I’m having a rather strange problem with my Ender 3 V2 that’s causing me to leave it unplugged and as a result underused.
I used to have my printer set up in my garage but one day noticed that the circuit breaker was tripping overnight resulting my refridgerator to turn off (not ideal.) I kept removing devices until I determined that it was caused by my 3d printer despite the PSU being completely flipped off at the back! This is obviously strange behavior and not ideal for a device that is outside of it’s warranty period.
So I’m not sure how to proceed here. Firstly, what type of issue would cause this device to trigger a circuit breaker even when the PSU is turned off? Secondly, is there some way to fix this device that isn’t a major PITA? Has anyone else experienced this as well?
Sounds like you have a short somewhere between the wall and the power switch.
If the cord is removable, unplug it from the power supply and plug it into the wall. If the breaker still trips, you’ve got a bad cord. If not, you might need a new power supply.
No one has said it yet, but the most common cause of a breaker being thrown is an overload or a short. It looks like you’ve determined it isn’t an overload since it happens when the device isn’t turned on. That indicates that you may have a short. The two likely places are the PSU (since it’s supposed to be turned off) and the cord (since the PSU wouldn’t matter). If the cord is replaceable, I’d try that first. After the cord I’d see about replacing the PSU. Hopefully it’s a standard part and not something you have to buy from Ender if they still carry it. Another thing to check is if it’s the outlet. If you try it on a different outlet and get the same problem, it is likely the device.
The cable is an interesting point, as I haven’t tried a different cable. Since there’s a non-zero chance that it could be responsible, I’ll try switching it next time I plug it in. I suppose the cable they shipped me could be bad.
One issue I know on another printer was the back button creating a short. Do you have a meanwell PSU on your V2? If I recall properly it came either with one or another brand that wasn’t as good. So if I were you, I would change the back switch and get a meanwell PSU.
Additionally, use a smart smoke sensor just in case anything goes really wrong.
One with an internal fault. Where do you live in the world? Are you in Europe or the UK where you have RCDs in your breakers?
Unplug the PSU from the wall and everything else for a while and then check the connectivity between all the pins that go to the wall outlet. Do it with both the switch on and off.
Ah, should note that I’m in the US. I’m also not on the 230V mode and I’m using the 115V power mode, which is standard for my region.
You’ll need something that can check conductivity.
Is it plugged into a GFCI protected outlet?
The power supply will have RFI filters in it and they always have some leakage. They may be installed before the power switch. There could just be too many devices with some earth leakage connected to the circuit, causing it to trip without any of them being faulty.
If the outlet is GFCI it would trip instead of the breaker.
It’s pretty common to have breakers with built in GFCI these days.
It’s pretty common to assume that when someone uses the word outlet that they meant outlet.
Is it plugged into a GFCI protected outlet?
Is it plugged into a GFCI protected outlet?
Would this help? I’m currently using a standard 3-prong outlet with no ground fault protection, but I suppose I could install one on the given port…
There could just be too many devices with some earth leakage connected to the circuit, causing it to trip without any of them being faulty.
This could be, I suppose. Though what should someone do about this ultimately? I’ve already tried removing elements a piece at a time, but it would only work properly once the ender was off the circuit.
Earth leakage would only trip the breaker if it was a GFCI, so the problem is something else.
No, large inductive loads can cause a trip. The sensor is only measuring 0.006A missing between the hot and neutral, windings can delay the neutral output.
If it’s not a GFCI or AFCI protected circuit then it has to be overcurrent or a bad breaker (they do stop being able to hold over time).
For overcurrent, something isn’t right with your PSU and it’s drawing more than 15 amps or 20 amps if yours is in the kitchen.
For a bad breaker, put your printer on a different circuit and see if it continues to trip. If not, swap the offending breaker out. Pretty safe to do yourself if you don’t touch the bus bar behind the breakers (otherwise it WILL kill you).
Did you plug anything else into the same outlet to see if the outlet is the problem?
I can confirm it’s not the outlet, only because I’ve had a trip in a completely different room after moving the printer to test it.
