Arc Welding with 3 Car Batteries (Tutorial & Demo)

[rob320is]

I like how your welding with the garage door shut, with stick no less!

[WheeliePete]

@rob320is There is TONS of ventillation in that garage. The prior owner was painting cars in there and what you can't see are the massive roof vents. I've welded in much, much, more confined environments..lol...

[diggerPD]

Thats a great video. I will be getting those supplies for my 4 wheeler .

[ColtDeltaElite10mm]

@WheeliePete..... Do you think a 3/32" rod (next size smaller than 1/8") would produce a smoother and more consistent arc due to the lower voltage of roughly 36v??? I'm thinking of using the 3/32" 6011 rods because I saw how difficult it is to keep a consistent arc using 1/8" size. Please give me your opinion on that. Thank you!!!!!!!!

[WheeliePete]

@ColtDeltaElite10mm Absolutley! I would just experiment around and find what works for you. I'm going to try and do an update video for this in the near future and use some different rods, rod sizes, etc.

[mossmon]

is it possible to use one or multiple pc power supplies to weld?

[WheeliePete]

@mossmon I have no idea. Might be worth a shot.

[electrohacker]

@mossmon no, they dont have the duty cycle capacity

[315vock]

Cool

[cabdragon333]

Thank you SOOOO much. Now I can start my Car replica project

[ITotallyHateMorons]

Mirror as mask/glasses.

[ITotallyHateMorons]

wow, iknew how to weld with car batterys when i was 14 and i welded almost perfectly, only bad thing, i dint wear mask and had to call ambulance to fix my eyes, i knew that i must wear mask but i used mirror next time, it works out.

[theboredredneck]

@ITotallyHateMorons what do you mean you used a mirror to weld?

[ColtDeltaElite10mm]

After reading my posts, I need to clarify myself. I made it sound like 6010 rods were the only ones one should use for DC. That's not the case. The 6011's will work just fine for AC or DC.

[RGVCripted]

That's great to have in the field, do you reckon one would be able to weld using a few motorcycle batteries? (much lower amperage)

[WheeliePete]

@RGVCripted You know, I've been wondering if moto batteries would work myself. I only have the one in my bike though, never had three to play with. I bet with a VERY small rod (like a 1/16") you could probably do it.

[ColtDeltaElite10mm]

Almost forgot, forget 6013 for "emergency repairs." Yes, 6013 looks absolutely BEAUTIFUL! It's does NOT penetrate anything more than sheet metal!!!!!! You need a weld bead that will hold on a rough and rocky trail! There is a reason why E-6010 is used in the oil fields by pipe welders for high pressure pipe! It penetrates DEEEEEP, and is EXCELLENT for welding on dirty, rusty, oily metal (like what's found on suspension and frames under vehicles! Good luck all.

[ColtDeltaElite10mm]

Con't from below post.... Finally, wearing the small goggles with the Arc lense in there is not good enough. Once you are underneath a jeep, looking up and trying to do a "overhead" weld, you're gonna wish you would have packed a full welding helmet. Home depot sells cheap Lincoln helmets for under $30.00. So what if it doesn't fit the "emergency bag." Carry it elsewhere. Ever have hot molten metal fall into your nose, mouth, ears???? It BLOWS, literally! Thanks for the Vids!!!!

[WheeliePete]

@ColtDeltaElite10mm Well, we wheel mostly overbuilt Toyotas so we're not under them all that often having to weld stuff... ;-) Couldn't resist. Oh, I've had splatter down the ear canal before...yeah, it sucks. I've done plenty of field repairs (on other people's junk) in the brazing goggles with a #10 lens. Works fine. It's a giant step up from using 3 pairs of sunglasses. lol. Just wrap your head in a coat.

