<p>The stock firmware of the printers in question is an old version of Marlin.</p>
<p>Marlin supports a <code>PRINTCOUNTER</code> if activated in the <a href="https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/blob/bugfix-2.1.x/Marlin/Configuration.h#L2487" rel="nofollow noreferrer">configuration.h</a> file.</p>
<p>This can be read with the <code>M78</code> g-code command.
Apparently, this function is not activated by default in <a href="https://forums.creality3dofficial.com/download/ender-series/ender-5/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Creality's firmware</a>.</p>
<p>You may choose to build your own, much more up-to-date version of Marlin from scratch and enable this feature for future tracking.
However, note that this can be reset with a <a href="https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/blob/bugfix-2.1.x/Marlin/src/gcode/stats/M75-M78.cpp#L67" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code>M78 S78</code></a> g-code command.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-30T13:30:00.517Z
So, I could track usage in the future, but not past usage as this feature wasn't active then.
Aaargh Zombies
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-06-30T13:13:48.943Z
2023-06-30T13:13:48.943Z
towe
<p>You have 10 ender 5 printers in a college maker space environment, all vanilla hardware with stock firmware and no modifications. They are all the same age and visual have no noticeable differences in terms of wear and tear.</p>
<p>5 have basic colored pla filiment loaded, 5 have special material filiment loaded.which probably isn't relevant.</p>
<p>Paper logs are not kept of how long each machine is used for, only who is using the maker space on a given day.</p>
<p>Students may print from an SD card or connect a private laptop to print from, so no there are no server logs.</p>
<p>Is it possible to extract any information at all from the printer itself to determine how much it has been used. For example how many hour it has been powered on, how many hours it has been printing, or how much filiment it has passed?</p>
<p>It does not need to be granular, a simple life run total would do.</p>
<p>The aim is to help determine if someone has been running the printers overnight as a print farm without authorisation by seeing if they have more hours on them than could reasonable be accounted for through normal us inside maker space hours.</p>

<creality-ender-5>
Can the total runtime of an ender 5 be determined from the printer itself?
Aaargh Zombies
# Can the total runtime of an ender 5 be determined from the printer itself?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-06-30)

You have 10 ender 5 printers in a college maker space environment, all vanilla hardware with stock firmware and no modifications. They are all the same age and visual have no noticeable differences in terms of wear and tear.

5 have basic colored pla filiment loaded, 5 have special material filiment loaded.which probably isn't relevant.

Paper logs are not kept of how long each machine is used for, only who is using the maker space on a given day.

Students may print from an SD card or connect a private laptop to print from, so no there are no server logs.

Is it possible to extract any information at all from the printer itself to determine how much it has been used. For example how many hour it has been powered on, how many hours it has been printing, or how much filiment it has passed?

It does not need to be granular, a simple life run total would do.

The aim is to help determine if someone has been running the printers overnight as a print farm without authorisation by seeing if they have more hours on them than could reasonable be accounted for through normal us inside maker space hours.

**Tags:** creality-ender-5

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-06-30. Score: 1

The stock firmware of the printers in question is an old version of Marlin.

Marlin supports a `PRINTCOUNTER` if activated in the [configuration.h](https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/blob/bugfix-2.1.x/Marlin/Configuration.h#L2487) file.

This can be read with the `M78` g-code command.
Apparently, this function is not activated by default in [Creality's firmware](https://forums.creality3dofficial.com/download/ender-series/ender-5/).

You may choose to build your own, much more up-to-date version of Marlin from scratch and enable this feature for future tracking.
However, note that this can be reset with a [`M78 S78`](https://github.com/MarlinFirmware/Marlin/blob/bugfix-2.1.x/Marlin/src/gcode/stats/M75-M78.cpp#L67) g-code command.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So, I could track usage in the future, but not past usage as this feature wasn't active then.  

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