Redneck engine starting - with a welder!

[OKMUNWURX]

I have seen many people use DC welders to start engines and charge batteries. In this guys case he may have had rotten batteries.

[castirondude]

@OKMUNWURX yea I thought later you know it doesn't make sense it was taking 400 amps peak and 200 continuous from the welder, that battery is a 720 CCA battery it should have been a piece of cake. So yea one of the 2 batteries was bad.

[bill11012]

Thank you for sharing. If I ever end up with dead batterys out in the middle of noware I will try useing the welder on the bed to start it

[hangoutsumtime]

i heard something about batteries on concrete slowly drains them, is that true, wondering?

[n4120p]

dude that's a small 4 cyl perkins, come on!! your batteries were bad or something, if the starter has winding on the fields and not permanent magnets it will run on AC just the same,, from a buzz box etc........ernie.

[castirondude]

never tried running it on AC but yes it may well work.

The stall current is about 500 A and it drops to about 150 A when cranking. Yea I later found that optima battery was bad. It does crank fine with two 12V batteries.

[MrJoseph1157]

Yes i have seen it before, you can thaw frozen pipes with an ols school buz box. nice vid is that a gen set or welder? thanks joe

[K31TH3R]

Good trick, thanks for showing. I'll remember this.

[3320105]

dude your a genious i woulda never thought of that

[mrbobsshow]

Wow wouldnt have thought of that great idea!!! thanks for the tip with all the P.O.S I have lying around thats a better way to do it than my old and I mean old sears charger

[noblejames111]

Nice Motor but very messy shop

[krankiev]

wow, there's one way to do it!!

[TheDieselDr]

Iv'e used a Lincoln SA250 to jump off a truck before,, didn't figure a Mig would do it, What model is that gen set ?,,

I have one a little smaller with a 2 cyl Petter diesel,

[castirondude]

You just need something with a DC output.

If possible the best option is to hook it directly to the starter. If there is no load the voltage will shoot up to 40 V. On a truck the battery will probably prevent that, but if you don't have one then you may blow up your stereo etc.

The welder provides ample current. On my recent video I'm using it to start a 770 cubic inch Deutz V8 diesel.

I don't remember the model# off hand. It's a 20kW marine generator.

[spitzification14]

@castirondude would this work witha stick welder

[castirondude]

@spitzification14 you need to have something that puts out a DC voltage - so AC stick definitely wouldn't work. Now, I believe the stick welders are constant current like a TIG, right? That means the welder tries to maintain its current setting and when you release the starter key and take less current the voltage goes up. In fact I know a guy who blew up his instrument panel that way. You should hook it ONLY to the starter then it should be ok.

[spitzification14]

@castirondude mine is a cheapo 70 amp ac stick welder stick welders idk if stick welders are consatant i

[castirondude]

@spitzification14 I don't think it would work with that, you definitely need DC and also 70 amps is kinda lean - this little perkins engine took like 300-400A

[TheDieselDr]

it was a 92 Chevy 1T. w/ 6.5 NA, the guy's welding rig truck,,

40V is the OC volts??

oh well his Glow plugs were fried anyway!

thats why he needed a jump... :-)

[0sjvla]

hmm I did the same with my Cat 922

when it was -30 C worked gr8

[windoes98se]

verry intersting, so pritty much all an arc welder is: a big transformer and some heavy duty rectifier diodes.

[TheChiefEngineer]

The cables are way too small from the batteries, so there would obviously be a voltage drop. Also, less current to the starter. Interesting video though :)

[30GB]

you need those catapiller batteries to start her my auto teacher has one and its damn big as hell

[castirondude]

yup! I have it mounted to a trailer and hooked up to two 8D size batteries and it cranks like a charm!

[RHMproduction]

That is a Lugger motor out of a lobster boat judging but the guys not so redneck accent. Redneck no. Innovative yes.

