It should be noted that the power consumption of a printer or multifunctional printer is directly dependent on its operating technology, brand, and specific modification. In general, in order to determine how much electrical energy a device will consume, you need to study its passport data. Each printer model has its own unique power. In most cases, this parameter is indicated on a special information sticker, which is located at the bottom of the device itself.
The approximate power of a laser printer during active operation ranges from 2-3 kW of electrical energy. By the way, this value is comparable to the power of an electric kettle. Moreover, this is comparable even according to the operation scheme of both devices. The fact is that the main energy consumption of a laser device occurs during the heating and printing procedure, and this, as a rule, is only a small part of its operating time. Devices that are plugged in but in standby mode consume approximately 10 W of electricity.
But inkjet printer models have power consumption of up to 150 W. However, this value can vary greatly depending on the specific brand and model of such a device. Once again, it should be noted that you can determine the exact power of your printing office equipment from the information that is available in the instructions included with the device or on a sticker located on its surface.
Examples of energy consumption of some models
You can consider the consumption of electrical energy using the example of a multifunctional device such as the Lexmark2300. It’s worth mentioning right away that this device model uses a mode of reduced power consumption, which corresponds to the “sleep” mode. This, in turn, has a positive effect on the level of power consumption when the equipment is idle, i.e. not used for printing.
According to testing results, the Lexmark2300 MFP consumes about 10 W of electricity when copying a document, while when printing, this value increases to 12 W. But during the scanning procedure, this device requires only 6.6 W. When in a ready state, but waiting in line to print, the MFP of this model requires approximately 5 W, and when the switch is turned off, this value drops to 4.8 W.
You can also take as an example a laser printer model such as the HPLaserJet 2300. This technique consumes 426 W of electricity when printing approximately 25 pages of text every minute. In energy saving mode, this value ranges from 8.6-9.3 W. But keep in mind that the time allotted for turning on this mode is by default at 15 minutes. But in standby mode, this laser printer, depending on the specific modification, can consume power from 8.8 to 9.6 W.
In general, in order to independently determine how much electricity a specific model of printing device consumes, you need to multiply the data from the device’s passport by the time it operates in one mode or another. At the end, add up all the measurements, as a result of which you will get the total energy consumption of a particular printer or MFP.
4. Cost of spare parts, reliability of the printer, long lead time for supplies of spare parts from abroad.The laser printer includes a large number of resource spare parts, such as a fuser (fuser), paper pick-up rollers, separation separators, oscillating units and gearboxes. As experience shows, the more modern the printer, the shorter the service life of spare parts. If earlier the pickup roller could work in a printer (for example HP LJ 2200) 120,000 - 140,000 copies, then in modern analogues it is only 35,000 - 50,000 copies. The actual service life of fusing units also decreased by 3 times. It’s not a fact that at the right time you will have at hand the necessary VERY EXPENSIVE spare parts, especially competent engineers capable of efficiently repairing the printer.
In inkjet printers there is NO concept of a spare part. For example, HP does not fundamentally repair inkjet printers, but simply replaces them with new printers. Existing service centers, as a rule, turn up their noses at the sight of an inkjet that is being dragged in for repair.
In dot matrix printers, the above nightmares are completely absent. The only spare parts available are the print head, which can be replaced by a qualified user. The service life of the head with average intensity of use is 3 - 5 years! Laser engineers can only dream about this!
The delivery time for any spare parts from abroad is 2 - 3 months. Excludes popular and common spare parts for some Hewlett Packard laser printers.
5. High humidity, atmospheric pressure, dust, presence of aggressive operating environments for the printer.
Laser printers gravitate towards comfortable (strictly defined) operating conditions. Narrow temperature range. At low temperatures, the oven will not reach the required temperature for baking the toner and the printer will develop an engineering error. At high humidity, the toner becomes damp and cakes in lumps, resulting in problems with print quality, and the fusing and image transfer units fail. In addition, laser printers contain a large number of high-voltage units with voltages of up to 3000 Volts. In conditions of high humidity, high-voltage breakdowns occur and electronics fail. Increased dust affects a large number of optical devices in laser printers, optical sensors and especially laser machines. A striking example of this is the “legendary” HP Color LaserJet 2600, 2605, 1600 printers. Due to the dustiness of the laser units, they fundamentally do not work for more than 3,000 copies. Cleaning mirrors and laser machine optics is a heavy engineering repair operation.