[ColtDeltaElite10mm]

@WheeliePete... The Toyota comment, LOVE IT!!! To be honest, I too am a Toyota (and Chevy Diesel) man, but 90% of my off road crew is ALL jeep! I weld thier stuff more than I've had to on "Team Toyota!" The lens thing, you're right it does work what you have. I just don't like to increase the cumulative exposure to very bad UV light which I've heard is more concentrated than the sun's UV under same exposure times. Skin cancer sucks and I had it on my nose! TOYOTA #1!!

[ColtDeltaElite10mm]

con't from below post: 6011 rod was originally made for AC arc welders! With batteries people, we are welding with DC! Go to a welding store and buy 6010 rods!!!! They produce less spatter and are for DC welding!!!! (yes, it makes a difference!). They do make 6011 rods that are also for both AC and DC. The quality of the "emergency weld" DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE for a critical suspension part!!!! Again, E6011 and DC+ are your emergency trail "savior." con't....

[ColtDeltaElite10mm]

Great Vid!! Here's some recommendations from me who's experienced broken suspensions on the trail and I've used battery stick welding almost a dozen times now for our group. DC+ (electrode is +, ground clamp is -) produces a "shallow penetration" into the steel. The electrode rod gets really hot too. DC- (electrode rod is -, ground clamp is +), you get deep penetration into the steel and the workpiece is hotter. For those that don't know, you can't just get 6011 rod for DC welding... con't

[raganriley]

Im not saying it would happen, but wouldn't it be hilarious if you did this in the bush then couldn't start the trucks.

[WheeliePete]

@raganriley Never, not once, have I ever seen battery welding in the field result in a battery that was dead enough not to start a rig. You're not building a new frame, you're usually just repairing a break. You would have to do a LOT of welding before you couldn't start a rig off the battery. The truly paranoid would just park one rig slighlty uphill where it could be bump-started if necessary.

[algae1000]

Good practical video that may help a lot of people in a pinch. Using a positive ground creates a softer arc for a better weld? Good to know. BTW, electron flow is from negative to positive, but that doesn't matter if you get a good weld. Thanks!

[WheeliePete]

@algae1000 Yeah you're right, I've put in a notation on the video now for clarification. When I made the video I was thinking conventional flow notation (+ or excess charge to - less charge) instead of Electron Flow notation which is actual flow from - to +. The DC- (straight) polarity flows from the electrode to the material putting 2/3 on the heat onto the material which produces a more stable arc in DC welding.

[meade9166]

@WheeliePete if you do this,the batteries can explode,right?

[WheeliePete]

@meade9166 You would have to make a series of really bad mistakes to make a battery explode. Batteries explode because hydrogen gas being given off by the batteries ignites. If you cover the batteries with a blanket or coats you pretty much eliminate the possibility of this happening. Batteries will not "explode" from the act of welding with them. You can get a battery terminal to melt if you discharge it fast enough and it will make a lound popping sound as it blows the solder.

[WheeliePete]

But in order to discharge a battery that fast you would have to give it a HUGE path to ground (like grounding a full size battery cable to a hot exhaust pipe...been there...seen that.)

[DuraToTheMaxxx]

Nice video, very informative. Just curious, can you use 2 batteries? Also, just a nitpicky thing, when using a magnetic square, only tack with it, and then remove it, the heat will 1. cause the weld pool to weld incorrectly. 2.cause the magnet to eventually lose its magnetism

[WheeliePete]

@DuraToTheMaxxx You can use 24v, but you may not get the penetration you need depending on the thickness of the material. 36 runs pretty hot, but the penetration is excellent. Yeah, I know aobut the magnet. Always forget to do something in a video that everyone catches... ;-)

[DuraToTheMaxxx]

@WheeliePete Oh yeah everyones a critic :P

[nfaas914]

Cool vid!

[MrMarreBarr]

Great vid! Useful for small welding jobs (Y) but personally i prefer mig/mag and tig welding :)

[WheeliePete]

@MrMarreBarr Hence the explanation that this is a technique we use for emergency welding out on the trail.

[EnduranceT]

Wow. Isn't arc welding basically creating a short circuit on purpose? I'm surprised this doesn't damage the batteries.

