On Saturday, October 17, 2015 at 11:44:36 PM UTC-5, Uncle Monster wrote:
On Saturday, October 17, 2015 at 9:01:34 PM UTC-5, bob_villa wrote:
On Saturday, October 17, 2015 at 8:57:22 PM UTC-5, Uncle Monster wrote:
On Saturday, October 17, 2015 at 8:48:48 PM UTC-5, bob_villa wrote:
On Saturday, October 17, 2015 at 8:40:16 PM UTC-5, Uncle Monster wrote:

Check out this guy using 3 car batteries in series and doing a heck of a job arc welding some steel. ^__^

http://www.popsci.com/article/diy/ho...s-welder-video

[8~{} Uncle Arc Monster

I don't get why you (and the article/video) say "series" when it should be parallel to give you 3X the current at the same voltage?

He has them in series in order to get 36 volts which will produce a better arc. If he tried to strike an arc with 12 volts, the rod might stick, melt the rod and damage his cabling. ^__^

[8~{} Uncle Melted Monster

From the article..."A single car battery lacks the juice to sustain a metal-melting arc between the tip of a welding rod and a piece of steel". Series gives the same juice as one battery.

The 3 batteries in series increases the wattage because of the higher voltage. It's basic electricity. Volts X amps = watts. 12 volts at 100 amps = 1,200 watts. 36 volts at 100 amps = 3,600 watts. If you look at the controls on an arc welding machine, you will see a control to adjust the wattage. As my cloud hugger friends say,"The science is settled." ^__^

[8~{} Uncle Hug Monster

Woops! I should have written control to adjust the current or voltage since some arc welders are either constant current or constant voltage but voltage determines arc length. The control may just control the voltage for manual welding but the adjustment still controls wattage. ^__^

[8~{} Uncle Watt Monster