Inkjet printers are quite tolerant of high humidity and vibration, but they absolutely cannot tolerate dust, since they include a large number of optical sensors, emitters, and coordinate rulers. The inkjet sensor leads have only counterweights (no springs), so the actual position during printing plays an important role.
Dot matrix printers are absolutely not critical to the ambient temperature and, if necessary, can operate even at subzero temperatures. They are also not afraid of humidity, there are no high-voltage blocks in their composition, and the maximum voltage inside the printer does not exceed 30 Volts (Oki Microline 280dc printer). These machines are also not afraid of dust due to the absence of optical sensors and laser machines with mirrors. These machines are not sensitive to external vibration and do not require precise horizontal installation at all. The printer can print even if it is turned upside down. Thanks to this feature, Oki ML 280dc can be used on board aircraft, ships, submarines, and spacecraft. As a rule, there are two simple mechanical sensors for the entire printer. Consumables in the form of a cartridge with an ink ribbon are so simple that they are not afraid of anything at all. Oki ML280 can be used even in zero gravity conditions(!) Neither inkjet nor laser printers can be used in zero gravity conditions.
6. Low quality paper, its impact on the life and performance of the printer.
Laser printers are extremely critical of paper quality. Paper with poor elasticity (or high humidity) instantly wraps around the thermal shafts of the stoves and disables them. Paper with increased abrasive properties quickly wears out the rubber rollers for picking up and transporting paper. Even high-quality, expensive paper periodically gets stuck in a working printer, let alone cheap paper or a printer that has worn out its lifespan.
Inkjet printers can print on regular office paper, but with dense fills it begins to warp, and the ink begins to blur on the paper. The printer requires special inkjet paper to ensure proper quality. Its cost is TENS of times higher than the cost of office paper for laser printing.
Dot matrix printers can work on any paper including letter, glossy and perforated. The cost of the latter is MUCH CHEAPER than regular A4 office paper. In addition, dot matrix printers on special paper can print several sheets at the same time (in several layers).
7. Possibility of reuse, refilling of consumables, protection of the manufacturer from the secondary use of consumables.
As laser printers develop, fewer and fewer options remain for refilling cartridges. This is facilitated by the protection of cartridges using special CHIPs. The development and improvement of cryptoprograms of CHIPs make their re-production impossible. Selection of cartridge materials (photodrums, bearings, magnetic shafts) with a minimum resource, making it difficult to reuse consumables.
In HP-type strings, the possibility of reusing cartridges or refilling them is completely excluded due to the presence of a print head in the cartridge. In Epson jets, more and more sophisticated CHIPs are blocking the ability to refill.
In dot matrix printers, no one is involved in protecting consumables. And due to the simplicity of the design of consumables, there is always a choice of alternative cartridges from various manufacturers. In addition, in original cartridges you can always repaint the ribbon with regular ink and thus provide them with a second life.
8. Possibility of storing received prints over time and the influence of the environment on them.
Prints on inkjet printers have a minimal shelf life, they quickly fade in the sun, and when exposed to moisture (especially water), they instantly blur and wash off.
Matrix and laser printing are stored for a particularly long time and are not afraid of sunlight or exposure to moisture.
From the considered aspects of operating printers in critical, difficult conditions, based on different printing principles (laser, inkjet and matrix), we can conclude that the only acceptable printing principle is MATRIX.
Recommended printer model for intensive printing in extreme conditions Oki Microline 280 dc.
For light-duty printing in difficult conditions, we can recommend the inexpensive Oki Microline 1120 matrix printer. Its feature is a stationary cartridge with an unusually large print capacity - 4,000,000 characters.
The material was prepared by the chief engineer of the Oltar company, Alexander Novikov.
