ReadyWelder (AGAIN)

It must be a couple of months since the last post on this (-: I've been playing around with mine for the first REAL time this week-end. Two Walmart Marine MAXX-29 batteries rated at 125AH seem to work just FINE with the spool of supplied 0.035 flux core wire. I didn't measure the current, but subjectively I'll just say that on 24V a lot of it (CURRENT) comes at Ya a bit quick (-: This is obvious, but "DC" from lead/acid batteries REALLY IS "Dee Cee", as in NO RIPPLE ! NIiiiice.

The manual says I might get 45 minutes of heavy welding time from a pair of fully charged group 31 batteries, up to 4 hours on sheet metal. This is probably adequate for most of what I'm likely to do, but I've been thinking about those intense projects that have to be done THIS week-end and don't permit a 10 or 20 hour re-charge cycle, so... The next step I am considering is a 24 volt charger connected across the batteries while I'm welding. I'm thinking that this would probably give me close to a 100% duty cycle. There is a Northern Hydraulics

6/12/24 volt 200 amp charger for about $200 that would probably do the job. Too bad it doesn't also have taps at 18, 30 and 36. There might be cheaper and/or better ones. Has anyone here tried this ? What success/failure stories ? Another possibility could be a really cheap and nasty mig machine, it could be quite low current with lots of ripple... Harbor Fre**** comes to mind.
Reply to
2regburgess
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--Just out of curiosity how are you recharging those batteries?

Reply to
steamer

RIght now I'm putting them back into parallel and using an old Sears 12 volt charger that gives me something like 5, 15 and 60 amp charge rates, supposedly over 100 for starting. It is no big hassle, I'd just like to have them at or close to a full charge for the whole day for major projects.

Reply to
2regburgess

Another fellow a few years back powered his from a 2 - 6 volt batteries and 1 - 12 volt battery. That way he had 6, 12, 18, and 24 volts. He had them on a cart in his barn next to the charger.

Reply to
Ernie Leimkuhler

I have some experience with batteries. I work at a Home Medical Equipment dealer. We test, change and charge a lot of batteries, mostly gel or absorbed glass mat, but safe procedures apply to all batteries.

Few chargers will maintain their rated charge current for long periods without damage. If you had one that would, there are safety limitations on how large a charge rate is safe for the amp-hour ratings of batteries. Don't just take my word for it: There are several battery information sites on the web.

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is pretty good.

One risk of charging or discharging too fast, is it makes a fair amount of heat discharging and lots of hydrogen gas charging -- which might not be a good thing where you're welding. An exploding battery is emphatically not fun! DAMHIKT. :)

Reply to
John Husvar

The plan is for the two 12 volt batteries to do double duty on my large trailer. I expect to get two 6 volt batteries that will do their double duty in series on my small trailer. I'll probably use the 6 volt batts in parallel with each other and in series with a 12 volt one (or two). I'm also looking at possible voltage controllers, though high current DC ain't easy (-:

Yes, thanks, I know a bit about charge and discharge rates. They ARE supposedly deep cycle / starter batteries designed for - - not welding, but fairly high current and fairly deep discharge. I was interested to know if anyone was running a charger across the batteries while using the welder.

Reply to
2regburgess

Sounds like a good plan to get multiple uses of your equipment.

The only problem I, personally, would have with a charger that could keep up with the discharge rate of welding is that _I_ might as well just buy a welder. :)

YMMV of course. Sounds like you're more interested in ready portability than working in a shop. Have I got that right or am I missing your point?

There were some industrial emergency power supplies for magnet-duty cranes that drew from the batteries all the time and had monstrous chargers to keep up. They're rarer now that switchover times have improved. Maintaining them was a bear! :)

I'd be very interested in how your Readywelder and batteries setup performs over the long term; battery life, number of charge cycles, etc.

I'd also like to hear about a battery/charger setup that works out well. Would you post your experiences, please?

All the deep cycle batteries we use at my work are capable of long, relatively low-amp draw, but require slow recharge of twelve to fourteen hours for best service if deeply discharged. The manufacturers I'm most familiar with recommend recharging at or slightly past 20% discharged for longest life. I guess they have their own definition of deep.

That's for wheelchairs, not welders. So apply salt as and where needed. :)

I can't think of any brands or types that work well for both jobs. Do you have a reference to any? I'd like to know how they did it. TIA

Reply to
John Husvar

Reply to
Waynemak

Thanks for the input John. Yes, I'm in also the market for a "regular" welder and to some extent buying a spool gun ahead of a mig or tig was an out of sequence sort of purchase. This is for occasional hobby use, portability isn't a huge issue. I want to get into aluminum asap, I think I'll be getting into

1/4 inch alumin fairly soon, so 250 to 300 amps is what I think I'll be wanting. The rules seems to be an amp per thousandth of an inch and $6 to $8 per amp. There are all the other spending priorities and the difficulty of predicting what I will use most. Also the TIG learning curve vs the MIG quick n' easy and it's general use for steel.

I intend to follow the ReadyWelder recharge recommendations, max recharge rate of 10 hours, i.e. 12.5 amps, so I'll keep it down to 10 amps (per battery). For MOST of what I see in the near and mid term future I think the batteries and overnight re-charge will be fine, I was just asking around to see if anyone else had tried the charger hooked across the batteries to get longer times out of them.

Reply to
2regburgess

Point well made: I've been neglecting to consider duty cycle. That would make a huge difference in charging requirements.

It'd be pretty hard to hit a 100% cycle working by hand.

Wouldn't the charger tend to overload during welding because it's connected to the batteries all the time? I'd think the load in operation would get pretty high. (looking to learn something)

Very nice jobs on the welder and spool gun.

BTW, I'm not trying to jump on the OP, just ask some questions. I'd thought about something similar, but shied away because of the load on the charger and excessive charger load.

Wouldn't be the first or last time I'm likely to be missing something.

Reply to
John Husvar

Hi Wayne, NICE welder and spool gun projects, congrats. I might ask you for some voltage control schematics (-: Hi John, I was INVITING thoughts, criticism, feedback, etc., so its OK (-: I think the current draw of welding is probably similar to leaving a battery charger on the battery and hitting the truck starter on a cold morning. I think starters call for some hundreds of amps and on SOME trucks on SOME mornings it seems they get cranked for more than a few minutes at a time. This probably equates to a fairly long bead... with no real arithmetic - I'm guessing, but it seems within the realm of possibility that a charger could stand up to it and with large (initially) fully charged batts hanging on there providing most of the current, I think it will survive. BTW, that old Sears charger does have an overload cut out that resets itself after about a minute.

Reply to
2regburgess

For a homebrew TIG see:

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It only goes to 130 A using an auto alternator run off his compressor motor. He uses a car battery for excitation. Kinda cool, but not big enough for your application. Might supply some ideas though.

I understand about spending priorities. If I couldn't make things for my wife and her horse and barn, I probably wouldn't have a welder at all.

I don't have a horse: My wife and her horse have a me.

Figuring what you'll use most can be a problem alright.

Got it. (finally) :)

Reply to
John Husvar

Current comes from the lower impedance or resistance source. Since the batteries had voltage and the current supply, the rectified alternator didn't supply much if any current. When the batteries sag, then the alternator does. But likely the hand tires or one must move to the next joint and a boost hits the batteries....

One could put a re-triggering circuit breaker between the alternator and batteries. Then one could deplete the batteries without the alternator taking peak load.

Martin

Reply to
lionslair at consolidated dot

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