rewiring welder???

[tacoma73]

So the sweet Dialarc I got for nothing appears upon closer examination (been packed tight in the truck so far) to be wired with an enormous, 4-prong plug, which is labeled on an info tag as "4P". I am guessing that is 4-phase power???? If there is such a thing... this welder came from a big manufacturing plant, so...

anyway I know internal bits can be rewired as per Miller's site, but my Pirate question is:

For those who have done it, how many bananas of a job is this?

Thanks fellers. :D

[pmurf1]

Pony up your $20 for a red star and get out your digital camera and tons of guys here can tell you how to wire it.
No such thing as four phase, just single or three phase. If it was in an industrial application, it's probably wired for either 208 or 480 3 phase with a ground. But it is possible that the plug isn't even using some of the prongs and is wired for single phase. Possible, but not likely. It's just a matter of getting in and taking off some covers to see how it's wired. Is the thing even able to run off single phase power? The label/nameplate will tell you. It may be able to be wired for 208 or 480 three phase, but not single phase. If that's the case, unless you have three phase power at your place you've pretty much got a boat anchor IMO.

[Wicked_S10]

You can download the exact manual for your machine from miller's website. Put in your serial number where it asks for it, and you will get the correct manual. It shows the wiring configuration in the manual. IMO, it is fairly simple to wire, but I have some electrical background, so.... If you don't know what you are doing, hire a professional.

If it is indeed single phase, and I am nearly certain that all of the dialarc's were, the 4 wire plug is probably one of the many industrial twist lock style plugs. It could have 4 conductors due to the above explanation if it is 3 phase, but it can also have 4 conductors and be single phase, 2 hots, neutral, and ground. The dial arc has 110 vac components in it, and in order to get 110 from 220 service, the device is supposed to have a neutral conductor. Many older pieces of equipment used the ground conductor as a neutral, however, that is no longer acceptable by current code. My dialarc 250 is older, early 80's and gets its 110 via the ground. Yours may be newer, and have provision for the neutral as well.

Later,
Jason