Auto darkening Helmet

I have a Cigweld Arcmaster helmet I have used for a few years now without any problems.
Last month after a period of not doing much welding, I had the helmet out and before using it decided to put it in the sun to recharge the battery, something I have done many times before.
To my surprise, when I got to use it it was dark and I couldn't see through the lens.
After a while it came back, probably because it cooled down.

Does anyone know if placing the helmet in the sun is the wrong idea? I was told the batteries need recharging and keeping it in a box is not a good idea. I understand that welding provides plenty of light for the battery to recharge.
Any ideas?

Hiya,

I was under the impression they used button cell batteries that are not rechargeable. I may be wrong, but in the specs I have looked at, I see no reference to recharging

Regards
Alan

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Originally Posted by DocBug

Hiya,

I was under the impression they used button cell batteries that are not rechargeable. I may be wrong, but in the specs I have looked at, I see no reference to recharging

Regards
Alan

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It has a small solar panel (?)

Yeah I thought that was to power the actual helmet, the battery is more a backup, could be wrong ... Best would be take out the battery and see what it is. Would be interested to hear

What you experienced is normal.
The intensity of a full direct sunlight is between 3 to 10 times greater than a welding arc (which is why a welding helmet shade of 14 or greater is needed to safely view solar eclipses).
Exposing a welding helmet t the very high intensity of direct sunlight over a long period saturates the helmet filter circuitry and it takes time for the circuit to relax back to a normal state.
However it should not damage the filter.

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Originally Posted by BobL

What you experienced is normal.
The intensity of a full direct sunlight is between 3 to 10 times greater than a welding arc (which is why a welding helmet shade of 14 or greater is needed to safely view solar eclipses).
Exposing a welding helmet t the very high intensity of direct sunlight over a long period saturates the helmet filter circuitry and it takes time for the circuit to relax back to a normal state.
However it should not damage the filter.

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OK, now that makes sense. I re-read the brochure for the helmet and it says that it is battery driven and has solar as back up to extend battery life.
So placing it in the sun is clearly nonsense. There is this guy at the welders supply I go to that talks out of his backside all the time, and sometimes you remember things without processing them.

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Originally Posted by Marc

OK, now that makes sense. I re-read the brochure for the helmet and it says that it is battery driven and has solar as back up to extend battery life.
So placing it in the sun is clearly nonsense. There is this guy at the welders supply I go to that talks out of his backside all the time, and sometimes you remember things without processing them.

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Looks like I got it backwards, thanks for the info

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Originally Posted by Marc

. . . . So placing it in the sun is clearly nonsense. There is this guy at the welders supply I go to that talks out of his backside all the time, and sometimes you remember things without processing them.

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No not nonsense. The battery may not have enough grunt to switch the filter so you can't weld with it to charge it. Provided the battery is not completely dead it may be recovered by placing it in sunlight for s short period. I've done this a number of times with helmet batteries that were losing their charge quicker than usual but I was too much of a cheapskate to replace the battery.

I sometimes put my Miller in the sun while setting up. But the arc should keep it charged once welding.

I have an expensive multimeter that I accidentally left in the sun for about an hour one time. When I realised to my horror the whole LCD screen was black. But after it cooled off it recovered. I reckon this situation was similar.

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Originally Posted by BobL

What you experienced is normal.
The intensity of a full direct sunlight is between 3 to 10 times greater than a welding arc (which is why a welding helmet shade of 14 or greater is needed to safely view solar eclipses).

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We were always taught that a welding arc was more intense than sunlight, my own experience would tend to support this as well.
I know a welding flash has more and longer lasting effects than direct sunlight seems to have.
Interesting. We need a heap of volunteers to stare at the sun and another to stare at a welding arc and compare results.

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Originally Posted by Karl Robbers

We were always taught that a welding arc was more intense than sunlight, my own experience would tend to support this as well.
I know a welding flash has more and longer lasting effects than direct sunlight seems to have.
Interesting. We need a heap of volunteers to stare at the sun and another to stare at a welding arc and compare results.

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The reason a welding flash usually lasts longer than sun flash is that it usually happens indoors or under cover so the iris is more open than usual. if you are outdoors in sunlight the iris will already be partially closed so a quick glance at the sun won't appear as bad. Not that I recommend doing this but if you want to see a serious flash try looking at the sun with your eyes covered and uncover them and stare strait at the sun. I'm also talking about direct sunlight not at sun rise or sunset when what is being observed is a refracted image of the sun through many ams of atmosphere.

That would correspond with the worst flashes I have ever had occurring when welding at night in areas with little or no ambient light.
I personally find TIG or arcair flashes to be the worst, possibly due to the intensity and lack of slag in the TIG process and the brute amperage used for arcair.

As a kid of about 9 I remember we discussed solar eclipses in class class and someone asked the teacher why looking at the sun an the eclipse was dangerous while the sun wasn't dangerous at other times. The teacher didn't know so I went to the town Library to find out. Of course the reason is the human eye quickly reaches a pain threshold when looking at direct sunlight and so we instinctively close our eyes or look away. One of the books I looked at said the pain threshold was reached so quickly it was sufficient to protect our eyes. During an eclipse the intensity of the sunlight drops below the pain threshold and we can continue to look at the sun directly without pain but the radiation is still sufficient to cause long term damage. I was curious about the pain threshold in direct sun light and so I had to try it. Yep the pain is real, extremely painful, similar to a welding flash but even more painful. I had the idea beforehand that I would try it a few times - No way - too pianful. Did it damage my eyes? Well I'm days away from seniors status and can still just read a newspaper without glasses. Not that I recommend doing this but just thought I would relate this story.