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Aside from the expense of the 3D printer and the substance used to make the objects, something more comes to mind. How much electricity does this device consume?!
It’s a reasonable question. We want to 3D print our own products to be as cost-effective as possible, as much as it is entertaining. In this article, I’ll explain how much electricity these 3D printers consume and how to regulate it.
The amount of electricity used by your 3D printer is primarily determined by the printer’s size and the temperature of the heated bed and nozzle. The average 3D printer consumes 70 watts of power with a 205°C hotend and a 60°C heated bed. This would require 0.7kWh, or roughly 9 cents, for a 10-hour print.
There’s a lot more critical information in the rest of this post, so keep reading to learn everything you need about electricity and 3D printers.
How Much Electricity Does a 3D Printer Use? 3D Printer Specifications Determine Power Consumption
The answers you need to know the limits of power consumption are in your 3D printer’s specs for the power source and maximum/minimum power ratings.
For example, a printer with a 30A 12V power source will have a maximum Watt of 360 (30*12=360). However, it will not always operate at this level. These maximums will appear when the appropriate pieces are heated to begin printing. Still, they will gradually decrease as the printing progresses.
The Ender 3 (Amazon) is an excellent low-power 3D printer; it’s an all-around popular machine that’s perfect for novices and has a quality that rivals the best premium printers. You’ll see how excellent it is based on the rave reviews!
Jason King of 3DPrintHQ tested the MakerBot Replicator 2 printer and discovered that the energy expenses for a 5-hour print were only $0.05. 3D printing consumed only 50 watts per hour, similar to an HP LaserJet printer in standby mode or one usage of your toaster.
How Much Electricity Does a 3D Printer Use?
Low Power Relative Cost
Regarding the overall cost of 3D printing, power expenditures are relatively modest and not something to be concerned about. Of course, some printers are more efficient than others, but not to the point where it’s a major deciding factor when choosing one over the other.
Now, the amount of power used by a 3D printer varies slightly based on what the printer is actually doing. If the print bed is relatively large, the printer will consume more power when preheating to the set temperature than during printing.
Generally, When a 3D printer is turned on, the first actual electricity usage is to heat the print bed. After that, the nozzle is heated to the appropriate temperature for the material. But this sequence depends on your start gcode. Print bed and nozzle could start getting heated up at the same time. If the heated platform is on to maintain the ideal temperature, you will see spikes in power usage when printing.
I’ve read that the average 3D printer uses as much electricity as a standard refrigerator.
How Much Electricity Does a 3D Printer Use?
What Factors Influence the Power Consumption?
Strathprints conducted a test to assess the power consumption of four different 3D printers and found that a few facts were confirmed. The smaller the layer thickness of the material, the longer it takes to print, resulting in higher overall power usage.
You’ll use less power overall if you can speed up your prints, so check out my post, 8 Ways to Speed Up Your 3D Printer Without Losing Quality.
When a print bed or hot end’s heating efficiency is good, it uses less electricity because the temperatures don’t have to be kept as hot all the time.
The video below demonstrates the significant differences in how much electricity a 3D printer uses when the heated bed is used.
Using an Ashata Heat Insulator Mat to reduce how much heating your bed has to do is an excellent idea. It has a high thermal conductivity, which helps keep your heated bed warm and cool.
The MakerBot-Replicator 2X used a baseline of 40-75 watts to power the controller and motor. Still, it went up to 180 watts when the heat was required. The higher the required print bed temperature, the more often the 3D printer needed electricity, as seen by watt meter swings.
The test revealed that the power consumption of 3D printers varies significantly. As a result, it can be determined that 3D printers do not consume the same amount of power and depend on various parameters.
Your 3D printer’s setup options will significantly impact its overall power usage. Understanding the 3D printing process is crucial so you can produce high-quality objects with less electricity.
Get yourself a 3D printer enclosure if you want to take it a step further. The Sovol Warm Enclosure for Ender 3D Printers is a fantastic example. It’s expensive, but it’ll last long and usually yields superior prints.
How Much Electricity Does a 3D Printer Use?
How Can I Save Money on Electricity With a 3D Printer?
- Make use of a more compact 3D printer.
- Use 3D printing materials that don’t need a hot bed or high nozzle temperatures to print (PLA)
- Use 3D printer settings to make 3D prints go faster.
- Change to a larger nozzle if you want your prints to last longer.
- Make sure you’re 3D printing in a reasonably warm setting.
When it comes to minimizing your 3D printer’s power expenses, it all boils down to discovering strategies to speed up your 3D prints while requiring less heating.
To speed up prints, try using a larger nozzle, less infill, printing less often, or printing multiple items at once rather than doing them separately.
