WARNING: CFL Lamps can Lock up your Printer

General LulzBot TAZ
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ALERT/INFORMATION: Get rid of any CFL Lights or Lamps you may have near to your 3D printer, Last night I had a strange occurrence, I turned off my boom arm CFL (Flourescent) light on my work desk and my printer just froze, my first thoughts were Crap I’ve tripped the electric … but the printer was still on, however the front panel was unresponsive.

(typically i leave the light on as i live stream but i was not tonight so i turned it off)

My background for those wondering my day Job I test and Certify Electronic Products and so my thoughts were that perhaps the printer was although very well made not immune to RF emissions, however upon some further research on CFLs I discovered during on and off cycles CFLs emit Huge Bursts of RF Noise which I suspect has entered the Printer and Caused the Fail for a quick test I started the printer again and ran a calibration I turned the lamp on and off a few times and sure as dammit after a few cycles the printer locked up again, Will it effect ALL printers no but there is a possibility as the emissions levels from CFLs when being power cycled far exceed the level any product needs to withstand to receive CE/UL Marking

If you are of the Electronic Persuasion you may find this report illuminating … get it ^^ - http://www.academia.edu/904371/Compact_fluorescent_lamps_electromagnetic_compatibility_measurements_and_performance_evaluation (See Figure 8)

I’m using a Lulzbot Taz 4 (with taz 5 hot end) For the Record and the Lamp was 1.5 meters from the front of the printer

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Did you say your printing via USB cable? More than likely got a shot of RF in that cable. Does the TAZ4 have a metal cover over the PS and electronics or is it plastic? Is your printer grounded to a properly grounded outlet?
On anything longer than a 30 minute print I use the SD card method.

As a long time amateur radio or ham, I know about RFI.

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Actually, I have measured high-voltage surges emitted both upstream (towards the power company) and downstream (towards the light) of their electronics. Have even seen these surges ‘jump’ between nearby cables, even with thick insullation. Have actually had to separate power cords used for computers and flourescent lights, to keep the computer from resetting.

So, this is not an uncommon problem.