Running an HP 360 on a generator?

[derekw13029]

So long story short I have an HP l26500, called electrician out, it was going to cost a lot of money to install a new panel as we didn't have enough space at the house for two 240v's.

i got the printer used very cheap and decided that mad maxing a solution be would better suited. thus, enter a champion 6250 inverter generator. it's got a single 240v 30 amp l14-30r receptacle, and with a little searching i was able to find a y splitter. then just using two adapters to the 6-20 t blade on the printer and bam. generator has 5000 running watts, 6250 starting. there is the 30 amp breaker on the generator itself, and the two on the printer. it seems to work perfectly fine, the generator does definitely rev up with the curing module kicks in, but other than a printhead reseating issue i'm still trying to resolve the printer operations fine.

I know that some of the 300 series pull less amps thru the printer circuit, but the 360 seems to be almost identical in power requirements as the 26500/260. i know the mention a dedicated line for each plug, but i know that some people and the electrician i kinda ran this all by mentioned splitting one line as acceptable. this made this think that running the two cords into a y splitter going to one 30 amp l14-30 would be just fine. i have no reason to believe it's not. i know these printers are "designed" to be plugged in all the time for auto cleaning cycles and whatnot, but i have no reason to believe that simply turning the printer off completely when i'm not printing is okay. i certainly do not print every day, at this point i need to use the printer maybe once a week.

i'm looking to purchase a 300 series because finding printheads and inks for the now discontinued 26500 just isn't worth it.

i guess i'm just asking if anyone thinks this is a horrible idea, or if i could continue to use my generator set up for a possible 360. if nothing else, i could always get two generators and run each plug from the printer into one genny each.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Dirty power doesn't always work well with electronics.

 

[derekw13029]

the inverter outputs 60 hz with 3% thd

 

[balstestrat]

Yeah I don't see why not. If that L260 works why not L360.

It doesn't do anything ever when it's turned off so it doesn't need electricity when you are not using it.

 

[derekw13029]

is there any chance running the l26500 off the generator is causing the printhead reseating loop in my other post? pretty sure it's just dead printheads/bad contacts as the printer sat for a while, but i've been trying without much luck to resolve it. may just have to bite the bullet and get a complete new set of printheads and see if that resolves it. but i'd really hate to drop that cash and then still have the reseating loop.

 

[balstestrat]

Like a 0.01% chance... It's not unusual to have bad printheads. But it can be also that your flex cables, carriage PCA, trailing cable or something else gave up for that signal.

 

[derekw13029]

i've visually inspected the flex cables, they appear to be fine and in proper position. but i really have no idea what might be wrong.

it was printing only c/lc and m/lc. after trying to run several cleanings, it eventually triggered the "reseat printhead" and i have not been able to get past that. i have installed one new y/k printhead, but it hasn't changed anything. i have tried combinations of the now 3 y/k printheads i have and it fails every time, just sending the carriage back to the middle and the screen prompting to "reseat printhead".

i guess printheads are the *easiest* thing to replace, so i usually start there. guess i should try one more y/k.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

the inverter outputs 60 hz with 3% thd

I have a champion inverter generator for our camper and it runs everything just like it's plugged in except it won't charge my phone. I missed the inverter part. I had another 2k watt and would use it to charge my drill, sometimes it worked and other times it wouldn't.
Heaters are a big load, it's not like an inrush from a motor start where a capacitor gives it the jolt. You'd need to check what that generator can put out on a constant basis.

 

[FrankW]

Yeah I don't see why not. If that L260 works why not L360.

It doesn't do anything ever when it's turned off so it doesn't need electricity when you are not using it.

We have tested that for a roadshow in a trailer. With our generator, the L26500 works, the 360 don‘t.

The 26500 puts a lot of load on the generator when heating (the motor slows down badly), but it heats and prints. The Latex 360 throws a heater system error with less load on the generator. It looks like that the 360 is more sensible for a unstable power supply.

We have tested that with an old L26500 in our warehouse because we cant run the generator in our showroom where the 360 was. Good that we have finally tested it with the 360 too, some people in our company were near to trust the 26500 results.

 

[balstestrat]

We have tested that for a roadshow in a trailer. With our generator, the L26500 works, the 360 don‘t.