- Printing technology Kyocera Mita Color ECOSYS, Laser
- Print speed: - up to 32 ppm b/w and color, (A4) - up to 16 ppm b/w and color, (A3)
- Start of printing in less than: 5.9 b.w. and 7.9 colors sec
- Warm-up time less than 45 seconds
- Resolution 600x600 dpi, Multibit technology - 2/4 bits per dot
- Print media 64-220 g/m2, plain or recycled paper, transparencies, labels, envelopes, cards
- universal cassette for 2x500 sheets 60-105 g/m2 A5-A3
- multifunctional tray for 100 sheets 60-220 g/m2 A6-A3, envelopes. With optional input trays, maximum 4,100 sheets
- 500 sheets face down with automatic tray full sensor
- Processor PowerPC 750GL/800 MHz
- Memory: - standard 256 MB - maximum up to 1024 MB 2 slots (64, 128, 256, 512 MB DIMM) - CompactFlash slot: additional space for storing data: fonts, shapes, logos (CompactFlash card is not included in the standard package) - Hard drive (optional) 40 GB - additional space for storing assignments, forms, fonts, etc. (not included in standard delivery)
- Virtual mailbox (if you have a Hard Drive)
- Emulations PCL6, PCL5c, including PJL, KPDL3, KCGL (HP 7550A), PDF Direct Print
- Prescribe IIc programming language
- Fonts: - 80 scalable fonts (PCL5c), 1 bitmap font, 136 fonts (KPDL3), - 45 1D barcodes, 1 2D barcode (PDF-417)
- Interfaces: - IEEE 1284, USB 2.0, FastEthernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - KUIO-LV slot (for additional interface):
- IB-23 10Base-T/100Base-TX
- SB-70 Wireless LAN - IEEE 802.11b
- SB-110FX 10Base-T/100Base-TX/100Base-FX, FibreOptic
- SB-110 10Base-T/100Base-TX
- Multiple Connection (MIC)
- User interface: printer control keyboard
- Power consumption: - printing - 840 W - standby - 210 W - sleeping - 15 W
- Noise level: - printing - 54 dB - standby - 44 dB
- Voltage 220/240 V, 50/60 Hz
- Dimensions (W x D x H): 605 x 670 x 680 mm
- Weight: 87 kg
- PF-710 additional paper feed tray for 2x500 sheets 60-105 g/m2 A3, A4, A5R, B5, Letter, Legal, Ledger, Folio, STMT
- PF-750 additional paper feed tray up to 3000 sheets 60-105 g/m2, A4, B5, Letter
- DF-710 finisher + AK-710 or AK-715: main tray - up to 3000 sheets A4 or 1500 sheets A3/B4 "face up" 60-105 g/sq.m, A3-B5 left tray - up to 200 sheets A4 or 100 sheets A3 "face up" 60-105 g/sq.m, A3-A6R right tray - up to 50 sheets A4 "face up" 60-105 g/sq.m, A4-A6R stapler: single-position stapling up to 50 sheets A4 or 30 sheets A3, 3-position stapled
- DF-730 finisher + AK-715*: up to 1,000 sheets A4 or 500 sheets A3/B4, 64-128 gsm, A3-B5, one stapler slot up to 30 sheets A4 or 20 sheets A3/B4, 64- 128 gsm
- BF-710 booklet for DF-710: binding and stapling up to 16 sheets (64 pages), 60-180 g/m2, cover 60-105 g/m2, A3, B4
- PH-5C/PH-5B hole punch for DF-710: A3-A5, 45-200 g/sq.m, 2 or 4 holes
- MT-710 collator for DF-710: 7 cells x (100 sheets A4 or 50 sheets A3)
- DF-730 finisher +AK-705: up to 1000 sheets A4 or 500 sheets A3/B4, 64-128 g/m2, A3-B5, single-position stapling up to 30 sheets A4 or 20 sheets A3/B4
- CB-700 Wooden printer bedside table with storage space
- CB-710 Metal printer bedside table with storage space
- Container with black TK-820K toner for 15,000 A4 pages at 5% coverage. The resource of the starter container with black toner is 7,500 pages at 5% coverage.