[WheeliePete]

@EnduranceT The welding rod basically creates a constant resistance in the "short circuit". To damage the batteries you would have to short them a lot faster. I did see a battery short and blow out once when a full gauge battery cable wire grounded out to a hot exhaust pipe. There's just not a large enough path to ground in a welding rod to allow the battery to discharge fast enough to damage it during welding.

[EnduranceT]

@WheeliePete Ahhh, so the rod itself poses as a big enough resistor. Interesting. I've never welded before but I study electricity and am going to be an electrician apprentice soon. I'll probably try welding at some point though, it's also a very interesting and useful trade.

[axelasdf]

Just an engineer addressing a peeve of mine. Voltage is not potential energy, or energy at all. It's more synonymous with pressure. The potential energy in batteries is chemical energy.

[ServingBongs]

Amazing, although.. asking the the workers around the construction site convincing them to lend there car battery's might be the hardest part about this method.

[jsmythib]

hmm3 batteries a welding rod and some metal...Welding is now possible :) ty

I tried bailing wire, nails..a small 10 penny gave me the small tap welds I needed..I need a welding rod- thanks again!

[thaihustler]

hmm.. i don't need goggles or a mask to view your vid

[kollymakiya]

PASEN LA VOZ, NO COMPREN EN JASCO PARTES DE BICI, YA QUE TE PARAN ESTAFANDO, ME AN ECHO IR POR PARTES MAS DE UNA VEZ, Y EN LO QUE VA, YA ME ARTE, ES UNA ESTAFA, TE DICEN VIENE TODO EL JUEGO Y A LA HORA QUE VIENE, TE DICEN NO ES POR PARTES, ME E GASTADO CASI 1 000 DOLARES EN UNOS AROS, EL JUEGO COMPLETO Y AHORA QUE LO ESTOY ARMANDO NO VINO TODO

[PatMcLJr]

OK this has to be very dangerous. Guess if you are in a pinch then, bailing wire, duct tape, and oh yea, a few welding rods.

I don't weld, could you use the other end of a jumper cable in stead of the welding rod holder thingy?

[WheeliePete]

@PatMcLJr Actually, it's quite safe as long as you cover the batteries and keep them as far away from the work as possible to prevent igniting any escaping hydrogen gas with a stray spark. Yes, you can use a jumper cable clamp to hold a welding rod.

[eddiequest4]

Your welds are actually good (as evidenced by the resilience to the hammer). Most beginners tend to travel too fast, and have very little penetration. Good video-Thanks.

[Pudersepp]

A well done video!

[huskyemma]

Applause :) - and you didnt kill any cells in the batteries!!

[A10WarthogsAreSweet]

there you go, just drain the battery, stick it back in the car, let the alternator charge it back up, and do it again lol

[WheeliePete]

@A10WarthogsAreSweet We've had to do this a few times on the trail and we've never had a problem restarting the vehicles. I've never actually tried to run the batteries down far enough to the point where they wouldn't start the vehicle. Might be an interesting experiment... But yeah, do your welding, then put them back in the vehilcle and the alternator will recharge the battery.

[A10WarthogsAreSweet]

@WheeliePete lol you could do some heavy duty welding that way

[INOXMADARO]

@A10WarthogsAreSweet BUENISIMO

[ShawnD1]

Great video. I like how you tried it in parallel just to show that it doesn't work that way.

[TheBodvarg]

can you weld basic coated with this setup ?

[WheeliePete]

@TheBodvarg I'm not sure exaclty. I found on the web: "Basic Coated Low Hydrogen Electrodes are suitable for welding mild steels, medium high tensile structural steel, low alloy steel, non machinable deposit on cast iron and depositing buffer layer before hard surfacing steel." I guess the best thing to do would be to give it a shot and see how it works in the shop...

