Power requirement
So I’m toying with the idea of a mobile printer setup.
Looking at the tech specs, it says the printer comes with a 240W power supply and uses 110W while printing ABS, 90W for PLA. I presume that PETG would be somewhere inbetween, like 100W.
So, for a basic 5hr print with PETG, sounds like it would use about 500W during the print.
Then there would be the warmup phase, but the amount used here is unknown. Given that it’s resistive heating, I suspect it would be notable, maybe even 100W of use??
I’m trying to calculate how much power is required total to run something like this from a battery system, and given that Lithium setups are pretty reasonable these days, this seems fairly reasonable and achievable to be done.
The other consideration is humidity though. I would hazard a guess that finding some reasonable larger enclosure to put it in would be a big help there to manage the air environment?
Thoughts?
RE: Power requirement
Hi,
I think you shouldn't count, but rather measure the consumption, e.g. with this: Shelly Plug S.
Roland
RE: Power requirement
Nice! Looks like it hit a brief peak of around 260W. That’s good to know. Thanks!
RE: Power requirement
Nice! Looks like it hit a brief peak of around 260W. That’s good to know. Thanks!
RE: Power requirement
Peaking at 300W eh? Interesting.
RE: Power requirement
I live on a sailboat and essentially use solar to power the printer. From what I have seen through my Victron monitoring system (note that this doesn't isolate the printer's power, but the whole boat, so not exact) my MK4 initial bed and nozzle heating peaks around 300w, then during the print it hovers around 120 to 160 depending on what it's doing. I print 99% in PETG. I'd suspect that the chamber would help lower power needs as the temps would be more stable.
One thing to note, this is using a DC to DC converter to step my 12v system up to 24v, not using an inverter. An inverter will waste a bunch of energy converting DC power to AC, just to have the power supply convert it back to DC. If you can set up your lithiums to give you 24v, then that's even better. This also means that the power panic doesn't function, and I just grounded the yellow display wire to the printer chassis (Prusa support actually told me it wasn't really needed, and was just to pass certain certifications).