Printer causes power to flicker?
I have a small LED task light plugged into the same power strip as my MK3 ( silver PSU if it matters). I haven't had a problem up until Saturday, but Saturday night I had a long print job running and the printer just stopped mid-print. I found it still turned on, cooled down, no error messages, with the nozzle sitting on the print. The next job I tried to run, I had the task light on and it kept flickering. If the power stayed off long enough, the printer would shut down and restart. I'm assuming that's what happened to my print Saturday night. I thought I might have a bad power strip so I swapped it out but the problem still happens. I tried plugging the printer right into the wall socket but it still cuts out. None of the other lights in the room flicker a bit so I wonder if my PSU is dying? What do they do when they fail?
RE: Printer causes power to flicker?
When I first got my printer the lamps plugged into the power strip my mk3 was plugged into the lamps would flicker. I suggest plugging it straight into a wall outlet, that fixed the problem for me.
You can listen to me, or not more people than me will reply to this thread
RE: Printer causes power to flicker?
Check your house for ARC sensitive circuit breakers. You might be having some arcing issues inside the Prusa power supply that are 'almost' tripping the house breakers. Sniff around the power supply (with the nose) and see if you smell anything acrid or ozoneish.
Usually, serious power supply failures start popping the inline fuse ... but power supplies, in general, can fail in several different less catastrophic ways. It's also possible the failure you are seeing isn't the power supply, but something happening on the logic board. Difficult to say without measurements of the supply rails.
RE: Printer causes power to flicker?
Thanks! I'll give it a sniff! I thought I may have smelled something I would have described as ozoneish briefly but I'm not 100% sure. I also want to try moving the printer in the house to put it on a different circuit and see if it still acts up.
RE: Printer causes power to flicker?
When I first got my printer the lamps plugged into the power strip my mk3 was plugged into the lamps would flicker. I suggest plugging it straight into a wall outlet, that fixed the problem for me.
See first post-
”I tried plugging the printer right into the wall socket but it still cuts out.”
The printer is cutting out as well as the light.
I did move the printer to a different circuit and it ran 6 hours straight with no issue so I need to check the house wiring now. It’s been on that same circuit for over a year and a half with no issues so something has changed. Just have standard circuit breakers so I don’t think I have an arc fault issue unless the breaker is just going bad.
RE: Printer causes power to flicker?
I had an issue like this several years ago. I could measure voltage and the outlet and it was fine but a light plugged in would flicker. I replaced the outlet and that did not fix the problem. It occurred to me that the outlets were strung in parallel from the breaker so I started tracing back checking each outlet earlier in the chain. Around the fourth one I checked, I found that a loose screw. I tighter it and problem solved.
My guess was that screw as not tight enough when installed that thermal cycling loosened it until there was barely a connection. No load and the voltage was fine but when loaded, there was not enough of a connection to handle the current.
A pain to find the problem but it was an easy fix.
RE: Printer causes power to flicker?
When I first got my printer the lamps plugged into the power strip my mk3 was plugged into the lamps would flicker. I suggest plugging it straight into a wall outlet, that fixed the problem for me.
See first post-
”I tried plugging the printer right into the wall socket but it still cuts out.”
The printer is cutting out as well as the light.
I did move the printer to a different circuit and it ran 6 hours straight with no issue so I need to check the house wiring now. It’s been on that same circuit for over a year and a half with no issues so something has changed. Just have standard circuit breakers so I don’t think I have an arc fault issue unless the breaker is just going bad.
Some circuits are being wired through GFI outlets that have arc detection - this is a shoddy cheap approach to meet current federal codes - and causes all sorts of problems with electronics. My whole house shudders if my UPS triggers due to my laser printer heating up.
RE: Printer causes power to flicker?
I had an issue like this several years ago. I could measure voltage and the outlet and it was fine but a light plugged in would flicker. I replaced the outlet and that did not fix the problem. It occurred to me that the outlets were strung in parallel from the breaker so I started tracing back checking each outlet earlier in the chain. Around the fourth one I checked, I found that a loose screw. I tighter it and problem solved.
My guess was that screw as not tight enough when installed that thermal cycling loosened it until there was barely a connection. No load and the voltage was fine but when loaded, there was not enough of a connection to handle the current.
A pain to find the problem but it was an easy fix.
I'm thinking that's what I'm going to find also. I already killed the breaker to see what all was on that circuit and to keep any loose connection from heating up and causing a fire. Looks like only four outlets so it shouldn't be too hard to find I hope.
RE: Printer causes power to flicker?
I had an issue like this several years ago. I could measure voltage and the outlet and it was fine but a light plugged in would flicker. I replaced the outlet and that did not fix the problem. It occurred to me that the outlets were strung in parallel from the breaker so I started tracing back checking each outlet earlier in the chain. Around the fourth one I checked, I found that a loose screw. I tighter it and problem solved.
My guess was that screw as not tight enough when installed that thermal cycling loosened it until there was barely a connection. No load and the voltage was fine but when loaded, there was not enough of a connection to handle the current.
A pain to find the problem but it was an easy fix.
That one loose screw arcing will cause a fire. This is precisely why arc detecting devices are now in the electrical code (the intention was for all circuit breakers to be ARC types - but builders found a way to work around the added expense, so now entire sections of houses run through a single 15A GFI).
RE: Printer causes power to flicker?
Big yup!! on it being a fire hazard! My house is older so no AFCI breakers plus an idiot did the wiring. The outlet was in the bedroom and the bathroom was at the end of the chain! That got fixed as the bathroom now has its own circuit so the hairdryer has a much smaller chance of causing overheating along the chain.
RE: Printer causes power to flicker?
Well, it took a while but I think I have it fixed now. I found a slightly loose wire nut behind a receptacle farther upstream first. Power stayed on then but when I plugged the power strip back in, I had a warning light for a fault in the building wiring. I checked the ground and it was good but when I checked from the neutral to ground it was showing something like 58mv. I eventually traced it to a loose connection of the neutral wire at the bus bar in the breaker panel. I was able to get about an eighth of a turn on the screw and the voltage dropped to near zero. Warning lamp is out now.
RE: Printer causes power to flicker?
and your house is much safer now....