[HDXFH]

Good Stuff, Batteries won't like it though :)

[WheeliePete]

@HDXFH Only if you totally discharge them. Emergency welding isn't going to hurt them at all. Heavy winch loads with the motor turned off do far more damage...trust me on this one... ;-)

[FuckEmoFags92]

nice video, i found it useful (only in case of emergency thou)

good job

[luketorpedo]

This is a fantastic peice of knowledge. I will always remember this video now I have seen it. Thanks.

[megazonbomb]

Hi, Pete just to let you know, you got a master welder 6g all aspect smirk at this. I'm impressed....

[WheeliePete]

@megazonbomb The funny part is that this trick has gotten us home from wheeling multiple times. The first time we tried it we just had jumper cables and some old rod that we clamped into the jumper cable jaws, no goggles, no gloves...after that trip I put the kit together. Impresses the hell out of people when you can weld their junk back together on the trail and send them on their way...lol...

[drillpurpose]

@WheeliePete Nice tip on using the jumper cables clamped to the rods! Thats truly an emergency situation workaround.

[Ileshia08]

do you harm the battery

[WheeliePete]

@Ileshia08  No.

[nightriviera]

I would never have imagined that was possible. Brilliant. Once seen, never forgotten. Thanks ever so much for making the video.

[Funfen0]

Good

[offrhode92]

Impressive! It might work better if you use 6013 rod. Those are set up specifically for DC-negative welding and from my experience are WAY easier to use than 6011 (which are made for DC-positive). I'd be interested to see how well it would work if you did it with 6013. Post a video!

[WheeliePete]

@offrhode92 I'll have to give it a try, it was my understanding though that 6013 was a light pentrating rod used to make good looking welds, but it has a penetration up to about 3/16. 6011 being a more all purpose (farmer-rod) good for welding through all kinds of dirt, rust and crap. I'm going to do a follow up video here in the near future. I've been playing with smaller than 1/8" rods and cutting them in half. They start up a lot better and hold the arc well.

[emmettebrown]

ill try 230 volts

[MrTenek07]

man that was a great vid..... it will help me a lot..... tnx

[btp98w]

Nice!!!

[GE24Tony]

i can hear the noise of the fan of the welding machine!

[WheeliePete]

@GE24Tony Sorry man, it's not a fake video. The fan noise is from my exhaust vents in the roof of the shop (prior owner was painting cars in there so I have some seriously good lighting and ventilation.) ;-)

[76aussieguy]

yeah mate brilliant vid, heard about it but never seen it done, nice truck to, same as mine but we call em hilux's in oz, cheers mate

[ramases1]

great vid - I don't know anything about welding so was curious why you wouldn't wear a full mask as there were a lot of sparks from what you were doing or are they not as bad as they look?

[WheeliePete]

@ramases1 Normally I would totally wear a full mask, but a full mask won't fit in my emergency kit bag so I just have a pair of brazing goggles with #10 lens swapped in. The sparks can be pretty uncomfortable depending on how much molten metal they are comprised of.

[ongchorcool]

great!

[pipus4444]

Twice i had to use this battery welding , both trucks ran out of the trails by their own power...

[Yuvenali]

It's nice, but look at my job. We weld without electrods. Only sand as flux, copper as back plate and steel pins from tent set as electrods. :)

[DxWhoopingCrane]

Saw an article about this in an old japanese drift racing magazine about on track repairs. Cant read japanese too well so i never fully understood it till watching this. Nice vid, covers all the points.

[matthewsmyth1001]

i made a big box so i put the battery ins the box this is help me well to work this porject working

[Vitally14]

I've been arc weilding latly and I've been wondering what happening when u break an electrode stick in half

[WheeliePete]

@Vitally14 Nothing happens you just lose some resistance, actually makes the arc easier to start with the battery welding. I will often just cut the rod in half, then peel a little of the flux coating off the end so I can clamp the bare rod into the electrode holder. Works great.

[SegaCD]

Awesome, I was wondering about this for a while.

[dethtotheking]

very very good demonstration thanks alot !!

[bluetorch13]

you can't beat this when it comes to emergency welding, very nice video, thanks!

