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Welding with batteries

S

Stumpalump

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Franktown Co.
I watched FrankZ weld up a broken controll arm on a buggy this weekend using at first two and then 3 batteries. How about using a jeep battery and a motercycle battery? or two motercycle and a jeep battery. Anybody ever actually tried this battery welding and can you share your experiance? What rods work best and do you use negative ground with a DC rod? I'm thinking a couple of motercycle batteries to get the voltage up may do it or is it the current from the large batteries that does it? Can it be done with one battery and a small rod in a pinch?
 
We tried welding with two batteries and a Craftsman screwdriver. Didnt work at all.
P1010890.jpg


Made one hell of a lot of sparks, but no welding.
 
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You don't really need voltage, you need amperage, the average welder is only delvering about 23 volts but a helluva lot of amps to the electrode, you need to step the voltage down and the amps up allot to use the battery method = transformer. But I've never actually tried it, thats just how a normal welder works, I would assume it's the same idea.
 
X2 on the amperage.
I burn new battery ends on industrial battries at work. These are 36 to 48 volt industrial size batteries rated at 1000 Ah. I usually only use two or three cells rated at 2 volts per, probably something like 40-50 amps. You can go to your local welding store pick up some 1 ot guage wire, a wire welder probe end and a ground end. Put it together. Welding wire, I use the carbon rod for lead batteries and have used regualer rods on heavy guage steel.
My suggestion would be two deep cycle batteries for best results, longevity and amps. I have used regular automotive batteries rated at 525 CCA and found that they get drained real fast and hot hot hot.
One thing to keep in mind is that when voltage drops, amperage rises. Usually a good indicator to let the battery rest before it blows up.
My .02
 
There are many pages regarding mobile welding with batteries. This is where google will be your friend and help you find out "A LOT" of basic info.


One thing to keep in mind is that when voltage drops, amperage rises. Usually a good indicator to let the battery rest before it blows up.
Click to expand...
Also the above info is quite good about the cycles of one of these systems.
 
I have done this several times. I would think motorcycle batteries would be too small. With 2 batteries, it is very hard to get the arc going and sticks easy even with the smallest of rods. I have had good luck with 3 batteries (36V) and 3/32 rods. With 36 volts, the arc starts up good and the weld looks and penetrates well. Hope this helps, Matt
 
I thought about this more, lets say you hook up the motorcycle batteries in series which will increase the voltage, then hook up the series motorcycle batteries parralell with the jeep battery it would be like using two jeep batteries hooked up paralel. series= voltage increase paralell= amperage increase a combination of the two would be optimal.
 
two optima deep cycles will did the trick (in a pinch and not for long)
3/32" rod 6013 seems to be the best choice for me. only thing is they have to be kept in a dry container..not a problem out west ..
 
rockclimber24315 said:
I thought about this more, lets say you hook up the motorcycle batteries in series which will increase the voltage, then hook up the series motorcycle batteries parralell with the jeep battery it would be like using two jeep batteries hooked up paralel. series= voltage increase paralell= amperage increase a combination of the two would be optimal.
Click to expand...

if you're going to do a series-paralell arrangement you havet to watch the voltages..... when in series they need to match, and the two paralells need to match to. i'm no sure what motorcycle batteries are, lets say for th sake of argument that they are 6v. if you series'd 3 6v bateries together ou would get 18v, then you could not paralell that with a 12v car battery. you can't have that voltage potential. you would need 4 6v in series (for 24v) and 1 car batteries (for 24v) then you could paralell them together. or 2 6v and 1 12v....
 
rockclimber24315 said:
You don't really need voltage, you need amperage, the average welder is only delvering about 23 volts but a helluva lot of amps to the electrode, you need to step the voltage down and the amps up allot to use the battery method = transformer. But I've never actually tried it, thats just how a normal welder works, I would assume it's the same idea.
Click to expand...
Transformers dont work with DC!:roflmao:
 
You guys are making this a lot more complicated than it really is.

Carry a small waterproof tube with 6011 rod (deeper penetration and better for dirty metal), a set of jumper cables and a few feet of bare wire, a small shield, and some gloves if you have room. If you break something, pull the battery out of your rig and borrow someone else's.

Put the batteries next to each other on the ground, and wind the bare wire around the middle posts to connect them in series. Jumper cables go on the outside, one to ground, one to the rod. By changing the amount of wraps of the bare wire you can sort of control the current you're getting at the rod. Get it dialed in, drop a blanket or a few jackets over them, and burn some metal.

I've had great success doing it this way and I've welded for around 10 minutes on and off...both batteries went back in their respective rigs and both started right up unassisted (and if they don't, you've got your jumper cables out already).

IMG_1447Medium.jpg
 
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lowrange2 said:
I'm def. gunna have to try that... with an old battery.
Click to expand...

It will work better with newer batteries. :)

In 2005 Dan Turner (Loose-Nuts-Enterprises) welded a dana 30 that was broken in two back together on the trail with 3 batteries and stick. It took most of the night to finish the job, but the jeep when done went on to finish the entire Rubicon and the drive back to Los Angeles without a problem. The housing was replaced 'just in case' later.

It remains the most impressive trail fix I've ever seen. :)

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Matt's busted FJ control arm was unique (Read - Freakin' thick!). Two batteries will normally do the trick but this was a truly unusal repair that required alot of power to get enough penetration to make any kind of weld that would get the rig off the trail. Considering the terrain that he had to cover to get back to his trailer, well let's just say I'm glad we had 3 batteries available. (We actually had 37)
 
Welding with batteries and a jumper cable is definitely a neat trick that I've been itching to try mainly for comparison (I spent about 3 years in college doing all my welding with an old 220V stick because it was available).

Frank, I saw a pic of you welding and it looked like all you had some sunglasses... were they special glasses for welding? A full helmet is bulky for the rare chance you need it.
For about $30 you could probably make a real clean setup with battery terminal clamps, some welding cable, and a stinger/ground clamp. I keep thinking if you could size it right that a big breaker like you can get for car audio would be good peace of mind against shorting out the batteries when the rod sticks.
 
Holy crap...that's cool! I never thought of that...I'm no welder so that's probably why. Check this out, here is a good picture of what to do...I found it while doing some searching.

welddiag.jpg
 
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