Belkin WeMo Switch and TAZ5?

Hello, new TAZ5 owner here. In fact, I haven’t even received mine yet, but I’m really looking forward to getting it on Monday! I’ve decided to use a MatterControl Touch as a printer controller. My printer will live in the basement (wife approval factor, pets, kids, smell, etc.). I know that MatterControl Touch has some remote monitoring features, but they are not fully functional yet.

One important thing that cannot be done remotely is powering off the printer (as far as I can tell). In an emergency, I’d like to be able to shut off power in case something catastrophic happens. I’m thinking I’ll get a Belkin WeMo Insight Switch to be able to remotely cut all power and avoid a fire hazard in case the extruder stops, but doesn’t shut off for some reason. Will the Belkin WeMo cause any problems for the printer? What are the consequences of shutting off a fully powered printer? Is there any reason I wouldn’t want to do this? As an alternative, does anybody know of a UPS that I can control remotely to do the same thing?

Thanks for your insight. I’m sure I’ll have many other questions in the future, but this community seems great and is one of the selling features of the printer for me.

I use octoprint where I have added a PrintComplete event handler that switches off the printer via something like the Belken switch.

I have it on a 5 minute delay. So the print finishes, kicks off the script, it waits 5 minutes then turns off the power to the TAZ 5. Works like a champ and has caused no issues with the TAZ.

Thanks!
Steven

I have a similar setup with a Leviton Z-wave plug conencted to my SmartThings hub. The TAZ and worklight plug into a pwoer strip which is connected to the Z-Wave plug. I’m guessing the WeMo should function about the same.

I’m considering a motion sensor to further automate the power off process when prints are done… would be especially helpful for long prints that last into the early morning. There seems to be some components on the TAZ that stay on as long as the printer is powered.

As for “tethering” the printer, I use OctoPrint running on a Raspberry Pi for printer control and streaming of g-code. Basically, I slice with S3D on my laptop and drag & drop the resulting g-code file to OctoPrint’s web interface. Then control remotely through the web interface (from the laptop or a tablet): pre-heat the printer, load the file and hit Print. I monitor the first few layers through the webcam on the “Control” tab… hit cancel if necessary. Generates a nice timelapse at the end. I haven’t bothered with the notifications… I think the only on offering is growl & email. OctoPrint has been a solid solution for both my printers… and hopefully soon the CNC.


MatterControl Touch looks awesome. I like the new Android tablet, but would rather just run it on one of my old tablets… or a cheap WIn8 tablet. Remote control is the other function I hope they look into… really like doing all this from anywhere in the house.

Lots of ways to do what you want and yours is reasonable. You can’t really hurt these printers by pulling the plug, they are very robust.

I’d ike to point out that the extruder is the stepper motor/filament “pusher” and the hotend is where the heater and thermistor are located. Although many people talk about these as if they were the same, there are actually different and it is the hotend that is the potential fire hazard, not the extruder. It would be ideal to have a thermal device monitoring the hot end and if it goes over a high temp threshold, shut things down.

Seems like you could setup a thermal sensor via raspberry pi/arduino easily enough. I wonder if anyone has done that for a printer.

Okay… a bit overkill, but I just put a z-wave connected smoke/fire alarm in the enclosure. :slight_smile:

And while I was at it, stuck a motion sensor under the print bed. So 20 minutes after the bed stops, the plug shuts off… which in turn shuts off the power strip with printer and lamp.

Still tweaking the script… its somehow tied to not turning things on / off after the sunrises.