When my Taz 5 is running the Halogen lights in the room and incandescent lights in the next room flickering. Those two rooms are on the same circuit so that explains why they are both affected. This has been commented on here but there as been on acceptable solution. I have tried running the printer though a UPC with no affect. Some people seem to suggest this is brownout issue. My Taz 5 is on 15A circuit which would give me 1800W. With my computer (max 750W), the printer (500W?), and a 100W light bulb would only come up with 1350W. The computer is not running a 750W, probably 300W. When I really crank the computer up there is no change in the printer or the computer so it looks like I have enough power for everything.
If the problem is not brownout, is there an issue with the headed bed causing some feedback to the house circuit? Is there some way to filter this? Can anyone actually confirm what is causing this? A hair dryer doesn’t do this, why the Taz 5?
For me, my fix was to replace the bulbs with LED bulbs. I actually had someone check the circuit and it wasn’t an overload. I think some of the power supplies used in 3d printers are not as advanced as the ones you find in a high end gaming PC, so they tend to be a bit dirtier on the lines.
That makes sense. I am in process of replacing all of my lights with LEDs so I might have replace all of the ones on this circuit sooner than later. It would be nice if there was a simple way to clean up things without replacing all of the lights as some other equipment could be sensitive to these power issues.
Has there been any advice or explanation from Lulzbot? Based on the price of these printers I would have hoped I would not have to replace all my light bulbs to overcome issues with the PSU. I would have rather paid an extra $25 (or whatever) on top the total price and not have this problem.
also haveing this problem, i have a taz 3 but mine when its building up heat for the bed and hotend it will turn off and reset. I just started having these issues been issue free for over a year now. Im thinking maybe its the external power supply box that goes from the wall outlet to the taz 3.
narrowed it down to when i turn on the heated bed, when its on the stepper motors act slow like they dont have enough power running only when the heated bed is on that its doing all this
dissappointed in lulzbot support they cannot help me with my problem since they dont cover the taz 3, Look not asking for a replacement part I just need to know where to look to fix this thing. What a joke, thanks lulzbot
I feel for you but one of the biggest costs in a company like Lulzbot is time spent on customer support (not parts but paying a person to be on the phone, email or whatever).
I run a small business myself and my product requires very little support but I still spend a good 15 hours a week on support. Why? simple I have tens of thousands of customers so even though only 0.1% need support that turns into a lot of time.
I use to provide support for a larger company and a lot of support ends up being wasted on silly problems (not saying yours is) but in the end you just have to cut the cord at some point.
Now, it does sound to me like you either have a power supply issue or the main board is dying (sorry I don’t know which board they used in the 3).
Easiest test would be to get a new power supply to see if that’s it.
I think thats just being lazy when you have a problem and someone who built the thing can point you in the right direction of where to look but email you back and say look on the forums for a answer we no longer cover the taz 3. Even in the email they said the would email me back with links to my problem never got any response back instead I went through the whole forum and havent found my exact problem. And no its not the power supply box I orginally thought. Im printing in PLA now with the heated bed off and no issues only when I turn on the heated bed all hell breaks lose, lights flickering, machine turning off and restarting, lcd screen flickering when I turn on the heated bed. Now should I just buy everything and guess what is wroung with it? Or I’m sure lulzbot would like me to buy a brand new taz 5. I think its just lazyness. Lulzbot couldve atleast said start here and here and maybe you need this.
Hmm… any chance you can try a different circuit in the house? Or, open up the circuit breaker panel and feel if any circuit breakers are hot.
I had an issue with my A/C turning on for a few minutes then shutting off. The HVAC guy came over, felt the circuit breakers (after inspecting the unit outside) and said “it’s hot”… tightened down all the leads to the circuit breakers. And the outside unit ran as usual…
Breakers arnt hot, its a brand new breaker box that was replaced a year ago. Havent tried a different plug in the house since its kinda akward to move, only jumped in on this topic because of the whole lights flickering issue like the first member posted. No heaters or heavy power consumption devices running. Opened up my external power box from the taz 3 and no fuses blown, black burn spots, no smell of things burning. Noting, reallythink its something to do with the heated bed. Bought a UPS conditioner and ran it through that and still had the same problem.
just thinking about it, it does it as soon as you turn on the heated bed, so those breakers wouldnt even have a chance to get hot in 1 sec that bed turns on. If those breakers were hot they would trip.
You have a ~360 watt heat bed, a ~25 watt extruder, and ~10 watts of steppers. So about 400 watts load, and a 360 watt Taz 3 original power supply probably. If I was asked to work hard, I might have issues after a while too. So you might look for a higher wattage replacement supply.