Pop! Goes the Power Supply

Was working on adding some cable management on my beloved FolgerTech 2020 aluminum printer, finished up, and plugged it back in.
Pop!
Immediately unplugged it and assessed the situation. From the sound of the pop, I could only assume it was the power supply (Sounded like a.22 rifle went off in my room.. ) so I disconnect it from my printer, and crack it open.
To my surprise, nothing looks burned or damaged. No caps had exploded, and there were no visible scorch marks or visible damage. So I decide to plug it back in, hear a faint click!, but think nothing of it. Pull out my multimeter, sure enough, its dead. The LED doesn't turn on, no output voltage, nothing. (Whew. Cheaper than fixing/replacing the motherboard. Assuming that it didn't blow up as well.)

Anyone know what happened? I didn't add new hardware or anything to my printer. Was unplugged from mains before I began working on it, didn't disconnect any cables.

Anyway, Next question.

I have a few ATX power supplies in my closet. Will any of these work as a replacement? Both are 250W...
I did notice that the stock power supply says it is a 30A output. According to these ATX power supplies, they only supply 8A for 12v.
Does this make it not work?

Am currently a student with no money to spend on the printer currently, so if I have to buy a new power supply, it will have to wait.


TL;DR
Will a 250W 8A 12v ATX power supply be sufficient enough to replace a blown 12v 30A Prusa i3 Power supply?

No.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

What caused it is either A: you caused a short circuit during your wore management (wire pinched or bare section contact) or B: it was just your power supply failure time <---- Less likely.

So you need to find the problem with the wiring and fix it before you hook up another supply. I would match the output of the original supply at minimum. So if it was a 30A then buy another 30A.

Quote
tmorris9
What caused it is either A: you caused a short circuit during your wore management (wire pinched or bare section contact) or B: it was just your power supply failure time <---- Less likely.

So you need to find the problem with the wiring and fix it before you hook up another supply. I would match the output of the original supply at minimum. So if it was a 30A then buy another 30A.

I was working on hiding endstop cables, so I doubt it is that. Looking at the insides of the power supply, I see solder blobs everywhere (Obvious chinese is obvious) but that's about it. I triple checked all wires, everything looks fine.

Okidoke, do you recommend an ATX power supply, or go and find a power supply semi specific for 3D printers?

I will probably upgrade to dual extruder eventually, so how much amperage is needed for 2 hotends+hot bed+ everything else?

All your questions about power supplies are answered in (surprise, surprise...) the wiki.

Choosing a Power Supply for your RepRap

Quote
AndrewBCN
All your questions about power supplies are answered in (surprise, surprise...) the wiki.

Choosing a Power Supply for your RepRap

Ah, forgot to check there, thanks!

Your main choices are the following:

1. Cheap ATX PSUs. The 12V regulation is typically poor and the PSU may be unreliable. Not recommended.

2. Cheap LED/CCTV power supplies. This is probably what you had. They are entirely adequate when they work, but may be prone to infant mortality. I use them in both my printers. I haven't had one fail yet, but I have heard of this type of PSU failing (like yours). I have also heard of them surviving output short circuits without damage. An advantage over ATX PSUs is that you can generally turn the output voltage up a little, which may be useful if your heated bed struggles to reach the required temperature. They generally have exposed terminals, so you need to print a cover to go over them for safety. At least some brands use leaded solder and so are not RoHS-compliant.

3. Expensive branded ATX PSUs. These generally have decent regulation on the 12V rail, but need a minimum load on at least the 5V rail to work reliably. If you get a "modular" one then you are spared a mess of unused cables. I used a Corsair CX-430M for a while and found it satisfactory.

4. Expensive LED/CCTV etc. PSUs such as you can get from Meanwell, RS Components and other component distributors. Hopefully more reliable than the cheap LED/CCTV supplies, but might be made in the same Chinese factories for all we know. I have no experience of them.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Quote
dc42
Your main choices are the following:

1. Cheap ATX PSUs. The 12V regulation is typically poor and the PSU may be unreliable. Not recommended.

2. Cheap LED/CCTV power supplies. This is probably what you had. They are entirely adequate when they work, but may be prone to infant mortality. I use them in both my printers. I haven't had one fail yet, but I have heard of this type of PSU failing (like yours). I have also heard of them surviving output short circuits without damage. An advantage over ATX PSUs is that you can generally turn the output voltage up a little, which may be useful if your heated bed struggles to reach the required temperature. They generally have exposed terminals, so you need to print a cover to go over them for safety. At least some brands use leaded solder and so are not RoHS-compliant.

3. Expensive branded ATX PSUs. These generally have decent regulation on the 12V rail, but need a minimum load on at least the 5V rail to work reliably. If you get a "modular" one then you are spared a mess of unused cables. I used a Corsair CX-430M for a while and found it satisfactory.

4. Expensive LED/CCTV etc. PSUs such as you can get from Meanwell, RS Components and other component distributors. Hopefully more reliable than the cheap LED/CCTV supplies, but might be made in the same Chinese factories for all we know. I have no experience of them.

Thanks for the info, will keep it in mind when I go on a trek for a power supply. Any thoughts on laptop charger/power supplies and the Dell mini power supplies? (Might be able to get my hands on one of those for free...)

I use a USFF Dell 220W 18A DA-2 Power Brick. I used it because it was free to me. So far, so good on my Funbot with 4 steppers, SmartLCD, MK3 Aluminum Heatbed, and 40W hotend. I've only been running it a couple months, so I can't tell you it will last long term. But it's worth a shot if you can get it free.

Dell USFF DA-2 Mod Link

Quote
madmike8
I use a USFF Dell 220W 18A DA-2 Power Brick. I used it because it was free to me. So far, so good on my Funbot with 4 steppers, SmartLCD, MK3 Aluminum Heatbed, and 40W hotend. I've only been running it a couple months, so I can't tell you it will last long term. But it's worth a shot if you can get it free.

Dell USFF DA-2 Mod Link

Okidoke, might try that, at least temporarily if all else fails.

Quote
MegaRocketPenguin
Thanks for the info, will keep it in mind when I go on a trek for a power supply. Any thoughts on laptop charger/power supplies and the Dell mini power supplies? (Might be able to get my hands on one of those for free...)

If your printer has no heated bed, or only a small heated bed, or a main-powered heated bed, then those types of PSU may be satisfactory. Laptop PSUs typically put out 19V so your electronics, fans, heaters etc. need to be rated for that. RepRapPro uses them for their Huxley and Fisher printer kits.

Think3DPrint3D uses a Dell PSU in their Mini Kossel kit, which has a small (170mm diameter) heated bed, and that worked OK for me before I rebuilt the printer in a larger size wanted an integrated PSU.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].