If your Ender 3 won’t turn on and you want to know how to fix it, then continue reading this article as I’ve compiled only the necessary steps required to find out why your Ender 3 won’t power on and how to turn it on.
If your Creality Ender 3 is not turning then finding out the exact cause of the problem could be very challenging because your printer’s screen won’t power up and you will not get any errors that you can use to investigate the underlying cause. It’s very difficult to troubleshoot if you have no idea where to look for the problem
That’s why firstly, I recommend you look at the reasons that can be causing the printer to not power up so that you can understand the troubleshooting steps. Then go through the troubleshooting, one step at a time making sure you are not doing unnecessary tinkering with your Ender 3.
Contents
Reasons Ender is not turning on
One of the following reasons or a combination of these is the reason, why your Ender 3 doesn’t turn on.
- No power supply from the mains
- Wrong voltage input selection
- Loose wires and parts of your printer
- Defective power supply
- Defective motherboard
Knowing the reasons is really important so that if this problem happens again you know what is causing the issue and how to fix it on the first try.
Troubleshooting steps for Ender 3 won’t turn on
Now that you know all the possible reasons that can be causing your Ender 3 to not turn on let’s look at the steps to troubleshoot it and fix it.
I’ve written all the steps in a very systematic manner that will save you time, effort, and money as well, so follow them in the same order that I have laid out for you.
Wrong Voltage Setting
Do not skip this step because by far it is the most common reason why your Ender 3 won’t turn on and having this setting of your Ender 3 wrong can do damage to the power supply and you will have to purchase a new power supply.
The Ender 3’s power supply comes with a red switch which is located on the back of the printer. It is used to tell your 3d printer how many volts of electricity are coming from the power outlet.
In Ender 3 you have 2 options either 115V or 230V, depending on your location you will have to change. If your local area’s power grid supplies 115V then flip the switch to 115V and if the power grid supplies 230V then flip the switch to 230V.
For the USA it should be set to 115 and for the United Kingdom, it should be set to 230, if you are from another country then check Wikipedia’s mains list.
You can simply change the value according to your country by adjusting the switch to either 115 or 230 to match it with the power outlet’s value. You can access the switch on the back of the printer. The switch looks like the picture below.
I’m certainly positive by this step you must have solved the issue and now your printer is on, if not then you continue with the rest of the troubleshooting steps.
No Power from the Panel
At this point reason your printer is not turning on is because it is not getting power to it and who supplies the electrical energy to the printer’s power supply? Yes, it’s your power outlet.
Hence, the very first thing I recommend you is to check whether your power outlet is even supplying electricity to the Ender 3 or not because this single step will save you from going through the trouble of troubleshooting.
To do this disconnect the power cord of your Ender 3’s power supply and plug in another device that requires similar voltage input. If other devices run perfectly without showing any issue then your power outlet is fine and you can move to the next step. If the other devices also fail to power up or run properly then your power outlet is at fault and you have to get it fixed by an electrician.
Loose Wiring
Another possible reason why your Ender won’t power up is loose wiring or connections. Check if your power cord is properly connected to the Ender 3’s power supply or not, also check if the power supply itself is properly connected to the Ender 3 or not.
Also, check for any other loose wiring and parts. After making sure everything is properly and tightly connected to each other, plug the power cord into the power outlet of your electrical panel and turn on the switch.
If this step did turn on your 3d printer then it is clear that the loose wiring was causing the issues, so I advise you to do regular maintenance of your 3d printer which will not only save you from these types of headaches but will also greatly improve your print quality and increase the printer’s life span.
Defective Power Supply
If your power outlet is fine and you have selected the correct value for your 3d printer’s power input and still your Ender 3 is not turning on. Then either it is your printer’s power supply that is at fault or the motherboard itself.
First I want you to check the power supply if it is fine or not by the simple test below.
The process is simple remove your printer’s power cord from the main board and connect your Ender 3 to a computer using the USB port, if your Ender 3’s screen lights up then your printer’s power supply is defective and you need to replace it with a functioning one. In case the screen did not light up you can move to the next step of troubleshooting.
I recommend getting the MEAN WELL LRS-350-24 power supply, it’s the default for the Ender 3 V2, and if you have the base model it will be an upgrade for Ender 3. I always suggest investing in high-quality equipment because lower-quality equipment will lead you toward more loss.
Defective Motherboard
Now if your printer’s screen did not light up in the previous test then it indicates that the motherboard is defective.
If you are an electrician or you know how to fix faulty electric circuits then go ahead and try to fix the motherboard yourself. I know that not everyone has the skill set to fix and build complex electric circuits so I don’t recommend it.
In the case of a defective motherboard, you have to get a new working motherboard to replace it with the current one. You can buy the official Creality Ender 3 motherboard v4.2.7 on Amazon.
Again I’ll emphasize not getting the motherboard from an untrusted seller or manufacturer to save a few dollars because it’s not something that you are going to spend your money on every other week. A genuine motherboard will save you from these kinds of headaches in the future.
Contact seller
If your Creality Ender 3 is under warranty period and you have figured out the reason behind your Ender 3 not powering on, then contact your seller to explain the issue and the steps that you have followed to troubleshoot.
After explaining everything to your seller ask them for either to provide you with a replacement part or to fix the defective part.
Tips
I can understand that after going through this much of a headache you would never again want to deal with the same problem. Always remember precaution is better than cure. So, let’s look at what measures can be taken to prevent this problem in the future.
Regular Maintenance
I cannot tell you enough from this article only how important is it to do the regular maintenance of your 3d printers, doing this alone will prevent so many errors, and failures. All you have to do is clean every part of your printer, check for loose wires and parts tighten them up, update your 3d printer’s firmware, and replace the part that needs replacement.
Avoid Low-quality Equipment
Never use cheap pieces of equipment on your 3d printer as it runs the risk of burning components on your 3d printer’s motherboard and ruining your 3d prints.
Conclusion
I believe that after going through the whole process step by step you were able to identify the problem and solve it without much hassle because I’ve given you the complete Ender 3 won’t turn on troubleshooting guide in a sensible order and in the most concise format.
If you have doubts you can ask them below I’ll help you out.