Limit heatbed PWM value

Hello, I want to limit my heatbed PWM value to 50% I have a 500x500 ratrig, and the heatbed needs 1.5kW power at 100%. My breaker doesnt like it. However if I could limit the PWM value to maximum 50%, then it would need less power (I know, slower heating but thats fine for me). Tried to look up in the config.cfg, but I only found the [heater_bed] control: pid and pid values, and in the v-core3-cfg: [heater_bed] pwm_cycle_time: 0.02 # 50hz for european AC, to avoid flickering lights. Any other option to limit the heatbed PWM? Thanks!
6 Replies
miklschmidt
miklschmidt•12mo ago
That's not quite how PWM works. 50% means it's 100% but 50% of the time. So you'd still be drawing 1.5kW peak. However it might be enough to satisfy your breaker. What you want to do is:
[heater_bed]
max_power: 0.5
[heater_bed]
max_power: 0.5
in user overrides, like everything else. As usual, look up the options in the klipper config reference: https://www.klipper3d.org/Config_Reference.html#heater_bed As you can see it says " It uses the same heater settings described in the "extruder" section." That means all parameters under https://www.klipper3d.org/Config_Reference.html#extruder can be used under [heater_bed] as well.
blacksmithforlife
blacksmithforlife•12mo ago
Also keep in mind failure modes. SSR can fail open - meaning regardless of what the software is telling it, it will be as if the bed is directly connected to the outlet. So if your breaker can't handle the bed I would long term think about getting a different bed heater (kenovo will make custom ones)
miklschmidt
miklschmidt•12mo ago
Probably actually an advantage that the breaker trips in that case 😄 depending on what else is connected to it
blacksmithforlife
blacksmithforlife•12mo ago
Yeah - I have a house built in the 80's and those breakers aren't the best so I try not to rely on them
Mitsuma
Mitsuma•12mo ago
you either swap the house wiring/breaker to make do with the power draw or you install a lower power bed. Not sure where you got your kit from but RR actually swapped to a 1200W bed instead for this reason https://us.ratrig.com/3d-printers/keenovo-heater-pad-and-ssr-relays-multiple-sizes-configurations.html they sell it extra here as well as the other said, relying on software to limit the power draw can be fatal in case of a fault. if you are lucky your breaker would catch that but if you aren't something might start to burn
sunny-green
sunny-green•12mo ago
Of course this is just a temp solution until the main problem is solved, but I just dont want to wait and not use the printer until it is done. max_power: 0.5 perfectly works just fine. Thanks!