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Recently I had an issue with my heating cartridge, and I decided to change it.

For my Anet A8, I needed a 12 V 40 W one. I ordered it but I received a 15 mm length instead of 20 mm length heater element, but as the characteristics where the same I thought that it should not be an issue!

When I finally tried it, it was not able to reach the commanded temperature. It's like 175 °C instead of 195 °C.

I don't understand why it's harder for the newer heating cartridge to reach the commanded temperature, is the length important even if it's the same power (12 V and 40 W) ?

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    $\begingroup$ Try to measure the resistance - does it have the expected 3-4 Ohms for a 40W 12V cartridge? $\endgroup$
    – towe
    May 27, 2020 at 12:15
  • $\begingroup$ It might be the wrong cartridge $\endgroup$
    – user77232
    May 27, 2020 at 12:24

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If it is 40 W then it shouldn't matter what length it is. Note that the heater cartridge just contains a Nickel-Chrome wire-resistor (see image below for the construction), this resistor gives its heat to the metallic shell, the length of that shell shouldn't matter, it usually contains heat free/colder zones at the tip and root. Even if it is a 30 W heater cartridge it should be able to get to temperature, it would just take longer.

If it is a 24 V, 40 W cartridge, operating at 12 V, then the effective power would be $40[V] \times \frac{12[V]^2}{24[V]^2}=10 [W]$. This might be too low to reach the temperature. It is best to check the resistance of the heater element with a multitester; it should be about 4 Ω for a 12 V heater cartridge and about 14 Ω for a 24 V heater cartridge.

enter image description here

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