- Container with TK-820C Cyan toner for 7000 A4 pages at 5% coverage
- TK-820M Magenta toner container for 7000 A4 pages at 5% coverage
- Container with TK-820Y Yellow toner for 7000 A4 pages at 5% coverage. The resource of the starting container with color toner is 3500 pages at 5% coverage.
Power consumption in the consumer sense is calculated in kilowatts over a certain period of time. Thus, kilowatts per hour become the basic unit of measurement for the power consumption of a multifunction device.
Power consumption of MFPs of different models in kW
So, how many thousands of watts your MFP consumes in one hour is the value of the printer's power consumption. However, before you start calculating, you must understand that the power consumption of your device depends on the state in which it is located.
Most MFPs have on, standby, and sleep modes. On mode is when your printer is actively printing, the "standby" state is when the MFP is waiting to print, and the "sleep" state is when the printer is tired of waiting for your print command and is almost in an off state.
Obviously, the “on” mode is the most energy-intensive, and the “sleep” mode is the least. This rule applies to all MFP models. Their power value may be different.
How to find out what the power is in kW
The best way to learn how to calculate the power consumption of an MFP is with an example. To do this, let's assume that you have an HP LaserJet 4250 printer.
This printer has a power rating of 5 amps for 230 volt models, i.e. for Australian models. Now the same link shows that the HP LaserJet 4250 print power is 675 watts, which is 0.675 kilowatts.
Whether you want to consume 1.15 kilowatts or 0.675 kilowatts is up to you.
This example is for illustrative purposes only and is not a certified all-in-one power consumption rating for the HP LaserJet 4250.
The HP LaserJet 4250 printer's standby power consumption is 20 W or 0.02 kW, while the standby power consumption is 18 W or 0.018 kW. The HP LaserJet 4250 is rated at 45 pages per minute for letter-size sheets, which is what we'll take. And it assumes your monthly print volume is 100,000 pages. This is where the calculation comes in.
The power consumption of your multifunction device is:
5 amps x 230 volts = 1150 watts = 1.15 kilowatts
Print volume:
45 pages x 60 minutes = 2700
Your printer prints:
100,000 pages per month / 2700 per hour = ~37 hours.
There are a few other situations to consider. First, the printer waits about 75% of the time it doesn't print. Secondly, the MFP is in a sleep state for 25 percent of the time when it is not printing.
This means your printer is in standby mode for:
720 hours (per month) - 37 hours of printing x 75% = 512.25 hours
This also means that your printer is sleeping for:
720 hours (per month) - 37 printing hours x 25% = 170.75 hours
You are very close to the full and final power consumption of the MFP. It is necessary to multiply the hours worked with the rated power for each mode.
Printing power consumption:
37 hours x 1.15 kW = 42.55 kW
512.25 hours x 0.02 kW = 10.24 kW
170.75 hours x 0.018 kW = 3.07 kW
Now you can simply add up these three values to get your printer's total power consumption at work or at home. In this case, the total cost is 55.86 kilowatts. If you want to take it one step further, you can multiply this total cost by any costs you pay in your area. This will give you the amount of money you pay in your energy bills to keep your printer running.
- Compared to inkjet printers, the cost of purchasing the device itself for laser machines will in most cases be slightly higher. The most popular models for home and office cost from 4,200 rubles. up to 60 up to 10,500 rub.
- The cost of purchasing toner, as well as the number of pages printed associated with this figure, greatly depends on the manufacturer and the specific model. Compared to inkjet printers, these figures are usually about the same or slightly higher.
Energy consumption of laser printers
- A much more important parameter is the level of energy consumption of laser printers. With an average device power of 300 to 550 W, the power consumption level is relatively high. Business class devices consume up to 1000 W. Inkjet printers, with their 25 watts, appear to be much more energy efficient.
- When you first turn on your laser printer, the device must first “warm up”. To operate, this printer requires a temperature of about 200 °C. Thus, those who print little and rarely receive higher energy costs for heating.
- You also need to pay attention to the level of power consumption in print-ready mode and in sleep mode. Depending on the specific device, they can differ greatly from each other. Sometimes the printer consumes less than a modest 10 W, and sometimes its appetite points to a wasteful 80 W.
