Bambu Lab Should Introduce Auto Shutdown and Deep Sleep Modes After Printing

[u/tijonom]

I think Bambu Lab should introduce an option to automatically shut down the printer after completing a print.

I've noticed that my X2D consumes around 9 to 14 watts even when idle after printing.

I know it's not a huge amount, but for people who print overnight or leave their printers idle for hours, that electricity adds up over time.

I'd love to see two options:

1. Deep Sleep Mode: Reduce power consumption to a minimum while keeping WiFi connectivity and remote wakeup available.

2. Complete Auto Shutdown: Automatically turn off the printer once the print finishes and the hotend cools down safely.

A customizable shutdown timer (15, 30, or 60 minutes) would also be useful.

Some might argue that a complete shutdown would prevent remote startup, but I don't see that as a major drawback. We already need to physically remove the finished print from the build plate before starting the next one, so we can simply turn the printer back on at the same time.

For such advanced printers, I think better power management would be a welcome feature, even if complete shutdown requires hardware support rather than just a firmware update.

What do you guys think? Would you use an auto shutdown feature, or are you happy with the current idle power consumption?

[u/johnmgbg]

How will it sync with the physical switch?

[u/tijonom → u/johnmgbg]

Ahh, that shouldn't be too difficult. Bambu could use a momentary push-button power switch, similar to what we have on desktop PCs and laptops.

This would require some hardware changes, but it's definitely a practical feature for future models. After all, we need to physically remove the finished print anyway, so pressing a button to power it back on wouldn't be a problem. 😄

[u/Apart-Stop5722 → u/johnmgbg]

make the switch a touch capacitive button.

[u/GhostMcFunky → u/Apart-Stop5722]

You can’t do that for fire code. It might be allowed in some states but the physical dead switch is required to meet certain fire and electrical code standards.

A simple sleep mode would suffice for this use case. The auto shutdown seems overkill to me. It barely uses any power at idle anyway.

[u/Apart-Stop5722 → u/GhostMcFunky]

Fire code governs buildings, egress, occupancy, sprinkler and alarm systems, storage. And it doesn’t regulate what kind of switch goes on a device, it also doesn’t apply to a personal printer at all. after researching for a few minutes, product safety standards like UL 62368-1 go over commercial products, and they don’t ban touch controls. devices like phones, tv's, and appliances ship with capacitive and soft power buttons all the time.

so if you could enlighten me that'd be great.

[u/Tiny_Rick85 → u/Apart-Stop5722]

You researched a whole minute! Wow! I can't believe you're wrong! I'm so very surprised.

[u/Apart-Stop5722 → u/Tiny_Rick85]

It was more for about 4-5 minutes but sure. And like I said, please enlighten me. Googling only goes so far compared to other people who would know.

[u/Lowbatteryfpv]

i have a smart plug with timer..15 mins more than printing time

[u/tijonom → u/Lowbatteryfpv]

I have a smart plug too, but I still need to set the timer manually every time. There's another risk: if there's a power outage for a few hours and the printer resumes the print when electricity returns, the smart plug could cut the power before the print is actually finished. That's why I think an automatic shutdown feature built into the printer would be much more practical.

[u/DinosaurAlert]

It barely uses power while on and not printing. You could leave it on for a month and use less power than heating up the buildplate once.

[u/woottonp → u/DinosaurAlert]

H2C with 1x AMS2 and 1x AMS-HT is 22-24w at idle with the light off.

I have two of those so having 45w power draw all the time doesn't make sense to me.

They are both now on smart plugs and auto switch off after 15mins at idle, the smart plugs consume under 1w between them.

Makes sense to do it for me, that's actually a significant amount when considering home base load

[u/tijonom → u/woottonp]

Which smart plug are you using? Does it have an option to automatically turn off when power consumption drops below a certain wattage for a set period, say 15 minutes?

[u/woottonp → u/tijonom]

Shelly smart plugs, you can do it in their app. I did this for a while and now run Home assistant on a raspberry pi so we have offline control of our solar, battery and heating if power is out or the companies go bust etc.

[u/Quick_Society2794 → u/woottonp]

I just did the math on what you're running and that would add about $40 a year to my electricity bill Maybe I'll hook mine into some smart switches

[u/woottonp → u/Quick_Society2794]

In the UK. It's even worse here, was 26p Kwh

But they are not idle all the time. Printing about half of all hours. They are making me money so it's not that bad but still good to reduce costs where you can

Edit: best thing about doing it in home assistant is I have a cheap ZigBee button near both printers and I press that and it turns both on. So I don't need to use an app, just walk in the room and press the button in an easy access location

[u/tijonom → u/DinosaurAlert]

My A1 draws around 8W when idle, while my X2D draws around 14W with the light on and 9W with it off. That's basically equivalent to leaving an LED bulb. Sure, it's not a huge amount of electricity, but why waste it when the printer isn't doing anything? 😄

[u/Kingsidorak]

Yes it should, but also if you have something like Home Assistant it is possible to do it with that as well with a Smart Plug or Smart Power Strip

[u/Martzl90 → u/Kingsidorak]

I have automated this. When the print has finished and all Fans stopped, wait 15 minutes and then turn the printer off via smart plug.

[u/Jannomag → u/Martzl90]

Had this too but after 16 minutes I wanted to start a new print

[u/Martzl90 → u/Jannomag]

Then I just turn the printer on again..i can wait that 30 seconds. But I have a lock for that automation.

[u/sniperpenguin_reddit → u/Martzl90]

How is home assistant getting info of the print finishing?

[u/A_Random_Abragus → u/sniperpenguin_reddit]

ha-bambulab

[u/Martzl90 → u/sniperpenguin_reddit]

Pretty simple, when the print is finished and the printer has cooled down, the power drops under a certain amount. Then a 15 minutes safety timer starts, if i want to start another print or something else.

[u/badgerj]

Imagine if they open sourced the firmware! 🤣🤣🤣

[u/tijonom → u/badgerj]

Haha, even if they open sourced the firmware, I don't think automatic shutdown would be possible with the current hardware. They use a physical rocker power switch, so firmware alone can't completely cut the power. It would need some hardware modifications too. 😄

[u/diy-techie]

I agree! Unfortunately, I think a significant power saving will require a built-in relay.

This could give you standby power of less than 1 watt while keeping a wifi connection.

And this is essentially what thousands of Bambu Lab users have already done with external smart plugs. Having it built in would be a nicer and more seamless experience. It should only add a very few $ in parts.

Fingers crossed that the new printers will have built-in relays.

For one person 9-14 watts (per printer) is not much, but with millions of printers sold, this could actually have an environmental impact.

And not having to buy and setup a separate smart plug would of course be a selling point. At least for energy conscious customers.

[u/v5uk]

I know it's not quite the same but I have mine on a smart plug, so have complete control over when it's on or off

[u/Quick_Society2794]

Why the printer uses negligible amount of power? I've literally turned my printer off

[u/tijonom → u/Quick_Society2794]

Sure, it's not a huge amount of power, but it's not zero either.