i3v 12" build log

[printbus]

has anyone have measure the overall current consumption for the I3v 12" ....

i also have seen that most of the larger Printers use 24v as a power source . i was wondering if is possible to power this printer with that voltage and reduce the Amperage and replace the 12v Relay for the bed . according to the Rambo user manual the board can be powered from 10 - 24v but i dont know if extruder heater and bed can be compromised .

Since I like to over analyze things, I've been waiting on the power consumption numbers too. By area, the 12-inch heat bed should consume 24-26 amps, factoring for the larger area against the stated power consumption of a 10-inch heat bed. The MakerFarm web site, however, says the consumption for the 12-inch heater is 20+ amps. That's a pretty useless spec. The hot end heater, motors, and electronics are probably in the 3 to 5a range.

The 12V heat bed is a 12V heat bed. There MIGHT be a way to modify it otherwise. IIRC, my 8-inch heat bed was broken down into four areas, with a separate trace zig-zagging in each area. They were powered in parallel if I recall. It should be possible to cut open the traces interconnecting the zig zag blocks and rewire block pairs so they are in series and can then run at 24V. You'd be in a world of hurt however if the heat beds are laid out with an odd number of trace blocks. If the RAMBO won't let you keep the cartridge heater on 12V, you'd have to replace it with a 24V one. The heaters aren't that expensive.