Printers known to have backpowering issues

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#1

Printers that show backpowering issues try to draw their 5v power from devices connected via USB. In the case of a connected Raspberry Pi, that can cause undervoltage issues and thus negatively affect stability and performance - we've seen crashing Pis, vanishing WiFi and so on. There's a simple fix that involves putting electric tape or otherwise disconnecting the 5v line in your USB connector.

Here's a list of printer models currently identified to exhibit this electrical design flaw in their stock electronics:

  • Creality:
    • CR-6 SE (apparently even seems to put 24v on the 5v pin for some?!)
    • CR-10S Pro V2
    • Ender 3 Pro (8-bit board)
    • Ender 3 Pro V2
    • Ender 5 Plus
    • Ender 5 Pro
  • Vivendo T-Rex 3
  • Wanhao Duplicator i3 Plus/Monoprice Selector Plus/Cocoon Create

Please note: This list is not exhaustive. Just because your printer isn't listed here doesn't mean it has no backpowering issues, it just means nobody has yet tried and added their experiences here. So please test and update accordingly with your results to help others in the future, thanks :slight_smile:

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#2
#3

I've been having the wifi issues on a Creality CR10S Pro V2 with a Pi4 4GB, which was partially fixed with the wifi sleep issue, but still very slow responding camera when monitoring via wifi.

Thought I'd give this a go and the camera (PiV2.1) response through wifi is night and day. WAY better.
Such a simple thing to do and a facepalm to myself that I should have done this earlier, seeing the way each device reacted (i.e. strangely) when the other was powered on first.

Not sure about what the voltages are on the pins, but if I get a chance will check and post.
Thanks for this!

#4

@cods69 Thanks for that report, I've added that printer to the list as well.

#5

Creality Ender 3 V2 has the same issue - the LCD will turn on with the printer off if Octoprint is connected. Fixed with the electrical tape trick.

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#6

The question is whether there are additional issues besides powering the LCD. If it's only the backlight that's usually fine, but if it's more that gets backpowered, it can cause issues.