my crazy idea to power a ender3v2 off USBC PD

Submitted ⁨⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨batvin123@reddthat.com⁩ to ⁨3dprinting@lemmy.world⁩

So I was thinking of adding USBC PD to my ender 3v2 for a off grid setup. Is it possible or have I gone mad with USBC? I know it’s possible with my old monoprice select mini because of its low power requirements.

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empireOfLove@lemmy.one ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Ender3’s have a 360W rater power supply, necessary for the hot bed and hot end current. A little bit of forum googling says they often use up to 250w.

USB PD supports up to a max of 240w, and even then only in a very specific 48 volt supply mode. So you might get away with it, buts it’s gonna be sketchy, and require moelre stepping down of the 48v usbPD voltage, and complexity, and cost.

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- LastYearsPumpkin@feddit.ch ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You could theoretically split some of that power from multiple sources though. Run one USB-C line to power the hot end, one to run the bed, and one for the electronics and motors.
  
  Would get pretty complicated pretty quick, but it might work with a LOT of effort.
  
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  - empireOfLove@lemmy.one ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    That would be difficult because you would need to somehow separate the power control MOSFET’s from the driver boards so that the controller can still feed them a PWM signal for temp control, but the power would be provided from a separate dedicated usbPD driver board for each set of MOSFETs. At that point it’s really not worth the effort.
    
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deur@feddit.nl ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
A cursory google search (minimum effort, might be wrong) indicates the Ender 3 v2 requires 350 watts. PD only hits 240W absolute maximum.

Also the hardware to power a 240W PD device would be stupidly expensive since that target is definitely not in widespread use.

PD is not the solution here!

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j4k3@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I would not trust a USB-C cable initially or over time for anything like this. Maybe if you had a very special USB-C connector on the board that is only made for power, but you’ll still have the tiny pin and spacing on the cable side.

The pin pitch for a full USB-C connector is ridiculously small. Like I need to do photolithography to etch that small of a pin pitch reliably near the edge of a board design. The connector pin and pitch is so small it will cost extra from most of the cheap board houses because they have to use a higher precision process too.

Why does it matter? You are wanting to put a ton of power through a tiny wire pin that is super close to other stuff with a solder connection to a tiny sliver of copper. The wire in the cable may or may not be larger, and the trace can get much larger with an infilled pad against the pinned area. Still, no matter what you do, there will always be that tiny pin soldered to a tiny sliver of copper. It is an excellent fuse design.

I wouldn’t do it. I won’t trust any consumer cable either. You need a 5+ digit DMM that has a low enough range to really test what is inside. Don’t trust the feel, stiffness, cable size, branding, or source. You need to know the real DC resistance and calculate how much power it will be dissipating.

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- batvin123@reddthat.com ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  What about using a 12v barrel jack with a 12v to 24v step up converter. If I remember properly, I think the ender3 v2 requires 24v to the main board. I might be wrong, it could be 12v.
  
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  - j4k3@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    The main thing to worry about is powering the two heaters. You need to power the bed properly. You can screw around with pretty much everything else. The power needed for the bed is too much to screw around with hacks unless you have a good understand of Maxwell’s equations… IMO.
    
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FuglyDuck@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Not very likely. USBc is 5v. Most printers are either 12 or 24 volt rails, at 40 or more watts of power for the hotnend alone.

And stepper driver current is okay, though. So you might be able to do a resin printer with UV LEDs and an LCD mask with more trouble.

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- aBundleOfFerrets@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Latest pd spec can do up to 240w at up to 48v (good luck finding a power brick that supports the full spec, though)
  
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Rootiest@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
You might be able to pull this off if you forgo the heated bed, but it’s probably not worth it.

What USB-PD battery do you plan to use and how long do you expect it to last?

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