Power Supply Swap

Anyone interested in swapping a brand new Alpine 750w power supply for 230 for a 110v? The one i got shipped from RepRap was faulty. I got a new one sent under warranty but then promptly moved from Australia to Canada. It's never been used because it's (unfortunately) not switchable. That is an option not chosen when selecting the power supply, though i'm not sure why if it ships internationally.

So. I'm without power. My alternative is to buy a new power supply but i'm not sure what the difference is ( [www.amazon.ca] ) but the price is between $64 and $300. I had lots and lots of issues last time due to my power supply failure the first time (faulty ATX unit, replaced by RepRap kindly). In the interim I was using a 500w power supply which worked for everything but the heater, which in turn also caused me no end of headaches.

Basically, i don't want to get this wrong.
Maybe RepRap would be interested in a direct swap? Anyone else?

P

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Green Machine - slowly becoming multicoulored!

This one [www.amazon.ca] worked well for me. Being modular, you can leave off the cables that you don't need.

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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].

Thanks DC42. You had no issue with the supply of power with the 430W? The supplied power supply is 750w.

I had one in Australia that was older and a 500w. I was having ongoing issues on the edges with prints not sticking no matter what i tried. I had assumed this was due to the 500w power supply being unable to heat the bed properly. It may also have been the warped/sagging MDF bed. I have since ordered an aluminium bed so hopefully if the 430w is sufficient, all should be well.

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Green Machine - slowly becoming multicoulored!

A single nozzle Ormerod needs about 20A at 12V, which is only 240W. However an ATX power supply is designed to supply power at 3.3V, 5V and 12V. So the important factors are the maximum current available on the 12V rail, and how well the 12V rail is regulated, especially when the load on the other rails is light. Low-cost power supplies don't do this very well. The CX430M does it much better.

If you search this forum for CX430M then you should find the thread in which I published the voltages I measured both with that psu and with the Alpine 550W psu supplied with the kit.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2015 03:51AM by dc42.

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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
parper101
Anyone interested in swapping a brand new Alpine 750w power supply for 230 for a 110v? The one i got shipped from RepRap was faulty. I got a new one sent under warranty but then promptly moved from Australia to Canada. It's never been used because it's (unfortunately) not switchable. That is an option not chosen when selecting the power supply, though i'm not sure why if it ships internationally.
P

Are you certain that it will not work on 110V? Most PSUs have been switchmode units that work on any voltage between about 90 and 250 for many years. In my opinion you are in any case far better off buying a 30A 12V PSU rather than using a PC power supply - there are many available on ebay at very reasonable prices - see [www.ebay.com]

Many (most?) of these have a preset to adjust the voltage, and tweaking it a bit higher (I use 14V) makes bed heating a lot faster. The only component that has any probability of being harmed by a few extra volts is the fan, and my fan has worked fine on 14V for the past year. If it is a worry however, you could always drop the voltage to the fan with a 12V regulator or a few diodes in series with it (the fan is low current so does not need anything high-powered).

Dave

Gentlemen,

Thanks so much. As it stands I would prefer the 30A but have gone with the 430 w instead. Next upgrade i'll do power first! For now i just want to get the thing up and running again to catch up on all the updates!

Thanks again, much appreciated.

P

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Green Machine - slowly becoming multicoulored!

btw you can find my measurements on the CX430M here [forums.reprap.org] and the corresponding measurements for the original Alpine PSU here [forums.reprap.org].

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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
...and the corresponding measurements for the original Alpine PSU here [forums.reprap.org].

and as an example of the original Alpine doing OK - just started a ABS print

bed start temp. 17,6C, room temp. 15C

11,05V measured at the Duet terminals, original cardboard isolator on top of bed as isolator:

17:15 - 17,6C
17:25 - 100C
17:27 - 110C

12 minutes to heat up 110 degrees, about the same time it took me to heat up the hotend for changing filament and zero the axises, that's good enough for me

Erik