New V2 Randomly powers off…help?

[DanKwerkz]

Hello All,

I am still working my way through the forum searching for an answer but I haven't really found anything that's helped me. So it's time to post for help.

I just finished building my V2 the other day and was able to successfully print the PEEK fan shroud. Next I began printing the part cooler fan shroud and it started normally. After printing for a little while I pulled the speed back to 30% as recommended for this print. It prints for a bit and then it just stopped. The printer went silent and dark. panic kicks in. swearing was heard echoing throughout the house.

I reset the power switch and it starts up fine. nothing in the Host log about why it died. I start the print again, also pulling the speed back to 30% when it gets to the screw tab portion. and it dies again. I reset the power and think maybe something is wrong in the hot end. So I rebuilt it with a new thermistor. print a third time at 100% speed through the whole print and it prints fine until the very end. I think it died 2 layers short of a full print.

I started another print last night and it died on the second layer. exact same issue. all power seems to be cut from the unit for some reason. i've triple checked my connections now and they all look good. on my third thermistor now.

I can get small prints like a calibration pyramid or small keychain pieces. But a large or tall print will randomly fail.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Dan

[Jimustanguitar]

It's not uncommon for ATX power supplies with issues to behave this way.

If it happens again, check the power supply with a volt meter. If you read less then 12, call SeeMeCNC and see if they'll send you a replacement.

[DanKwerkz]

thanks! I did see a post in my search about the ATX style power supplies will shut off if they fault but it didn't provide much more info.

I'll meter it shortly. It's currently printing a small logo without issue but I have some larger jobs in the queue for today.

[DanKwerkz]

update, I metered the power supply and found the voltage drops slightly under load. I'm in touch with support but does any one here know the typical voltage ranges when the heaters are on?

not connected to Rambo: 12.22
connected to Rambo, idle w/ heaters off: 11.98 average
connected to Rambo, idle w/ heaters on: drops below 11

[nitewatchman]

Below 11VDC is outside the normal range I believe. The p/s I use is 12VDC single rail and it is 12.2VDC loaded or unloaded. There have also been discussions of p/s's that require a load on the 5VDC rail to generate full output on the 12vdc rail or rails. I have no experience with this but it may be worth looking into.

We bulid a piece of railroad equipment that is driven by dual 12VDC PLC's, one sourcing and the other sinking power with murder/suicide pact watchdog software. If the supply voltage drops below 10.5VDC the PLC's will reboot. This drops the load, restoring the voltage and leaves no fault or indication of why they shut down.

Sounds similar to your situation.

nitewatchman

[DanKwerkz]

I emailed support and they said my meter readings were within range. Per their suggestion I tried printing form SD card to remove the computer variable and the printer died again. I even rerouted the end stop wires at the Rambo board to make sure there wasn't any interference on the wires. I also switched the power feed to a UPS so there aren't any circuit faults.

ps- this printer has the new Viotek 550w p/s.

[Jimustanguitar]

My suggestion was to check it when it's acting up, next time it goes black. That will tell you if the supply is intermittent or whether you need to look for something else.

Sorry if I didn't state that well.

[guanu]

One thing I said to check in another post was to make sure the fan on the power supply is spinning.. I ran into this issue the other day and it shut off halfway through the print, and upon tearing it down and looking at it, a wire as looped down and blocking the fan on the power supply, and it sent the machine into thermal shutdown... once I got the wire out of the way, fan was able to spin and had no issues... sometimes either the extra psu wires get in the way, and other times when you push the rambo in, the heated bed wires can hang down into that grate and block the fan... so thats one thing to look for...

Guanu

[DanKwerkz]

Jimustanguitar: I did meter throughout a print, below are the details that i sent to support. once it quit all leads went dead. it's like some kicked the power cord suddenly. I have tried printing form SD and USB and both methods fail. BUT, here is the interesting part. i printed an entire Yoda head last night with out problem. but i had 5 other projects fail anywhere form layer 3 to layer 100. Gremlins, it must be gremlins.

What i sent to support: a little more info in addition to my last report on the SD print failure. I was able to stick around and meter the leads throughout a print this time. what i noticed is that the voltage drops into the 10.8 range on the motor power when the part cooler fan kicks on. I did see 10.5 once but it was just a flash so may not be a true reading. the 10.8 range was pretty consistent when both fans were running. Without the part fan running it stays around 11.16-11.24, but does jump through the 11 range. what is interesting is that the voltage does not jump up as soon as the fan turns on/off, it takes the p/s 5-10 seconds to drop/raise the voltage.

When the fan is on 100% each power input lead drops over time to the low 10.82 range. it made it to layer 92 out of 269 before failing this time. zero power through the leads now. With the way it suddenly dies, i am pretty sure the power protection is kicking in on the power supply for some reason. flipping the power off and back on it reboots like normal.

[DanKwerkz]

Guana, i did see your other post and checked the fan clearance right away. i did notice I had the extra wires form the p/s bundled a little too close the the front vent on the unit. i pulled them back but need to push them off tot he side so the rambo board doesn't smash them back in.

Maybe this is it, the extra wires choking some of the air supply. i did try to run it with all of the acrylic panels removed and the lcd pulled out and the print did last a little longer before failing, but the wires were probably still blocking a little air. i have a modular ATX p/s i may butcher tonight, this way i only have the wires i need coming off of it. It's only 500 watts but can push more amps than this one can. less wires should mean better airflow.

[DanKwerkz]

Guanu, sorry, auto correct kicked in on your name.

[MattBill1]

I had this same issue of it just shutting down, ended up removing all the acrylic panels from the bottom and put a fan behind the power supply to pull more air through and have not had it shut off since. Dissapointing that I had to do this as it doesnt look as cool without the covers and with a freaking fan on the back but that's what fixed it for me.

[DanKwerkz]

I found the same thing…I took the acrylic panels off and it will print without failing. I played around with it a bit and found with one of three panels installed in the front it will get enough air, but with both it fails. I'm thinking about drilling out the front panels and adding a fan to the rear to see if that will provide enough air flow.

[guanu]

try just removing the rear acrylic off if you are having that problem... and the rear is an exhaust, so if anywhere a fan should be its in the main area... the power supply fan pushes are from inside the main base, into the power supply and out the rear, shouldnt need an extra fan, try it with just the rear acrylic off, that will help exhaust the airflow more and get better circulation through the machine.

Guanu

[MattBill1]

My printer is in the Garage and its hot here, gets up to 95 in my garage so I need extra cooling. I designed new side panels that going to have 80mm fans mounted to them on the inside, the first one is actually printing as we speak. I thought about just drilling out the melamine panels to accommodate the fans but hey, I have a 3d printer so why not make some of my own right?!