[castirondude]

ah I've been caught! Not really a redneck, in fact I'm an electrical engineer :-)

It was indeed a marine generator, it's from a pleasure yacht .. dual 8V71's.. hot dog. It had problems with the control box as evidenced by the wire mess hanging out of it. I just hooked up the current transformer that regulates the output voltage load line and bypassed the charging circuit and automatic power-on/off mumbo jumbo .. and it's been working like a dream! Good deal for $150!

[racindeere65]

yeah good idea, i hav noticed that undervoltage can kill a starter too. a higher voltage than the starter requires is fine if not used too often, it can warp the windings and burn out a starter after time though

[ufloetz]

When voltage goes down the amps go up and cook the starter.

[PistolPete2]

Good grief, a Canadian redneck! I love it!!!

[castirondude]

Heh, I'm a world citizen! This is in California :-)

[klesmer]

Your redneck is Canadian,eh?

[minnimerc]

brilliant..........

[kanonekraftschuss]

Depends on your starter. I can imagine it killing a weak starter immediately.

[castirondude]

Actually undervoltage and stalling seems to really kill starters in my experience.

[jeffamberlisa]

straight out of the hillbilly handbook that is

[302040]

that is a very nice welder could you tell me what make and model it is

[castirondude]

It's a lincoln 255 MIG welder. I think it's rated 250 amps continuous and 300 max with some duty cycle limit. You can find them on ebay, this one came from Indiana Oxygen.

[BLAKEYBBLAKEY]

Smart guy..

[Finch2009]

Done it! On tractors and trucks. A farmer and family friend I worked for in high school was a welder, aside from farming and construction, and he showed me that. He said thats how he would jump start big construction equipment in Alaska. Thats how cold it gets! Ive done it on tractors and an old diesel truck. DONT DO IT ON A COMPUTER CONTROLLED VEHICLE! The guy who showed me the trick fried the computer on his 97 CTD and lost his his gauges and radio. $900 for a new comp. Its a good last resort.

[chevylover516]

LOL nice it's better then taking it out to shooting range

[mafarnz]

Pretty damn smart!

[Sephy69]

i think its drawing too much because it needs a 24v battery and not two 12v. afaik the voltage does not add up, its still 12v no matter how many batts you add. nice video mate, and i think that idea is pretty damn sweet! hope i didnt come across rude :-)

[castirondude]

They do add up if you put them in series - not in parallel. I found out later one of the two batteries was shot. They would be 25V with no load but drop to 16 volt when I hit the starter. I put a current clamp on it while using the welder and the current started out somewhere like 400 amps and then dropped to about 150 amps while cranking. I think it is normal for this kind of direct drive starter (no gear reduction) to take a lot of current to get going. They can crank real fast though.

[BoldUniverse]

Brilliant creativity and ingenuity!

[mongo731]

Man, what a great idea!

[heenico]

is that a perkins ??

[castirondude]

yes, perkins 4cyl diesel. I don't know much about it, I just fixed some of the fuel line plumbing, sealed up one of the freeze plugs (after flushing 3 pounds of bars stop leak out of there), fixed some of the plumbing, did an oil/filter change etc.. it's been running great!

[stayonthefarm]

thats a pretty good idea. i never thought of that, and it looks like it worked reely well! cool!

[999jefro]

this WASNT wot i wos thinking when i clicked this... the word "redneck" in the name implys ppl with no teeth and strange accents doing mad things

[castirondude]

yeah I'm too nice and educated to qualify as redneck but the spirit of using whatever is within reach for whatever need you have at the time certainly is redneck like!

[999jefro]

hehe ok m8 xD

[Swedediesel]

poor starter motor!!! you need to build you a water cooled starter or otherwise you'll end up with a melted windings.

[castirondude]

I think it is because it's a large series wound motor. Series wound motors need a lot of current before they start building up a magnetic field. With a motor this big (remember it's direct drive) you probably need a few hundred amps before it starts doing anything. I should have put my current clamp meter on it, but it didn't occur to me at the time.

[thedeeviant]

Good thinking! I'm deefinitely remembering this one...