Sberry
Platinum Member
Welding from a genset is a pain, especially tedious fab work.
I am not sure about them all but some of the new inverters designed to run from gensets. Units like the Maxstars were touted as able to run from crummy power. But,,, having said that a shop without adequate power is difficult to work from and running service to it would be on top of my short list before I even consider striking an arc.I’ve only welded off my generator (Predator 8500 w/40 amp 220v outlet)- it worked but I’d be very concerned if I was using it on something like the omni pro with all of the computerization. Maybe an inverter generator puts out a clean enough output for all those ics but I’m pretty sure my Predator doesn’t-wouldn’t want to find out the hard way
Pound for pound/dollar for dollar I doubt that you can beat the Hobart MIG welders!Imo Hobart is the way to go, I have a 210 mvp for mig, 190 with spool gun for aluminum, 235 lx ac/dc for stick and a lincoln 140c for flux core light duty out door welding. For heavier steel I'd try and run it off a 50amp breaker as I have tripped 30 and even 40 amp breakers when it's cranked. My only complaint on Hobart is the tap settings for amperage. Side note I'm not very familiar with hf welders except the cheap ones. Funny story I was welding for a buddy at his place with his hf flux core welder touched some rather hot steel burnt right through the lead, funny to see they use cocktail straws for the liner. For comparison at my old job I've ran over the leads of a lincoln mig welder with a fork truck did nothing and still functioned flawless.