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Light...

Discussion in 'Mods and Upgrades' started by Kilrah, Jul 15, 2017.

  1. adikted2astro

    adikted2astro Active Member

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    I've got a slight problem. I had to get a new mainboard and I installed it this morning, quadruple-checking every cable and connector. I plugged in the power cable and turn the printer on.......then BANG; load popping noise and smoke billowing up out of the bottom of the printer. I found that one of the capacitors on the buck converter I used for my LED lights exploded. I bought these as a 6-pack off Amazon and I have 5 more I can use. But.......should I? I'm wondering if I should use a different buck converter. Any thoughts?

    p.s. everything worked fine before; zero problems with the LEDs.

    website for converters: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GJ0SC2C/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
     
  2. adikted2astro

    adikted2astro Active Member

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    Also, I checked the voltage going to the buck converter and confirmed it was 24V.
     
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Probably OK, just a symptom of Made In China :)

    Those are normally decent DC-to-DC converters, but hey ... one can go bad
     
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  4. adikted2astro

    adikted2astro Active Member

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    Yeah, I'm hoping it was just a bad capacitor. I have 5 more left. It's just very unnerving to hear a firecracker go off, then open up the bottom hatch of the printer and have smoke come billowing out.
     
  5. spanishcop

    spanishcop Member

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    I also got tired of using a desk lamp to see what I was doing. So I purchased 2 of these tube lights 1 foot length but can be cut down to smaller size. Already have clamps that I can use on the 2 bolts on upper side rather than dealing with the two side adhesive or glue.

    The last image has a video about trimming light and tube to shorten it to custom length. I think these will work.

    https://www.superbrightleds.com/mor...hts-super-flexible-led-rope-lights/2959/6217/

    So putting these in series being that light tubes are 12v should give me the 24v correct. So once in series can I run them straight into that last connector in the back. I also purchased a bag of those green electrical plugs.

    Just checking to see if I need anything else to get this running and if I need anything else that will prevent damage to printer.

    Mike


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  6. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Hi @spanishcop sounds ok to me. Me personally, i just buy 24V and hook to power input but! No big deal either way. it all works out in the wash!
     
  7. Warp Norman

    Warp Norman Member

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  8. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    WheresWaldo and Geof like this.
  9. spanishcop

    spanishcop Member

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    Here is my R2 LED setup w/ touch pad. I decided to do mine a little different and I don't have to worry about messing with electrical system of printer, I don't have to worry about double sided tape coming off due to hear and I don't have to run lights all the time when power is on or printing. I can adjust lighting with touch of a finger to brighter or Dimmer and power it on and off.

    Lighting is perfect and even. Even when bed is raised up I can see below the bed just fine.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    LED Touch Dimmer Switch

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Video....



    I posted a thread here with a few pictures.....

    http://community.robo3d.com/index.php?threads/touchpad-led-setup.22651/

    Enjoy,
    Mike
     
    #69 spanishcop, Nov 15, 2018
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2018
    mark tomlinson likes this.
  10. adikted2astro

    adikted2astro Active Member

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    Ok, so I want to replace my current LED strips with an LED neon light tube because I love the uniform lighting that provides and I want to be able to turn them on/off, and have a dimming function. I don't have the tubes yet, but I wanted to post all the equipment I'm going to use for anyone who wants to try this mod.

    I currently run my LEDs off one of the 24V power ports on the main board via a step-down. However, I've been through 3 of these step-downs, so I decided to do an upgrade (or so I hope). I'm a little tired of freaking out when a capacitor blows and smoke comes billowing out of the printer. I'm currently using these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GJ0SC2C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    and decided to upgrade to this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019RKVMKU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    This is better (IMO) because I hated soldering the wires to the eBoot modules (no soldering on this one), I can monitor the output (current, voltage, etc.) via the readout, and I can turn it on or off using a push button. Granted, I could use an external 12V power supply, but I don't want the extra plug or hassle. Using the main board is more appealing to me.

    I am waiting on the LED tubes, which I got here: https://step1dezigns.com/led-12v-single-color-mini-flex-neon-lights. These are awesome because they are cheap (come in 12" lengths), they are extremely small and flexible, output a lot of light, and can be trimmed in 1" increments. All the wiring for these lights and the step-down is already installed with the current setup, so this should be relatively simple to do. I tried finding a 24V LED tube like this, but couldn't do it. I'm not sure how I'm going to mount the tubes yet, but I'll probably just use some 3M double-sided tape.

