FE Power Forums
FE Power Forums => Non-FE Discussion Forum => Topic started by: Machspeed on October 10, 2019, 07:27:00 PM
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I know this a little off topic for this forum but I appreciate the amount of useful knowledge here. I recently picked up a welder from a garage sale for cheap. It's not a name brand welder and I don't have the highest expectations but it is a new, never used, 230v mig and claims to put out 195a. However, it did not come with a plug. The power wire has three wires. One blue, one brown and a yellow wire with a green stripe. I Googled these colors and found out this machine is possibly set up for European use. I don't know if this corect or not but my question is how do I know for sure and is there a way for me use this with my current 220v setup I have in my garage?
Thank you
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I would contact the manufacturer and give them the model number, serial number, and any other identifying information and ask them. I would also try to get them to send an owner's manual.
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To be honest that's my plan but they are currently closed and I'm impatient. ;D
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There should be a tag or plate on it somewhere that shows a voltage or voltage range, amp draw, phase, and hertz. If the plate shows 120/240 or 115/230, 1 phase, then you should be good to go for the house but you will need a wiring diagram to verify connections. There should be one on an inside cover.
A volt / Ohm meter should confirm the green stripe wire is a ground.
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Green/ yellow is ground in Eur. Atleast in Sweden. Blue is zero
We have 220 one phase, 380 three phase
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I don't know Euro wiring but, in the USA, if it has just 3 wires, it will be single phase (1 phase).
The thing you need to know, is if it's 110v or 220v (basic terms). I don't know what "0" means in Euro wiring but, we have something called a "common" for 110. It's basically another ground.
Use a Ohmmeter and test the wires to the welders case. If 2 wires indicate a ground, it will be 110v. If only one (the green stripe maybe?) is grounded, it should be 220v.
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If its a 195a welder its 220v single or "split" phase. Yellow with green stripe is ground, position of the other 2 doesn't matter. Either way you should be able to open the side panel and see the connections and there should be a schematic on it somewhere.
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If its a 195a welder its 220v single or "split" phase. Yellow with green stripe is ground, position of the other 2 doesn't matter. Either way you should be able to open the side panel and see the connections and there should be a schematic on it somewhere.
This - 240VAC motors and typically welders that are not dual voltage only need L1 and L2 hot with a ground wire. The plug on most welders is probably a 5-50P
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I don't know Euro wiring but, in the USA, if it has just 3 wires, it will be single phase (1 phase).
The thing you need to know, is if it's 110v or 220v (basic terms). I don't know what "0" means in Euro wiring but, we have something called a "common" for 110. It's basically another ground.
Use a Ohmmeter and test the wires to the welders case. If 2 wires indicate a ground, it will be 110v. If only one (the green stripe maybe?) is grounded, it should be 220v.
0=another ground here
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Heo,
Are you saying that a single wire has 220v? In the US, you have to connect to 2 wires, to get above 120v.
I ask this, because you say that the "0" wire is the same as our "common" wire. Our "common" is always a white wire.
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Heo,
Are you saying that a single wire has 220v? In the US, you have to connect to 2 wires, to get above 120v.
I ask this, because you say that the "0" wire is the same as our "common" wire. Our "common" is always a white wire.
Yes we have 220...or it is often closer to 240 but it is called 220 on one phase and 380 between two phases
so on 220 you have 2 or three wires if its its grounded. And four or five wires on 380, ground, optitional 0, and
three phases. 0 and ground go to same place in the fuse box
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I have noticed some of the Harbor Freight type tools use wire colors other than the standard white green black that is common with U.S. tools. Most welders are 220 except the really small ones. Take the cover off the welder. You should be able to find out voltage from a tag internally.
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Yellow/green is ground. You can likely remove a cover and see that it is connected to the main body of the machine.
My guess this is set up for like a single phase 220v(like a dryer).
It's going to need a 40 to 50 amp plug, like a dryer. You can get 220 plugs of all sizes, but you need one rated for the welder. Yes, it welds at 195 amps, but that is not the power it draws.
My upright compressor is wired for 220v, but takes a more std 3 pin plug(with one pin rotated) as it is only like 7 amps running(half what it takes to run on 120v).
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Just to be picky, all common AC in the US is 120 single phase and 240 single phase. "220" went away a very long time ago. But still - 220, 221 - whatever it takes. ;D
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Ever here of 208? :)
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Yea, gotta watch out for those panels. You wind up letting all the smoke out of something. ::)
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Ever here of 208? :)
Yup, three phase. We have some stuff at my work that runs on it. Nothing you would find in a home.
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Ever here of 208? :)
I see your 208 and raise you a 277. 8)
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Ever here of 208? :)
Yeah, 208 is a common 3 phase.
Funny how feed lines are a "stated" voltage, compared to what they actually measure. When most of us were kids, everything used to be 110 volts. Now, it's 120 volts, but if you check the actual line voltage, it's often closer to 126+ volts, for purposes of high draw times in this modern age. That's not good for old electrical equipment like radios, fans and such. I have quite a few old devices that were designed for the old 110 systems, and getting near 130 volts is hard on them and can damage stuff that wasn't designed for the higher voltages. I use variacs to keep the voltage down on the older stuff. Makes them less prone to failure and damage. That's probably why my 77 year old General Electric fridge keeps chugging along fine, having never even been worked on.
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You should check to see if the feed lines are 'Knob and Tube' or Romex. Then go on from there ;) ;D
KS
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LOL!!
My g/f's house is 100 yr old and still has knob and tube and 60 amp glass fuse panel. :-[
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Scary stuff. Our first house out here was knob and tube, with Federal Pacific panels on the outside of the house.
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I don't know when the standard might have changed but, the more modern equipment, is made to operate at a 10% voltage, variance.
Regarding Knob & Tube, it is scarey stuff. I'm originally form The City of Orange, in Orange Co. It was founded, about 1880 and had LOTS of K & T wiring. In the '60's and '70's, there would be around one house burn down per year, because of that wiring, mostly broken wires, in the wall.
For those that don't know what it is, they used to run bare wire, threw the attic and the wall. The knobs where 2 piece insulators, nailed together, with the wire, between them, they then ran to the wall and down threw a ceramic tube to the outlet.
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I was thinking of a 3 phase High leg panel where 2 phases are 120 to ground, one leg is 208 to ground, and all measure 240 phase to phase. That one leg can get you in trouble. ::) Its generally B phase, but not always.
Demo is the best thing you can do with knob and tube. If its still in service, its way past its life expectancy!! Was it always installed as bare copper? Some of the houses that I had been through had the old cloth insulation that had rotted off of it.
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I have found knob-'n'-tube with rubber/woven insulation in a number of houses. My Dad, when I was a little kid (and before I was born), was an electrical contractor. By the time I was old enough to pay attention, he was working with the old original-style Romex, with rubber/woven conductors, some paper, and then woven outer sheathing. By the time I was in high school, He'd become an electrical engineer for FoMoCo and all the wiring we did was for ourselves and families.
Our Church owns the house and property next door and when we updated the kitchen and bathrooms there, we found that the house was originally knob-'n'-tube with some later additions of the original-sort of Romex. The original conductors were insulated, and were in pretty good shape. I put pigtails of modern Romex where it made sense, and put in a couple of new circuits, as necessary, to deal with a dishwasher, etc. We also put in GFCis where they were necessary. If I'd had to pay me for the work I did...
We also put in a new garage at the house, and trenched from the service entrance for the power, both 110 & 220. Then I wired it as a garage SHOULD be done. ;)
KS