[1973TD]

Shorting

A battery might also explode if, when you were jump-starting it, a piece of metal shorts the battery terminal. Battery explosion may result in acid splatter and will certainly result in a loud bang and noxious smoke.

Read more: Why Does an Auto Battery Explode? | eHow.com .ehow.com/facts_6147009_auto-b­attery-explode_.html#ixzz1Hzzu­XP00

[BackDoorFreak07]

looks cool =)

[dewfall56]

Nice demonstration, good layman explaination for the technically challenged. I especially like how you keep the schematic in your pack and mention safety tips all through the video.

[r0ckt3hc4sb4h]

I would recommend a sealed container for your rods so they don't pick up too much moisture from the atmosphere. All in all, cool kit and demo!

[WheeliePete]

@r0ckt3hc4sb4h You make a good point...the coating on the rods does suck in moisture. If I could find a small container....or just had an idea...I could just seal up some rod using my wife's food-saver machine and vaccum seal those things into a pouch. That would work and be cheap. Just have to wait until she's out of the house... ;-)

[r0ckt3hc4sb4h]

@WheeliePete You can get a screw-cap rod container at Home Depot. It's about the size of a thermos and would probably fit in you kit just fine. :)

[ruuman]

@WheeliePete I found a mortar shell storage container from a surplus store is perfect. Add a bag of silica gel for good measure, 100% sealed and moisture free :-)

[thebibleisfiction]

damn thats pretty cool

[4chizl]

I was recently informed by a master welder to remove magnets after tacking. Magnetism is not friendly to the weld. FYI : )

[WheeliePete]

@4chizl Good tip. Yeah, magnetism and electricity do go hand-in-hand.

[bigbuffbaldguy]

Great demo!! Simple and to the point!

[WheeliePete]

I've been welding for many years. Been flashed a lot of times. There's no chance that 12v is going to start a 1/8" 6011 rod. Even if by some miracle it did start you would have to have your face right in it and then keep the arc going and stare at it in order to "roast your retinas". The cure for severe arc flash is a trip to the doc to get the jelly they have for this exact thing put in your eyes. But yes, eye protection is a good thing, not arguing against it...

[LeviMan2001]

Nice video! very good explanation.

[Sparky3200]

Very cool, and very handy. I've heard of this being done, but never actually seen it. Thanks!

[EETechs]

To everyone who does get the reason behind why 12 volts is not enough then let me explain. Twelve volts DC is not enough voltage to draw an arc through air and also it's too low of voltage to force any high levels of current through steel rods which have resistance. With 36 volts DC an arc can be formed in air and it can allow for more current since E/R = I, provided the supply can supply the current demand which starting batteries certainly can!

[Rednostalgia]

Thats cool never new that you could weld with batterys, I guess there isint a way to controll your temp?

[WheeliePete]

Your pretty much locked into one setting. I have seen one group that used a smaller gauge wire in part of the system to introduce resistance and try to "tune" the output, but of course, the result of that is an EXTREMELY hot wire (like in danger of melting hot.) It's really not too bad to weld with the 3 car batteries, just practice a few times to get a feel for the arc.

[Millermatic252]

hey that is really cool i am going to try that sometime and the weld beads are not bad considering its only the second time picking up a rod in 5 years so yea its really cool and that kit would probably come in handy when i am on quad with the boys and something breaks off or cracks thanks :)

[WheeliePete]

After we got done filming I went to some smaller material (3/16 flat bar) and some smaller rod (3/32" 6011 rod) that I cut down to about 5" and laid some actually passable-for-decent-beads. Using thinner rods will help the arc stike, but you have to move fast to keep from burning holes through the material. Cutting down the rods really helps too. You can use both pieces after you cut, you just have to strip back the flux to clamp the cut off piece in your electrode holder.

[WheeliePete]

I can't stress it enough that you should practice this at home before you have to try it in the field. I've had to do 2 field repairs in the past and I was really glad that we'd actually practiced this in the shop first.