Octoprint for monitoring only possible?
Hi,
I was thinking to setup octoprint on a RPI zero W on my MK3S, however, I've read that both printing & webcam might be asking too much of the RPI. Which leads me to my next question: Is it possible to setup Octoprint as a "monitor only" for the printer?
Basicly, the following:
- Let the printing be handled by manually starting it from the SD card, as if no octoprint is involved at all
- Have Octoprint simply report back the status of the printer & webcam feed
- In case something goes wrong, I'd still like to shut it down from Octoprint.
I'd try it myself but don't have the long GPIO pins laying around at the moment. Anyone tried something like this?
Another plan would be to hook up a more powerfull Raspberry Pi, but as there's such a nice slot for the RPI zero W I'd like to use that 🙂
RE: Octoprint for monitoring only possible?
Sorry, I can't help but I was wondering the very same thing as you. It'd be a real help if someone has experience in this. 🙂
RE: Octoprint for monitoring only possible?
You can do what you describe, although running the webcam may be too much for the Zero. However, if you Octoprint is just monitoring and not feeding the printer you may be ok.
You will lose some of the more useful features of Octoprint if you only run prints from SD though. Like uploading gcode and starting prints remotely. (You technically can upload to SD through Octoprint, but it’s so slow that you will probably not want to keep using it).
I would recommend using an external RPi 3 or higher. You actually don’t really want Octoprint powered by the printer, since if your printer goes down you’ll lose access to Octoprint as well. Also having the RPi inside the Einsy case makes it a pain to service.
RE: Octoprint for monitoring only possible?
Can I suggest you repost to the Octoprint forum. My knowledge of Octoprint is pretty sketchy but I don't see how this work.
RE: Octoprint for monitoring only possible?
I've heard that the RasbPi camera uses (or can use) less resources than a USB fan so that might be possible in a monitor only function on a RPi W. I'm just now getting an OctoPi setup, originally thinking of just doing as a monitor only setup, but all those features available if printing from the RPi will probably be too tempting for me to only relegate it to monitoring only.
See my (limited) designs on:
Printables - https://www.printables.com/@Sembazuru
Thingiverse - https://www.thingiverse.com/Sembazuru/designs
RE: Octoprint for monitoring only possible?
Pi Zero is most defiantly "unrecommend" (specified as not recommended and numerous posts) by Octoprint. Recommended 3B+ or 4
RE: Octoprint for monitoring only possible?
@towlerg
Seems odd Prusa built their einsy board to accept a Pi that would never be fully adequate for octoprint, but good to know. Looks like I'll be sending my Pi Zero back (or using it for something else). Thanks.
RE: Octoprint for monitoring only possible?
Seems odd Prusa built their einsy board to accept a Pi that would never be fully adequate for octoprint, but good to know. Looks like I'll be sending my Pi Zero back (or using it for something else).
I think it was a case of bad timing. On release, the Zero was advertised as functionally equivalent to the original RPi B which could handle Octoprint. It wasn't immediately apparent the the Zero W shard the wifi and USB bus, so it suffered compared to the others.
and miscellaneous other tech projects
He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
RE: Octoprint for monitoring only possible?
Sorry I haven’t replied earlier after asking the question. But a big thank you for all the replies.
I’ll probably go for the pi4 option on this one 🙂 I have one laying around to prototype on, so it can be put into service 🙂
@mdaneman : makes sense to power it externally. Do you suggest to still connect the 5v pins? Or only the grounds?
also, I was already planning to not put it in the einsy case for maintenance issues. You guys have a favourite setup for this? In all fairness: I haven’t looked at thingiverse just yet 🙂
RE: Octoprint for monitoring only possible?
@bram_hendrickx
There are several posts on the Octoprint forum re. the Pi powering the printer control board via USB. For various reasons it seems wise to to prevent this. Either butcher a USB cable or put tape on the 5V strip.
RE: Octoprint for monitoring only possible?
@bram_hendrickx
There are several posts on the Octoprint forum re. the Pi powering the printer control board via USB. For various reasons it seems wise to to prevent this. Either butcher a USB cable or put tape on the 5V strip.
To this point, does anyone using a Pi, connected via USB, powered separately from the printer, have experience with the Pi "powering" the printer (i.e. printer off, Pi on, some "leakage" into printer controller causing low voltage warning in Octoprint) with the MK3S? I read all of the posts on the Octoprint forums but they don't seem to reference specific printers (expected as Octoprint on the Pi can be used with most printers). The information that I have been able to find seems to indicate that the Einsy Rambo controller uses a completely isolated USB interface. In fact, studying the schematics it appears that only components directly associated with the printer USB interface would receive power from an attached USB cable. If this is correct then it should not be necessary to isolate the 5V USB pin in the printer connector.
Thanks for any clarification that you may provide.
Steve
RE: Octoprint for monitoring only possible?
I've gone the route of using a pi4 with it's own power supply, connected to the printer using USB. So far no issues with it. Everything works just fine and no warnings/errors.
Haven't connected a camera to it so far, first need to decide on a case for it (am using a lasercut case atm that I didn't foresee a camera cutout on .... doh)