot of power when heating up. That’s the major issue. The UPS needs to be able to supply that peak load that comes much like the load you get when a 3D printer is heating up.
But with laser printers it’s tougher to justify a UPS because worst that happens in a power failure is you lose a sheet or two of the job. With 3D printers you can lose hours of printing and significant filament value.
There are also different kinds of UPS units that have different kinds of outputs - square wave, approximated sine wave, and pure sine wave basically. Each of those has different considerations for the kinds of loads ok to use with them and get it wrong and it’s possible to overheat components.
And it is a bit of guesswork. Sine outputs are pretty universal and are what the power companies supply. If it’s a true sine output and sufficient capacity you can use that kind of power for any standard AC use. The square and modified sine outputs are cheaper but cause more problems for some power supplies.
1 Like
That’s exactly what I do. Our power is pretty good where I am but we do get power dropouts occasionally from wind or other reasons.
My UPS is a biggish one, though. I got an Ecoflow Delta Pro as an emergency power backup and use it to run my printer instead of just letting it sit. It’s a pure sine wave output and my X1C has no idea it’s running off a battery. I just need to recharge the battery every now and then but it did an 18 hour print the other day with 30% power left starting at 70%.
On topic, I have the remote panel for the Ecoflow and turning my printer and bento box on and off is just a button press on the remote panel. I always turn my printer off when not in use. Before the bento got added, the idle power draw of the X1C was low enough it would think loads were off and power down automatically after about 15 minutes once all fans stopped on the printer but with the bento it thinks power is still needed so is manual now.
1 Like
I turn mine off when I will be gone/not using it for a while. It does have a sleep function that kicks in, but I am not sure how close to being powered off that is…
Electricity does not generally create “wear and tear” on electronics. What does create wear and tear on electronics is “thermal cycling”. You turn it on, and it heats up. You turn it off and it cools. Every heat/cool cycle is bad for the circuit board and components (the firmware/software doesn’t care). Thermal cycling is generally bad for ANY electronics.
In the case of Bambu Printers, I don’t know, and Bambu should provide some guidance based on their design. It is probably better to leave it running. But I don’t know the specifics of the design, including Junction Temperatures.
Turning it off when you are going away is a good safety habit, but not necessarily good for the printer.
Yes, the heat can destroy the enamel of some wires and result in a short circuit.