The heating elements consume most of the electricity, so focus on lowering the heat, and you’ll be able to save even more.
This isn’t usually an issue because the associated costs aren’t excessive. You’ll spend more money on the filament than on the electricity.
How Much Electricity Does a 3D Printer Use?
What Is the Electricity Consumption of an Ender 3?
One Ender 3 user only consumed about 0.5kWh (kilowatt-hour) while their 3D printer ran for 4 hours, heating up twice (using 280 watts per). When calculating this per-hour, we can get 0.12kWh per hour with an Ender 3.
People sometimes wonder how much power their Ender 3 would use if they ran it for a full day, so let’s look at 24 hours.
2.88kWh = 24 * 0.12kWh
According to NPR, the average cost of a kilowatt-hour in the United States is 12 cents; therefore, running an Ender 3 for 24 hours would cost $0.35. It would cost roughly $11 to run your Ender 3 24 hours a day for a month.
The Ender 3’s power supply is 360W (24V DC at 15A).
220W Heated Bed
4 16W stepper motors
1-2W for fans, mainboard, and LCD
Following these components, you should have an extra 60-70 Watts capacity, allowing you to add more items.
The power consumption of a basic set of 5050 LED lights attached to your 3D printer might be as high as 20W.
How Much Electricity Does a 3D Printer Use?
Can a 3D Printer Produce Electric Shocks?
Now that you know that 3D printers don’t use a lot of electricity, you might wonder if they can still give you an electric shock. This is a good question, and the answer is straightforward.
You can receive an electric shock from a 3D printer if you don’t manage it properly, but you won’t get one if you use it properly.
The power supply did give one 3D printer user an electric shock. However, it was due to overuse. They utilized an EU to UK adaptor and set the voltage to 230V after setting up their 3D printer.
Rather than using an adapter, they should have purchased or requested that the seller send them a UK plug. Because a tiny current can travel through the connections from the live wire, this could have happened due to improper grounding.
Thankfully, it was only a minor tickle or shock! You should avoid using electronics that are not grounded when they should be.
How Much Electricity Does a 3D Printer Use?
How can I figure out how much electricity I actually use?
There is no exact measurement we can provide you regarding electricity use because there are many discrepancies and variables. The best way to determine how much power you’re using is to measure it yourself rather than relying on us to guess.
A power meter with an integrated power usage monitor is available for purchase. High-end ones can even compute the cost of your power usage, allowing them to respond quickly to your query.
There are many different types of electricity monitors available, so I researched and found one that works well for most people.
Your best option will be the Poniie PN1500 Portable Electricity Monitor. It is not only officially ‘Amazon’s Choice’ at the time of writing but also has the highest rating of all the monitors, with a 4.8/5 rating.
Here’s what this power monitor has going for it:
- It’s pretty simple to use, and it gives you access to a variety of power parameters.
- Current sensor with high precision
- There is a backlight and memory with significant digital digits for convenient viewing.
- With the ability to detect nearly anything at 0.20W, you can monitor almost anything.
- 1-year manufacturer’s warranty
You can simply monitor electrical usage in real time, and it offers a variety of applications that can help you save money on your electricity bills in the future. Whether you’re testing other appliances, such as an old refrigerator or other energy-guzzlers.
For a 3D printer, a wide range of electricity can be used.
The MakerBot Replicator+, which offers a voltage range of 100-240 volts and a current range of 0.43-0.76 amps, is an example of the minimum and maximum power levels a 3D printer can utilize. To convert this, simply multiply the lower and upper limits to obtain our limits.
43 watts = 100 volts * 0.43 amps
182.4 watts = 240 volts * 0.76 amps
As a result, the power can range from 43 to 182.4 watts.
By dividing the watts by 1000 and increasing the number of hours in use, we may convert the watts to kilowatts per hour (KwH). For instance, if you had a 5-hour print, the computation would be:
For the lowest limit, 43 watts/1000 = 0.043 Kw * 5 hours = 0.215 KwH.
The upper limit is 182.4 watts/1000 = 0.182 Kw * 5 = 0.912 KwH.
For example, if we take the happy midpoint of these two power measures, we’ll get 0.56 KWh, which will cost you only 5-6c per hour in energy. So now you have a rough idea of how much electricity is consumed in 3D printing, which isn’t much but can add up over time.
Compared to the actual cost of the 3D printer, filament materials, and other tools and equipment, the electric power required for 3D printers should not be a concern.
Regarding large professional printers, electricity costs may be a factor to consider. Still, for a standard domestic 3D printer, they are incredibly minimal.
How much electricity do your 3D printers use?
Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook page to let us know your ideas, and we would appreciate seeing pictures of your works of art!
