Favorite Power Supply?

Good Afternoon!

I'm midway through a rebuild of a Techzone Huxley I started 6-7 years ago. I got partway through the cal process when different parts - including the board - started failing, I got tired of dealing with their customer service, and life got in the way, so I shelved it up until 2014, when I replaced I bought a RAMBo 1.1B to replace the monotronics, only to shelve it again (too busy) until 2 weeks ago.

After installing a brand new E3D-V6 and preparing to test the electronics, it's come to my attention that the original power supply is waaaaay too weak. (only 5A @12V) So I'll need a new one.

Any recommendations? I'm looking for specific products, in the 300W range.

Also, my background is in mechanical engineering, and while I do have hobbyist electrical experience, its only with low-power stuff like DIY guitar pedals and stuff like that. What I'm getting at is that I really do not feel comfortable hacking into and/or modifying PSU board components, so I'd prefer something that doesn't involve doing that.

Thanks in advance for your help!

I've had very good luck with this one from Amazon. It only fires up the fan when it needs to so it's not noisy all the time, and it's been working like a champ. I've got 2 running in 2 different printers, and it was very inexpensive option to start with.

The Rambo is capable of 24V. Maybe it's worth changing heated bed and extruder-heater and go that way?

Mean well seems to be pretty good. Looking at teardowns of various power supplies, many of the low-end ones are not able to handle their rated load, so if you need to push it there you're better off with a higher quality supply. If you're looking to use only half rated capacity then the low-end will probably serve you fine. It may still be worth opening the PSU and looking in there for loose solder balls which may short something out.

I thought I read somewhere that - despite being rated for 24V - some parts on the board don't actually like being run at that voltage. I guess that's not the case?

I don't actually have a heated bed. (I don't even have a glass bed, for that matter) And I literally just bought the 12V E3D-V6, so I'm not really looking to swap it out.

Any specific "higher quality" power supplies you could recommend? Just trying to look at all my options.

Thanks!

Quote
ajsmcs
I thought I read somewhere that - despite being rated for 24V - some parts on the board don't actually like being run at that voltage. I guess that's not the case?

I don't actually have a heated bed. (I don't even have a glass bed, for that matter) And I literally just bought the 12V E3D-V6, so I'm not really looking to swap it out.

Any specific "higher quality" power supplies you could recommend? Just trying to look at all my options.

Thanks!

You don't have to swap it out at all just replace the Heater cartridge and the Fan for 24V Variants

I recently installed a 200W 24V MeanWell power supply in my Cubex rehab. I selected it because MeanWell supplies are quality units, unlike the cheapo "LED Supply" things that litter ebay. I also chose that one because it is fanless. It didn't cost any more than the crappy LED supplies but has a 3 year warranty.

I notice when you search for MeanWell on ebay, among the actual MeanWell supplies you also find something claiming to be MeanWell with a logo that says "MVN" on a red background that looks a lot like the Meanwell "MW" on a red background logo. The sincerest form of flattery is to have a Chinese company try to steal your brand. As nearly as I can tell, the MVN supplies are just the cheapo, no-protection, LED supplies with a faked MeanWell logo.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2017 06:54AM by the_digital_dentist.

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

Perhaps not the ideal choice for you given your comments about not wanting to do any modifying, but since others will no doubt find this thread I thought I'd give a mention to the HP server power supplies. These are available used at very reasonable prices and are very high quality units that will provide rock solid power for typical printer usage. They are popular with the RC crowd for running high power battery chargers, so you can find instructions for getting them running (they don't just power up if you plug them in, there's a minimum amount of wiring that has to be done first). Some day I'll get around to writing up a summary with a 3d printing perspective.

Here's a search on amazon.com for the model I'm using:

[www.amazon.com]

Here you go.....

[www.rcmf.co.uk]

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JamesK
... I thought I'd give a mention to the HP server power supplies. ...

Mine required some minimum load to regulate reliably - the dirty power it delivered fried a stepper driver capacitor for me. Adding a ballast resistor across the supply quieted that down. However the fan was very noisy, so ended up moving away from these. Left with these 2 boat anchors as souvenirs.

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tray

Mine required some minimum load to regulate reliably - the dirty power it delivered fried a stepper driver capacitor for me. Adding a ballast resistor across the supply quieted that down. However the fan was very noisy, so ended up moving away from these. Left with these 2 boat anchors as souvenirs.

That's a surprise. I have five of these and so far I've seen no signs of problems or the regulation issues that are common with normal PC power supplies. I only have one in regular use at the moment which I have set for 13V and keep a small led voltmeter attached to it. It's been rock solid since I installed it. I removed the regulation load I'd been using with a PC psu when I switched over to the server unit.

There are a couple of down-sides that I have run into - the cooling fans are monitored for rotation and if they don't spin up the power supply shuts down. Unfortunately, when the power supply is first switched on the fans are started at very low speed instead of at full power, so they can be marginal for start-up. One of my five units wouldn't reliably start up until I removed the fan and ran it at full power for a while. I guess the lubricants had thickened and gummed things up. Replacing the fans can cost almost as much as a new (second-hand) supply, so definitely worth scavenging some spares from any failed units.

The other issue is that when the supply is in standby mode the fans don't run and the units can get quite hot (they have quite a generous 3.3V standby output, and a slightly stingy 5V).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2017 10:25AM by JamesK.

Those look pretty promising. Amazon has 12V and 24V 350W variants for ~$55 each, which is more than I was hoping to spend, but still within the realm of "reasonable."

I guess I'm going to switch over to 24V cartridge for my E3D. It came with the 12V and blue-colored/30W cartridge. Question: Do I stick with the 30W for going 24V, or do I go up to 40W?

EDIT: So looking at pictures on their site, it looks like the 40W heaters are for the Volcano, and the 30W are for the E3D-V6. So I guess that answers my question.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2017 10:54AM by ajsmcs.

I think Tray is thinking of PC power supplies, not the server power supplies. The server power supplies do not require a load to stabilise the output, they are rock steady, unlike many PC switch mode PSU's that are built to a price. The cooling fan can also be made to operate according to the internal temperature of the PSU by external jumper selection if required. you can also wire two in series for 24V with proper isolation of the floating ground between the PSU's

This is the type to look at - HP Proliant DL360

12Volts @ 25 amps
5Volts @1.25Amps

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2017 10:45AM by dart16.

That's the baby brother of the ones I got which are rated 800W from 110V supplies or a little under 1kW on 240V. The reason I got so many is I plan to try the 24V float config eventually, although a 1600W 24V supply is slightly intimidating.