Thread: faulty welder

Yes, the specs certainly indicate that it's a 10A machine ... my comment was meant to be a little "tongue in cheek".

It is interesting however that the specs for your welder state that the maximum input current as 23A (I would assume that may occur when striking an arc). I wonder if that sort of current flow (even in short bursts) has a detrimental effect on a GPO over time ... maybe that is what contributed to the demise of your "original" GPO???

Originally Posted by Vernonv

Yes, the specs certainly indicate that it's a 10A machine ... my comment was meant to be a little "tongue in cheek".

It is interesting however that the specs for your welder state that the maximum input current as 23A (I would assume that may occur when striking an arc). I wonder if that sort of current flow (even in short bursts) has a detrimental effect on a GPO over time ... maybe that is what contributed to the demise of your "original" GPO???

The electrician did say that if he replaced the cable with 4mm he could use a 20A circuit breaker so I might do that.

To be honest I've been abusing that GPO as my woodworking machines have built up over the years without really thinking about it, so this is a bit of a wake up call.

my rehm 170 has a 10amp plug and my new rehm 170 tiger ac/dc tig is also 10amp

Finally found the problem - would you believe too high voltage

I had a 15 amp GPO fitted next to the 'faulty' 10 amp one - completely separate circuit but same problem. The electrician checked everything, nothing wrong.

Scratched his head for a few minutes and then suddenly grabbed three of my extension leads chained them together and connected the welder to the GPO using them. Problem solved.

The meter box is just next to the shed so only about a meter of cable to the switch box and the GPO is about 20cm underneath that. The transformer is on the pole about 20 meters from the shed and only serves two houses. The substation is just up the road. He read the voltage as 247V. It is supposed to be within 10% of 230 so we are just within that.

I wouldn't have believed it but there it is. I just have to use a long extension lead to get the voltage drop!

Originally Posted by Glennet

I wouldn't have believed it but there it is. I just have to use a long extension lead to get the voltage drop!

Just be mindful that that "dropped" voltage doesn't just disappear, but rather gets dissipated as heat. Keep an eye on the temperature of the extension lead and any associated connections.

Originally Posted by Vernonv

Just be mindful that that "dropped" voltage doesn't just disappear, but rather gets dissipated as heat. Keep an eye on the temperature of the extension lead and any associated connections.

Thanks. The electrician said that the lead would cause a drop of about one volt, but that's apparently enough to do the trick.

But I will take care to make sure it isn't coiled tightly so it can dissipate the heat. I'm a novice doing small odd jobs so the welder is only melting metal for very short periods.