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Could Robo3D be sensitive to power surges/spikes?

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by da9l, Oct 12, 2013.

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  1. da9l

    da9l Member

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    Hi!

    I've got my robo hooked up on 230V via a powerstrip. In the same strip I have a 60W classical lightbulb floor lamp connected.

    The thing is that during print my laptop has lost the contact with robo at exact the same moment I switched the lamp off, twice! The first time I thought it was just a fluke but yesterday evening it happend for the second time. Luckily it happend during the first layer, because the only way to get it online again is to turn the robo off and on again and then, not knowing how to resume the print job, I had to stop it.

    I'd guess I could get a better lamp but I'm wondering, has anyone else experienced this or anything similar?

    Regards, Daniel
     
    #1 da9l, Oct 12, 2013
  2. tesseract

    tesseract Moderator
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    I think you might be right with regard to the lamp I think with me be happening is you may have a surge protection circuit in that power strip and when you turn off the lamp that change somehow activates the surge circuitry and causes an intermittent disconnect
     
    #2 tesseract, Oct 12, 2013
  3. da9l

    da9l Member

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    As far as I know this power strip does not have any surge protector. Couldn't it be the surge itself from the lamp that causes the problem?
     
    #3 da9l, Oct 12, 2013
  4. tesseract

    tesseract Moderator
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    yeah it vould be a surge that occurs when the lamps goes on and off but if you are going to have this plugged into a power strip I would put it on one with surge protection on it as it does have electronics boards which could be compromised
     
    #4 tesseract, Oct 12, 2013
  5. Printed Solid

    Printed Solid Volunteer Admin
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    Daniel, I had a similar issue with my ultimaker when I was running on USB. I had a floor fan on the same circuit. Everytime I would turn the floor fan off, the USB connection would die. No issues since I've switched it over to a controller and run off of SD card.
     
    #5 Printed Solid, Oct 12, 2013
  6. polylac

    polylac New Member

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    Ok then the problem is the USB connection. Maybe the the switch causes a electromagnetic pulse storng enough to disturb this connection.
    The power supply of the robo can't be that sensitive. It's strong and on the output side it has big capacitors (DC stabilisators).

    maybe a shielded cable could solve that problem too.
     
    #6 polylac, Oct 13, 2013
  7. da9l

    da9l Member

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    Thanks for the feedback!
    The laptop driving the robo via USB is of course connected to the same strip.

    Polylac, do you mean a shielded USB cable?

    Skickat från min GT-I9100 med Tapatalk 4
     
    #7 da9l, Oct 13, 2013
  8. tesseract

    tesseract Moderator
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    You do have a few seemingly important devices hooked to the same power strip using it with out some kind of surge protection. You could end up with some pretty nasty things happening if a surge were to occur. Most power strips here have that as an automatic feature I am surprised that is not common where you live. This lamp situation is a good example at least you devices could get some protection.

    Does the same thing happen when other items using that power strip are turned off or on. If not I would replace the lamp as that is not safe in the first place. If it the case then some other means of getting -clean- power should probably be looked at.
     
    #8 tesseract, Oct 13, 2013
  9. polylac

    polylac New Member

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    @ da9l

    yes, but I'm just guessing. I don't know if this will solfe the problem or if it's spmething else.
    It's strange that this happens anyway...
     
    #9 polylac, Oct 14, 2013
  10. da9l

    da9l Member

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    Ok, now I've bought powerstrips with surge protectors and a double shielded USB cable. Now I just need some time to test it.

    Thanks everyone for the support and good ideas!
    Regards, Daniel
     
    #10 da9l, Oct 15, 2013
  11. tesseract

    tesseract Moderator
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    well the surge protects will help protect the equipment at least not sure about the USB connectivity though but it may help there as well. It would be interesting to see what your power line looks like on a scope when turning things off and on in that circuit
     
    #11 tesseract, Oct 15, 2013
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