Energy Use of 3D Printers

[Maximo101]

I have been monitoring my solar panel generation and energy consumption for years.
The Ender3Pro seems to alternative between using roughly 40watts (15-20seconds) and 260watts (7seconds) in a cycle as it prints.
At our current electrical pricing in Australia (240v) is seems to be averaging about $1.00 a day in electricity for the 3D printer running 24-7.
Just thought I would share

[Ender5r]

I suspect you have pretty cheap electricity. Even so, $1/dy is pretty cheap. Besides, I suspect most consumers aren't printing 24/7.

[Maximo101]

As far as I can tell, most people who get into 3d printing end up having something always printing without much down time
our electricity pricing in Australia was high as far as I know. 30 - 50 cents per KwH

[Ender5r]

Yikes, that IS high; very high by my standards. Our electricity is currently 11 cents/KWH, going up to 12 cents due to Covid-19 costs.

My printer certainly isn't running 24/7. Mind you, I am currently mostly trying to dial it in. I'm having a couple of particular issues at the moment, but I'm going to start a new topic for them.

[StumblingBumblingIdiot]

Ouch that is high. I am in south central Pennsylvania and with Energy charge and Distribution charge together it is around 9.5 cents give or take a few tenths (we also have a separate breaker box that the electric company controls and can turn off during high usage times and that is only half the cost for the energy so total about 5.5cents for those items). I was always curious as to how much power my Ender 5 pulls over long periods of time but have been too lazy to buy a kill-a-watt meter Maybe I will have to now since I don't really ever turn mine off except to repair or upgrade.

[irvshapiro]

@Maximo101 Very interesting topic. Thanks for starting this discussion.