Hey Marcus...
First and foremost you must consider the size and capacity of the welder
to be used "as a ballast". second thing to consider is the type of wire used
in the welder itself, aluminum wiring wont last too long, copper wiring on
the welders transformer primary will have a better life span.
as for the wiring technique, the 2(3) leads that power the welder will be
the ones used to "ballast" the piggie. General concensus calls for wiring
the welder as such....
the ground lead(green)of the welder goes to ground of the receptical on
the source, the black lead ( hot wire from the source/recepticle) attaches
to the black lead of the welder, the red ( most commonly used in 240VAC ,,,
the other half of the dual 120vac) of the welder attaches to one of the
inputs of the piggie, the other input of the piggie attaches to the red
output of the source/recepticle. Basically the welder primary is in series
with the input to the piggie.
short out the secondary side of the welder ( in other words stick a short
length of welding lead between the welders ground and welding lead output)
start with the welder set on minimal current setting and slowly work your
way up to higher current levels via the current control on the welder to
increase current thru the piggie. WATCH for glowing inside the welder,
smoke, or rather obnoxious humming noises, if it begins to throw sparks,
shut it down and begin looking for another welder or a really big
transformer core to wind your own ballast.
IF you have the welders original paperwork, see what the DUTY CYCLE is...
this is a rating as to how long the welder can remain on for a maximim
amount of time before it needs a cool down period. When a welder is used as
a ballast, the welder "thinks" it is in its welding status since the welding
leads are shorted ( in welding mode)
If you can, find a scrap yard or such that will have a 10 - 20 KVA rated
step down transformer ( 480 to 240) you will have a great core to rewind for
a ballast. Usually they are a bit heavy but can handle the requirements of
ballasting a piggie...
Scot D
marcus masencup wrote:
I am stepping up to pole pigs after years of using NST's. I have read
everything I can find online and for me it seems that an arc welder is
the
easiest way to add the current limiting and ballast I need to run the
10kva
pole pig I have. What I can't find is how I need to wire the arc welder
up
with the pole pig? Any help on how to wire this would be great, thanks!
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