Ive got my standard battery under my hood, but I'm thinking of putting in a second battery towards the back of my 4runner. I'm welding a case for my welder to sit in the back of my truck. On a scale of 1/10 10 being the hardest, how hard is it to make the conversion from a battery to a 110
I need the battery to be able to power my welder when I am on the trail.
Post pics of your second battery if you have one. Pics of conversion if possible.
You'd be much better off to install a ReadyWelder.
Getting an inverter strong enough to put out 20-25amps of 115vac (about 45lbs) and installing a second battery and the associated wiring takes up alot more room in your rig and won't be any cheaper.
Well, that's fine. But if you try to use your existing rig's electrical system to actually power the welder, you're in for dissappointment.
think about this:
that welder is designed to take 115 volts and to convert it down to roughly 40 ish (depending on your setting). Trying to design a system that brings 12 volts up to 115 volts just to bring it back down to 40 is, from the very start, about the least efficient way to go about the task of making an on-board welding solution. the afore-mentioned OBW is pre-engineered and proven to work well.
But hey- This is Pirate... You don't get points for taking the high-dollar pre-tested way out. Put your brain to this and good luck. All _I'm_ say'in is that converting 12V up to 115 so that you can use the house-current welder is gonna be tough.
Personally, I'm in the middle of riggin up an auxillary 36V system (using 3 batteries in series) that can be reconfigured to charge one of the 3 batteries at a time from the existing 12V alternator. So I'll be able to weld on the trails, and to recharge from my rig, but I will not be able to pull 'real-time' from the engine... I'll have to weld, then charge the 3 batteries later.
But hey... If you come up with something clever, please post a write-up. I'd love to see an easier way than what I'm planning.
I'm not sure if this is what your talking about or if you have come across this, but I remember a year or so ago, there is a whole 'How to make your own OBW for under 200 bucks' and that was in the tech section on this site....I'm going to go look for it and see if it's still on here...and I'll post the link if i find it..
But if I recall correctly it was a pretty cool design and all the parts needed were easy to get (purchased at your local NAPA and it even gave part numbers).
Yeah,
That's the page that got me thinking about my current plan. On the bottom it mentions battery welding. Well, since I happen to have 3 car batteries lying around, I started designing the system I mentioned. I've spent about $25 on cable and terminals, and I expect to be finished without spending another $15, so I'm hoping that even if I get fancy (maybe putting wheels on it to drag it around outside my rig), I'll still be done under $50.
That's a really good resource. Thanks for hunting down the link.
Onboard welders are easy and compact if you have the underhood space.
Get one Delco alternator, any amperage (junkyard 60A versions do fine), and remove the regulator. Alternately, get a ~60+A externally regulated alternator. Fab a bracket, and add a pulley and the proper sized belt. Plumb in a hand throttle. Buy cables (~20' each), quick connects, stinger and ground clamp, and your rod of choice. Wire a switch to a 30A relay that will give field power to the alternator when you want to weld. Weld.
I see your concern now with switching back to the 12v system after welding if you don't want to wait for them to cool down before hand....but then again this isn't an eveyday welder were making, it's for an occasional OOPS!, I hit a stump and busted my steering knuckle or OUCH I just ripped my steering box off the frame....ya know....
Do you think if you run a seperate "Ford" non-interanally regulated alternator to be used just for welding, then you should have to worry about switching back, correct?
I think it would be really troublesome and a pain in the you know what, to carry around 3 battarys, I rather have a plug and play set up...but thats me. Let us know how it turns out and be careful playin with them battarys, if they explode things could get ugly and that wouldnt' be cool.
Do you think if you run a seperate "Ford" non-interanally regulated alternator to be used just for welding, then you should have to worry about switching back, correct? .
I would rather do something like this. This would be a more "valuaable" setup for me. I will try to get some parts to do so. Wont happen right away, but I am doing this soon. :smokin:
I think it would be really troublesome and a pain in the you know what, to carry around 3 battarys, I rather have a plug and play set up...but thats me. Let us know how it turns out and be careful playin with them battarys, if they explode things could get ugly and that wouldnt' be cool.
I ended up doing Fozzys idea of having the 3 batteries to weld on the trail. The only problem I'm having right now is that I have to recharge the batteries seperately, which is odd because when my truck is running it only charges one of the batteries instead of all 3 of them slowly at a time.
Fozzy you have this problem?
I understand your approach, it is against everything I work towards , but still understand it completely. LOL Been there and done it before too, not with welding but with a lot of other things.
If you guys are going the alternator route and converting over a second alternaotr for welding, the ford 130amp 3G is the easiest and most power unit to grab for the conversion. You can grind the IC circuit off the regulator and have a very easy to adapt brush holder. All you need are a cuople of no ten screws and one small insulator.
Well yeah. YOU are a vendor (with the phrase "Power Products" in the name). If I ever get to the point where I am going to pay a professional, that's the attitude I'll be looking for.
But like I said.... I saw the article that mentioned using 3 batteries to weld, I figured "Hey, _I_ have 3 batteries lying around..." and off I went. As a matter of fact, I am hoping that I end up using it so much, that I can justify getting something nicer. But if not, then I've spend $50 and a few afternoons of my time fiddleing with my jeep. - Not the first time.... won't be the last. :grinpimp:
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