Can a single xbox 360 psu power a prusa i3

Hello all! I'm a newbie and nearly complete building my prusa i3. The structure is pretty much built and am now waiting for the electronics to arrive.

I've an xbox 360 203w psu modified to use as a power source from reading a couple of articles about it. My question is will I need more than the 360 psu itself to drive all the component on the i3? The i3 will have an mk2a heatbed since I plan on using abs.

In pics i've seen of the ramps board cabled, there are four wires going into the power connector. I guess these are two pairs of power. The modified 360 psu has a single pair going into the board. Is that enough? Or will I need a second 360 psu to plugin into the 2nd pair of the ramps?

If you want to try it out with one, you can. it has enough current to run both but you are on the hairy edge. if I were doing it and the only choice I had was to use those supplies I would use 2 of them and isolate the power between them. which you can do with ramps 2 power inputs. but it should work in theory with one supply.

on another note it has built in over current protection, so if too much current is used it will just shut down. unplug and replug in and you are good to try again.

also to clarify you can have single output supply goes to each ramps power input. 5 amp and 11 amp circuits can be powered by same supply.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2013 08:32PM by jamesdanielv.

I have literally just now tried an XBox360 203w psu on RAMPS1.4 Prusa i3. Motors work and extruder heats up fine but my (mk2b) heat bed seems to be struggling to get over 75 degrees...which is a pain. I was planning to use ABS. I've read that sticking some insulation on base can help. Might try that...

it takes a long time to heat up, and insulation may help. also be sure to not use an aluminum plate as that will absorb most of the heat.

look at voltage drop across the heater. is it more than a volt? if so then the wires used to power the heater may be too thin.

look at power level for bed in firmware. use bang bang method if available to heat bed.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/03/2013 05:22PM by jamesdanielv.

jamesdanielv Wrote:
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> also to clarify you can have single output supply
> goes to each ramps power input. 5 amp and 11 amp
> circuits can be powered by same supply.

So I can split each lead into a "Y" config and feed them into the 11a and 5a connectors?

Yes an xbox power brick can run a reprap with no problem. Yellow wires are 12v+, black is ground, and your have to connect red and blue to turn the power supply on. I connected a kill switch between red and blue. Beemn running my mendel now for 3 years on the same power supply.

i like the idea of a kill switch, there are times something may go wrong and you want to prevent the machine from damage. kill switch is perfect for immediate shutdown.