ReadyWelder Battery welding 'issue'

SHINTON

SHINTON

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Triad area of NC
Figured it would be a good "tech" item and sort of a review on the item too!

First..LOVE the RWelder...used it on the trail once last year to weld a cap on yoke and was able to wheel an extra day in WV!
I am now working on my lack of welding skills, so I bought some good scrap to play with, etc.

Here is the question/issue... Caver Dave hooked a bunch of us up with UPS batteries that they were switching out! They are 12v (I dont have amp # in front of me but we researched here on NC4x4 a year or so ago)
So I hooked up two of them in series, so 24v...started out welding and no problems, good, hot, penetration, etc.

But less than 5 minutes later was starting to get erratic spark, like the ground isn't good or something.

So I grind the area I am grounding too just in case, still an issue. The area I am welding is nice and grounded down too. So I figure I haven't got enough "electric" and switch batteries...

Starts off ok, but less than a minute later same issue and I needed to knock off anyway.

So I hook up the recharger to the battery...one charges nicely (of the 4 I used) but the other 3 didn't show they were taking a charge at all!

So...based on that....my guess is I have 1 "good" battery out of the four and that one was able to sorta work for the 5 minutes?
How do "I" test them? I have a basic $10 meter deal from Harbor Freight...will it tell me anything/what setting should I be testing for?

(Next time I will pull my Optimas out to weld with, I know they are in good shape!)

Just an aside, if anyone has an AC / DC arc welder for a "deal" let me know! (I got the piece that I can use to let the arc welder be my source)
My "review" part of this is....one possible downside to using the RW at home with batteries is the lack of control of the amount of "electric/amps" coming down the pipe. And it will vary from hotter to cooler as the batteries drain!?!?

Sorry..no pics of my crappy welds I don't want to get laughed off the board! :)
Sam
 
Check the batteries for juice, hook up your little meter, set it for DCV 20. Should read 12+ volts. Anything less and they are bad or need a charging, a long steady trickle charge is better than a 200 amp quick fill up.
 
Sam you pretty well diagnosed your problem. Power. A Volt meter will not tell you what you need to know. It's Amps not voltage being your issue. I have noticed when I weld for longer periods that the fire feed will seem too fast. This is due to deminshed batteries. I have also noticed that just regular batteries(elcheapo Zone type) drain fast and charge slow. The one deep cycle I have used seems to hold up much better. To help control amp draw keep your wire feed down. Udjusting it slower as you weld will help also.

ON another note, your batteries may not be bad, just discharged that much.
Slow charge them and see what happens.
 
Mr Nutz, yeah I was trying to do a 12v, 2amp recharge in each of those cases. The one good battery took a good charge...the other three read as if they didn't "need" charging?! (Which I assume means they are bad?)

Yeah I figure my Optimas will do better Chip...and wire speed is something I keep working on. I seem to "adjust" it accidently where I am grip the gun, I may try a bit of tape to hold it in place.

Sam
 
Nope, they're probably bad. The batteries in UPS's are typically not heavy-duty like a car battery. They're lower capacity and can't handle the current draw of a welder. They're made to run a computer for a while, not start a car. Also, they get abused in a UPS. If they're changing them out, it's probable that one or more was bad already. What you need to get is a GOOD high-current power supply. Like 150 amps or better. Check ebay. Sometimes you can find them for $250 or so.
 
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