Hotend only reaches 180 with new Micromake Delta August 29, 2016 12:50AM |
Registered: 7 years ago Posts: 10 |
Re: Hotend only reaches 180 with new Micromake Delta August 29, 2016 03:20AM |
Registered: 10 years ago Posts: 14,672 |
Re: Hotend only reaches 180 with new Micromake Delta August 29, 2016 10:12AM |
Registered: 7 years ago Posts: 10 |
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dc42
Get a multimeter if you don't have one already, and measure the voltage at the power input terminals to the electronics. Assuming you have a 12V system, then it should be close to 12V even with the bed heater on. I suspect you are getting a lot less.
Re: Hotend only reaches 180 with new Micromake Delta August 29, 2016 02:01PM |
Registered: 7 years ago Posts: 31 |
Re: Hotend only reaches 180 with new Micromake Delta August 29, 2016 05:02PM |
Registered: 7 years ago Posts: 10 |
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meq123
Either that PSU is shot, or woefully underrated for your print needs
Re: Hotend only reaches 180 with new Micromake Delta August 29, 2016 05:07PM |
Registered: 7 years ago Posts: 31 |
Re: Hotend only reaches 180 with new Micromake Delta August 29, 2016 05:14PM |
Registered: 7 years ago Posts: 10 |
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meq123
Temp sensor will only cause the heater to be switched on or off (via RAMPs), so that has no extraneous effect on the PSU.
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meq123
You said you were reading ~2amps current which is fair (or low) for a 30-40W 12V element.
Still sounds like the PSU to me.
Re: Hotend only reaches 180 with new Micromake Delta September 02, 2016 08:42AM |
Registered: 7 years ago Posts: 10 |
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ryul
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meq123
Temp sensor will only cause the heater to be switched on or off (via RAMPs), so that has no extraneous effect on the PSU.
That's good to know. It means the problem is almost certainly not the temp sensor. It was still drawing 2 amps after it peaked at 180 degrees, which if the sensor was under-reporting it wouldn't do - it would turn of completely. Thanks!
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meq123
You said you were reading ~2amps current which is fair (or low) for a 30-40W 12V element.
Still sounds like the PSU to me.
Yeah, I definitely agree. I am going to test it as soon as I get a chance. How much power are those heating cartridges supposed to draw anyway?
Re: Hotend only reaches 180 with new Micromake Delta September 02, 2016 04:15PM |
Registered: 10 years ago Posts: 14,672 |
Re: Hotend only reaches 180 with new Micromake Delta September 02, 2016 04:26PM |
Registered: 7 years ago Posts: 10 |
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dc42
The Chinese LED PSUs are fine in my experience as long as they are adequately rated. For a typical 12V printer with a 10A bed heater, I suggest a 25A one.
Cheap ATX PSUs typically have very poor regulation on the 12V output. Good brands such as Corsair are better but cost a lot more.
Re: Hotend only reaches 180 with new Micromake Delta September 03, 2016 06:38PM |
Registered: 10 years ago Posts: 14,672 |
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ryul
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dc42
The Chinese LED PSUs are fine in my experience as long as they are adequately rated. For a typical 12V printer with a 10A bed heater, I suggest a 25A one.
Cheap ATX PSUs typically have very poor regulation on the 12V output. Good brands such as Corsair are better but cost a lot more.
I want to preface this by saying that I am not saying you are wrong, just sharing what has happened the past few days.
My experience the past few days was quite different. I received two power supplies with the printer I bought: a 12v 6 amp power-brick and a "12v" 16 amp LED strip power supply. The 12v 6amp one was able to get the hotend hot enough but failed to have enough power to do both that and the heated bed, which is why when I purchased the heated bed they included a larger power supply. Sadly, the larger power supply didn't have the voltage to get the hotend hot enough (it dropped to 8v when a load was applied). I thought "OK, so I got a dud" right? Wrong. I had another I'd bought for another project rated at 20 amps and it did the same thing and the printer didn't work any better.
The ATX power supply was one I picked up at a junk store and is undoubtedly a cheap junker one - 13 amp max on the +12v line? Yeah... even cheap ones these days come with 25 or 30 amp 12v lines. I hooked it up and the printer worked - the heatbed got to 60 and the hotend to 210 - and I tested the voltage and it was very close to 12v even under load. It is pretty clear that the issues with the LED ones were caused by their inability to maintain 12v under load.
Did I happen to get two duds? Possibly, but unlikely. I wouldn't recommend those PSUs - just fork out another $30 and get an ATX power supply! That's my experience anyway.
Re: Hotend only reaches 180 with new Micromake Delta September 23, 2016 07:27PM |
Registered: 7 years ago Posts: 10 |
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dc42
12V 6A is too small to handle any 3D printer IMO. The starting point is about 12V 10A or 24V 5A for printers without a heated bed. Most 12V bed heaters take 10A or more, making 12V 20A the absolute minimum for a 3D printer with a heated bed. It's best to have some margin, and a 25A PSU costs very little more than a 20A one, which is why I recommend 12V 25A as the starting point. Your 12V 16A PSU was probably simply under-powered for your printer. Caveat: it's not impossible to design a small printer that needs less power than this, but such printers are not common.
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dc42
The problem with cheap ATX PSUs is that they use the same transformer to drive both the 12V and 5V rails, so the regulation of them is not independent. When you draw a lot of power from 12V and very little from 5V, as 3D printers do, this causes the 12V rail to drop. This is not necessarily a problem, but if your bed heater has marginal power already, it can make the bed very slow to heat up.
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dc42
If you've been put off Chinese LED power supplies, you can pay more to buy a Meanwell one instead.