Steal some power from the PSU  

Re: Steal some power from the PSU

Inspired by this thread, I did my own build.

And one last thing...

Had it sitting around and thought, that PSU gets awful hot, why the hell not.

Re: Steal some power from the PSU

Nice job! Any chance you would be willing to share? I just got my Prusa built a few weeks ago. I've already built an enclosure and was trying to figure out how to add LED light strips to it, without another power supply. This would help. I have a couple of ESP8266 device that I figured I could build a controller to turn the lights on with my phone and change the color when the print is done. I hadn't thought about using the Octoprint on a RASPi yet, but after reading some of these posts I will definitely look into it.

Robert

Re: Steal some power from the PSU

Any chance you would be willing to share? I just got my Prusa built a few weeks ago...

Not a shareable STL. Too much work was required to prepare for use so it will need to go past prototype seen in photos to have a clear conscience. I've posted WIP for you to tinker with. But as the warnings show, you'll have to roll up your sleeves on this one. Much luck, hope you can make it work for you as well.

P.S.
I've also included STEP files of all the gubbins you'll have to negotiate for space. See my photos for how much space and routing for the thick wires there in.
P.P.S.
Consider a smaller or pure wire based accessory connector with a gasket/grommet style wire passthrough hole. My design is pretty difficult to work with, had I to do this again, I'd just buy a closed rubber grommet and cut slits to need.

Re: Steal some power from the PSU

Sorry link is wrong, moved to MyMiniFactory

Re: Steal some power from the PSU

I have seen above that some people are looking for a place to power their Raspberry Pi.
I use this connection to power mine and works great no issues. (Green Box)
It can then be mounted in to the frame and wiring kept tidy without having to add extra connections from the power supply.
Must be plugged in correct way +/- or it will cause damage if not quickly reversed !!!!!

Re: Steal some power from the PSU

Yup, circuit board diagram says 5V out. Can't find the circuit diagram in MiniRambo documents. Shot off an email to Ultimachine to make sure. Will report back with their recommendation. But, cool!

Re: Steal some power from the PSU

Okay great! Let us know on the 12v from the Rambo for the LEDs 🙂

Re: Steal some power from the PSU

Oh, I installed one of these to control the fan automatically. Trips on at or past 40°C, don't see the point of running the fan all the time. Did the trick.

Re: Steal some power from the PSU

just a little warning about "stealing some power":
applying an additional load to the +5V Vcc of the RAMBo Board might result in a small drop of the +5.00 voltage.
usually such a drop will remain inside the tolerances of the regulator and won't affect any of the digital devices.

but in case of our i3/mk2(s), the p.i.n.d.a. probe is directly connected to Vcc and unfortunately: very voltage sensitive.
so if the voltage changes just a few 10mV, it will affect the trigger point of the probe significant.... which will then require a new first layer adjustment.

so my recommendation: if you need to steal some power from the psu, get it from the +12V and use a buck converter to get the required +5V for your raspberry (or what else).

Re: Steal some power from the PSU

Here is the label on my MK2S PSU. Your's could be different but in case anyone needs a gander.