My place has 200 amp service (So I have 2 poles of juice). I have no power running the garage right now. I am in the middle of construction but had to put my truck in there because its winter here to work on some major brake issues. So I have an extension cord powering my lights and another one powering my compressor temporarily.ljdm1956 wrote:You dont have a 220 outlet, assuming you have 110 there? If so, you can make a 220 temp. I have the Lincoln 180, and 50A breaker is way more than you need, especially if only doing tacks. Meant to ask - is there a breaker box?
I just realized that I do have a 50 amp double pole breaker in the box and it use to power something in the kitchen assume a heavy duty electric stove or the water heater. So technically if I could figure out what gauge of wire I need I could run a some romex to the garage. I could even run a long extension cord if I reconnect the 220 socket.
This is what I am thinking, that my generator isn't going to have enough juice. The Lincoln Tech specs are vague. Even though I will just be tack welding still unclear.One1 wrote:You need a minimum of 15,000 watts generator. The arc strike is of most concern, but for more read here: http://m.lincolnelectric.com/en-us/supp ... etail.aspx
When i was looking to run a generator i had an 8,000 I was sure would do, but it wasn’t enough and I read that page and found out why. The math in this thread is incorrect.
Poland did you get that 22 amps @ 208 volts from the little chart I posted? I am in the US and I don't get why its showing 2 sets of numbers. For example 230v and 208v in the input part of the chart.Poland308 wrote:Your welders name plate says it uses max of 22 amps @ 208 volts. If you use ohms law that calculates up to a max watts of 4576. That would be if you were running it set to the max. Your generator should be more than enough. You will probably notice your starts will be a little rougher on the generator unless it has a fixed throttle that you can ramp up before you start to weld.
That's interesting but only way to tell would be to give it a try I guess. So if I am tack welding, the arc initiation still could be an issue? from what everyone has mention the start is always the part that draws hard on the electrical.MinnesotaDave wrote:I've tried running transformer based 120 volt mig welders off underpowered generator before - it didn't work very well.
I tried a century 130 amp mig on a 5000/6250 watt old generac. Because I only used one side of the generator on 120v I was limited to 20 amp draw. Which should have been plenty.
The inrush current was so high for each arc initiation that the motor would momentarily bog, then gradually the arc would stabilize.
If I had used a 240 volt mig like yours, I believe it would have worked better with balanced load drawing from both sides. But I still think the arc initiation issue may have remained.
You may have enough for your low amp welds, only testing it will let you know for sure.
When I tested 240v inverter stick welders on the same generator, that worked really well.
I think the chart mentions a 40 amp breaker, not sure if that helps or hurts the case.cj737 wrote:I don't think this is accurate. It lists the max running amperage of 22 Amps, but is fused by a 50 amp breaker. It's 50 for a reason. So you need to redo the math because when a transformer initiates an arc, the load spikes. Once the arc is stabilized, then you're pulling the max running amperage. By my math, he'd need double the capacity that you can up with.Poland308 wrote:Your welders name plate says it uses max of 22 amps @ 208 volts. If you use ohms law that calculates up to a max watts of 4576. That would be if you were running it set to the max.
Time to blast down to Harbor Freight and get you a small, cheap 120v MIG. Or, if you do have a sub panel in the garage, temporarily wire a 220v plug in and rock on with your 175D
One1 since I will just be doing tack welds duty cycle shouldn't be much of an issue no?One1 wrote:If you don’t like your welder you can run it on as little as you can get an arc with. We used to melt power supply transformers in audio amps by under supplying input current. Everytime the output load spiked the transformer heat immediately doubled. You’d be fortunate to get a 10% duty cycle. Hence why you need 15K to run on. Just because it welds doesn’t mean it will for long. That’s why in the OP chart as the voltage goes down, the amperage goes up. Ohms law wins every time. If you can’t support the current demand the pie chart is going to start moving against you.