The 26500 puts a lot of load on the generator when heating (the motor slows down badly), but it heats and prints. The Latex 360 throws a heater system error with less load on the generator. It looks like that the 360 is more sensible for a unstable power supply.

We have tested that with an old L26500 in our warehouse because we cant run the generator in our showroom where the 360 was. Good that we have finally tested it with the 360 too, some people in our company were near to trust the 26500 results.

That just depends on the generator and the setup. You can run a building with proper generator.

 

[FrankW]

That just depends on the generator and the setup. You can run a building with proper generator.

Of course. My answer was just a comment to „If that L260 works why not L360“. Exactly that is not shure with a given configuration. The L260 is not a proof for a L360.

 

[jimmmi]

The 360 when preheats draws almost 27 ampere. This is far more than the 4.6kw from the specs. Them It prints with 18-19 ampere. But until stabilize the temperature is very high. Thats maybe why the generator hangs.

 

[balstestrat]

The 360 when preheats draws almost 27 ampere. This is far more than the 4.6kw from the specs. Them It prints with 18-19 ampere. But until stabilize the temperature is very high. Thats maybe why the generator hangs.

It says max is ~7.6kW at 240V not 4.6kW.
4.6kW is during printing.

 

[jimmmi]

It says max is ~7.6kW at 240V not 4.6kW.
4.6kW is during printing.

Where is this mentioned. Haven't seen it. Just have an ampere meter and says 27A startup

 

[balstestrat]

Where is this mentioned. Haven't seen it. Just have an ampere meter and says 27A startup

In the site prep it says maximum is 200-240V 16+16 amp.

 

[FrankW]

The Latex 260/L26500 puts heavy load on the generator (the generator slows down and „jumps around“) but works without error. The Latex 360 puts less load on the generator, but have cancelled heating quickly with an error message about something like „unstable power supply“. For me, it looks like that the Latex 360 dont pull much more power from the generator, but is more sensitive for irregularities.

 

[derekw13029]

I would assume a 330 would draw less since it's amperage is less for the printer. probably would run.

thanks for the info, Frank.

 

[netsol]

is there any chance running the l26500 off the generator is causing the printhead reseating loop in my other post? pretty sure it's just dead printheads/bad contacts as the printer sat for a while, but i've been trying without much luck to resolve it. may just have to bite the bullet and get a complete new set of printheads and see if that resolves it. but i'd really hate to drop that cash and then still have the reseating loop.

Derek,
There is a virtual certainty that running the hp on the generator is causing those problems.
That generator is not designed to power delicate electronics.
The fact that the ACTUAL load exceeds what the generator is capable of means when the motors frank w slow down the nice smooth sine wave the generator is supposed Tom output becomes UNRECOGNIZABLE.

the hp's are very finicky about their power. Near his my name, you will see several members unable to power their hp's because the voltage to the building was a couple percent out of spec.

PLEASE spend the money to power that poor machine properly or you will be in the market for a replacement

I am sure you think I am exaggerating, I AM NOT. 40 years of seeing the result of this kind of situation,when I was in the commercial video business tells me it won't run that way for long.

I would rather see you rearrange the loads in that electrical panel, if a new panel is out of budget..

 

[derekw13029]

Yeah what's weird is the printer is stuck in a loop before even running the heater/curing module. I understand if the voltage isn't correct at the printheads maybe that's why it's failing, but the load during the printhead installation protocol is not very high, certainly nowhere near printing load and it has performed heating, printing, and cooling before off the inverter generator. since it was printing and now it's not, i assumed the printheads or some other part was indeed faulty. the generator is advertised with 3% thd, i understand that's just a figure and obviously not a real world measurement, but if i am to believe the onboard sensor the output is almost always 60.0 hz.

i'm not doubting you, and i'd love the chance to run the printer off clean city power just to be sure. but at the same time, if i paid an electrician several grand and then the printer is still stuck in a "reseat printhead" loop i'm out the money and still have a broken printer. i guess i'm trying to just diagnose at this point. a control would be plug the printer, but i simply don't have that option.

 

[netsol]

Can't you combine SOMETHING from 2 breakers to 1?

If you have someone (a handy man?) who is comfortable with this sort of thing maybe some outlets can be stacked differently? Or 2 breakers for ceiling lights?

Did you try (on the other topic) powering the hp WITHOUT the heaters?
Obviously not to run it, but see if it starts up without error