Welding with batteries

[cityfarma]

From reading many posts, I see there are others that live away from where there equipment is. My farm is 3 hours from home. There are also many people making equipment for the tractors though they are unable to access the tractor while making the attachments. I would like to know if anyone has experience with using batteries to tack weld while at the tractor then complete the job at home.

From reading offroad mags, I understand that 24v with negative on the rod is good for emergency repairs.


Cityfarma

 

[ToadHill]

The only experience I have is by accident and the results were not pretty.

 

[Bubba Tex]

This post from another board is WAY over my head but it may anwer your questions.

Welding With Car Batteries – 2 'ARC STABILIZER' - WeldingWeb™ - Professional Welding Forum

 

[Ford960]

Cityfarma,
I've posted here several times about the Ready Welder

Ready Welder - www.readywelder.com

Mine is 2-1/2 years old and I've used it to weld solid steel w/gas, aluminum w/gas, and flux cored steel all by using batteries. The suit case makes it easy to carry along and everything that you need to weld flux cored steel is in the case all you have to add is a couple of 12v batteries.
You need to use the flux cored wired wire in any kind on windy conditions.

Plus with the Ready Welder you can weld your project completely onsite instead of just tacking it together for later welding.

I'm not affiliated with this company in any way but I do like their product.

 

[2310 guy]

I've heard of guys in the bush that use their alternators for welding. Before its rectified. Whats better for welding, Ac or DC?

 

[Iplayfarmer]

This probably isn't exactly what you are looking for, but it will sure give you some ideas...

Auto DC Arc Welder Plans

I stumbled onto the Vintage Projects site a while back, and I can't believe the amount of stuff they have all for free.

 

[travis potter]

I have a battery powered welder by Century it is mig and can use gas or flux core wire. It is 10 or 15 years old designed to work on 24 volts as in heavy equipment. I have welded 1/2 inch plate with it with good luck. It will weld for 20 to 30 min on 2 reg fulley charged batteries. I think Snap-On tools also has the same welder. Hope this helps.

 

[KrumpsBrother]

I bought a Broco GOWELD from Northern tool. It runs on 24 or 36 volts, 36 for 1/2" & larger. You can also run it off a dc arc or dc generator as a spool gun.

I did some welding on a rear blade last weekend 3/8" to 3/8'". Alls I can say is WOW can this thing lay down some metal! .035 flux cored @ 50"/min was a breeze at 24 volts. I bought a couple of Wally-World 120 ah deep cycle batteries to run it. They should give me about 20 minutes of runtime for the heavy stuff and much more for thinner stuff.

I was very impressed with what this welder will do for a portable unit. As a super bonus you can use it at home too with a DC source.

The only minus was the cost, 799 with free shipping. I also looked at the Readywelder, a highly recommended unit. The Army uses the GOWELD on their heavy recovery units.

Here is a comparison of highly portable units.

Why take the broken part home when you can fix it onsite??

KB

 

[Ford960]

KrumpsBrother,

Thanks for the link to the Goweld, I've seen them in the Graingers catalog but hadn't been to the website.
I have trouble getting people to take my RWII 10000ADP seriously...until I put it in their hands and let them run a few beads.
Having read the owners manual on the Goweld site, I noticed that it only has a 50% duty cycle compared to the RWII's 100% and is almost $200 more in price.

Also the RW comes in a military version that has been available through GSA since 2002. Ready Welder - www.readywelder.com

Had my RWII since January 2005 and have run about 25 spools of mostly aluminum through it. Last time that I used it I had it connected to my Lincoln Ranger and failed to realize that I needed to run the supplied 120vac power supply too. Five days later I got a replacement circuit board and motor form RW for $60 and changed out the old parts in about a half hour. I was afraid that I was going to have to send the entire unit back to California. That would have taken a couple of weeks at least.

Bottom line is that a battery powered spool gun is a viable, efficient, and reliable welding system that shouldn't be taken lightly.

Also, AC or DC depends on the type of welding required and rods used, best to have either power source.

 

[bx23barry]

I carry some rod and a lens in the jeep and have used 2-3 batteries and jumper cables with the lens taped on my glasses for some pretty serious "trail fixs" but sure don't think it is a great thing to do. Batterys have been known to explode doing it.