Slow welding helmet response time

[orezok]

I was doing some welding in the cold this week and my HF auto dark helmet was experiencing slow response. I could see an initial flash before it darkened. Tried new batteries without any change. Switched to my old standard helmet to complete the job. Has anyone experienced slow response in cold temperatures or is it just time for a new one?

 

[vic4news]

Does yours have a adjustment for the delay? I set the delay to minimum on mine this week. I'm not sure why it was turned up a little.

Vic

 

[orezok]

No delay setting on mine.

 

[AlanB]

Vic, you sure yours has a time delay on it and not a shade setting?

I have not seen the one yet with an adjustable delay.

 

[ray66v]

Vic, you sure yours has a time delay on it and not a shade setting?

I have not seen the one yet with an adjustable delay.

Yeah, what would be the point of adjusting the delay anyway?

I think he means the sensitivity. Not exactly the same thing.

I'm not sure I would trust my eye sight to a H F welding helmet. There are some things worth paying more for.

 

[Dargo]

I was doing some welding in the cold this week and my HF auto dark helmet was experiencing slow response. I could see an initial flash before it darkened. Tried new batteries without any change. Switched to my old standard helmet to complete the job. Has anyone experienced slow response in cold temperatures or is it just time for a new one?

Yes, I've experienced that. I have a relatively high critical flicker frequency response (an old CRT monitor appeared to be flashing to me at anything less than 75mHz) and I could see the flash from the cheap HF welding helmets. Most people don't see the flash, but they are still getting flashed. I'm one of those people who put a very high price on my eyesight. After doing much research into the matter I found that there is absolutely no governing body that verifies the response times for HF welding hoods. To me, that mean that they can print any response time they want and 99% of the people will believe it as gospel. Since I could actually see the flash, I immediately pitched the $49 hood and bought me a much higher quality hood. So many guys here claim it's a waste of money to have a higher quality hood with considerably better electronics and response time since they haven't gone blind yet. Again, my vision is worth far more to me than saving a hundred bucks. I'll never use a HF auto darkening hood. You can get a far higher quality hood with positively faster response time for about $100 more. My only question is if $100 is enough money for you to risk your vision? Believe it or not, a lot of guys say that, yes, that's enough savings to gamble on their sight. Not me.

 

[vic4news]

Vic, you sure yours has a time delay on it and not a shade setting?

I have not seen the one yet with an adjustable delay.

My helmet has three controls. A shade setting, sensitivity, and delay. The sensitivity and delay knobs are on the inside of the helmet.

Vic

 

[Eagleview]

My ElCheapo auto helmet gives me sore eyes when i'm stitch welding with the mig . I can detect a flash before the lens darkens . It's going into the trash . I should have spent the extra dollars in the first instance , but i believed there would be a standard in place to ensure public safety .

 

[Scooby074]

Get rid of that HF helmet and get yourself a miller or any of the other major manufacturers models. I dont trust those cheap China helmets as far as i could throw them.

 

[2manyrocks]

In my opinion--get a known good helmet. Your eyes are too valuable to risk.