    It took me a while to figure out what dimmer to get. I don't really like touch pads. I thought about installing a mechanical knob dimmer on the front panel of the printer and decided against it, but it wouldn't have taken much work. I actually decided on a remote dimmer (one with decent ratings). I also bought it on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079LJF284/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    remote.jpg

    It's a single color RF dimmer, the module itself is really small (3" long, 1" wide), and the remote is tiny. It also comes with a small neodymium strip magnet mounted inside, along with a metal strip with adhesive, so I can put it anywhere on the printer (or elsewhere). Also, if the remote fails for some reason, I can pair the dimmer to another one.

    I'll post a ton of pics once I get the equipment in and installed.
     
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  11. adikted2astro

    adikted2astro Active Member

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    Ok, so I finally got the time to make the modifications and add the mini LED tube lights I bought. I used the same mounting bars that I had before (that Kilrah desigend). I just replaced the LED strips I had on there with these mini flex LED tubes. I did have to go through several different adhesives to find one that would work. These are made of silicone, so I found out the hard way that absolutely nothing stuck to them except for silicone adhesive. I had some super silicone sealant from 3M that worked well.

    Anyways, I also made some rather superfluous upgrades like a cooled project box for the step-down I used, and a case for my RPi with cooling fan on it, as you can see from the images. But, for both the step-down case, the controller for the remote dimmer, and the RPi case, I put small 1/2" x 1/32" neodymium magnets on the bottom. They come with adhesive backing and they were the thinnest ones I could find. I'm actually rather enjoying them because I can move all of those components anywhere I want and they will stay put.

    The step-down just takes in 24V from the main board and outputs 12V. I really appreciate the small display on the step-down, even though it's not necessarily needed. The fan on the RPi case came with the case; it runs off of 5V from the RPi. The fan on the project box is a 24V fan, with wires going into the input side of the step-down. But I may change this to a 12V fan and put it on the output side of the step-down, we shall see (all of the fans are 30mm x 30mm x 10mm). I also went absolutely POWER-POLE CRAZY on everything. There's a power pole on each end of each component so I can take out any one of them with ease, including the lights themselves. Again, superfluous, but nice. If anyone wonders why I did all of this the reason is BECAUSE I CAN, that's it; It was fun........

    Everything works perfectly, the remote dimmer works as described, the lights are diffuse and provide even lighting everywhere. I'm thinking of actually adding another strip in the front of the printer (why? because I can baby). I was a little afraid that the LEDs wouldn't provide enough lighting but they provide more than enough, trust me. And now I can dim them, turn them off, I can even use them as strobe lights if I want (I have no idea why I would want to though). This was a fun project and just makes me love this little printer more and more. I think my next mod will be adding another extruder and nozzle..............

    I should've taken a 'before' picture, but I forgot. IMO, this mod is definitely worth it, even if you already have LED strips like I did. The lighting is amazing and you can turn it off or dim it when you want. The controller for the remote has a status light on it which will let you know if there is a problem. Also, the remote itself has a built-in magnet in it, so you can stick it anywhere. My printer is sitting on a steel cabinet, so I just stick it on the side.

    Thanks to @Kilrah and @spanishcop for the ideas............I owe you guys a beer or two.

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  12. spanishcop

    spanishcop Member

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    Nicely done!!!

    Glad I was able to help. That's what we are all here for.... To give ideas, help each other, improve the product and let's be real it's a cool little project that makes it fun tinkering with aside from printing.

    Best regards,
    Mike


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  13. sgomes

    sgomes Active Member

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    I'm curious, is there a particular reason why everyone's using the 24V power source with a step-down to 12V?

    The R2 appears to run on both 24V (e.g. hotends) and 12V (e.g. fans) DC, so isn't there a 12V source that can be used for the lights, such as the existing light connector? Or is the concern that none of the 12V sources provide enough current for the brighter lights?
     
    #73 sgomes, Jun 20, 2019
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2019
  14. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    The R2 uses 24v for everything although the control board MAY be stepping something down and providing a 12v source for the fans. I had not looked into that. (the heater cores are getting 24v, not 12v -- 19v on the C2 ones)
     

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