[TheForge] Inverters & MIG Welders

[Washington, Aubrey O.]

Paul,
Thanks for your thoughts.  Nothing about electricity/electronics is too basic or too obvious for me!  So, you won't insult me by telling me something others would consider obvious.
 
Would there be an advantage to installing a second battery in the truck?  I assume there are right, wrong, and disastrous ways to do that, too.
 
I assume that a 3500 watt generator and an inverter rated at 3500 watts are different in some important ways.  Can anyone explain to me what those differences would be?
 
Aubrey

________________________________

From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net on behalf of Paul
Sent: Fri 5/25/2007 9:03 AM
To: Sponsored by ABANA
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Inverters & MIG Welders



While I don't have any direct experience trying to do this, but since no
one else has offered any advice, I'll take a shot at it.

Some of these points may be obvious, but since you asked, I'll throw out
everything that I'd consider.

I'm deliberately being imprecise here, just rough numbers to evaluate if
it's reasonable...

Even at 130 amps, your truck will turn out less than 2 kilowatts of
sustained electrical power. Since you'll lose some power in the
inverter, your 115V output will probably be less than 15 amps.

Your battery can probably provide enough additional power for surges, so
you may get more, but exactly how much, I don't know. Managing your
welding duty cycle may make this useable, but I'd add a fuse to the
battery connection so you don't fry your battery.

Next point, you will likely have to connect an inverter this big
directly to your battery, and use some #6 or heavier wire, ala heavy
jumper cables.

I'd also expect an inverter this size to be pretty expensive (at least
by my definition of expensive) so it won't be a cheap experiment.

I think this would be really taxing your truck's electrical system.
Let's face it, arc welding is pretty close to a dead short, albeit a
current limited short.  I've been considering a portable setup, but I
have a 3500 watt generator (4300 kw peak) and I'm hoping that will work...


Paul N.


Washington, Aubrey O. wrote:
> Now that I've got my 115V MIG welder ordered (Millermatic 140), I have another related line of questions for the group.
> 
> I have a new Toyota Tacoma with the 130A alternator on it.  I've been considering installing a power inverter on the truck so I can run power tools, etc.  Here are my questions:
> 
> Are there any cautions or dangers involved in installing or using inverters?  Can they damage my truck's electrical system in any way?
> Inverters come in lots of different wattages.  Is bigger always better? 
> Is it practical to consider running the MIG welder off the inverter?
> 
> Thanks for any advice or information.
> 
> Aubrey
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
> theforge mail list group photo site is
> http://www.photoaccess.com <http://www.photoaccess.com/> 
> Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
> password:  anvil
> ___________
>
>
_______________________________________________
Manage membership or unsubscribe at:
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/theforge
theforge mail list group photo site is
http://www.photoaccess.com <http://www.photoaccess.com/> 
Login:  blacksmithblacksmith at hotmail.com
password:  anvil
___________