Arc Welding with 3 Car Batteries (Tutorial & Demo)

Emergency welding technique using 3 car batteries wired in series. Knowing how to do this may just save you from haivng to leave your rig out in the middle of nowhere. If you're going to go wheeling you need to know how to save your own butt. AAA doesn't respond if your 20 miles off the beaten path. This is the second video that I've done on this subject. The first video showed me doing an acutal trail repair, but wasn't very detailed. I had so many responses from people that didn't understand what was going on, or for some reason thought it wasn't possible, that I decided to do a video in a controlled environment and show exactly what welding with car batteries is all about.

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  Education

[DefCur]

I hope you didn't breath too deeply while welding...

[WheeliePete]

*cough* why do you ask *cough* *cough* ;-)

[TableWolfMusic]

I don't know a great deal about all this (so I won't be rushing out to try this). Nonetheless, the video is very informative and I liked it. What exactly is a welding rod made of? Is it some special metal your buy from the shops with some rating of purity or is it a compound of something?

[WheeliePete]

Arc welding rods are usually composed of different metal blends (depending on the application), with a flux coating around the rod.

[TableWolfMusic]

How bizarre that you mentioned that. Only a matter of hours ago (probably about the same time you wrote that comment actually) I was wondering if people at home ever made their own rods. Spooky coincidence - LOL! While I would not actually make rods myself, I do think it is very interesting that people can do such things. So, thank you for your reply. Much appreciated! Very cool. Very cool indeed.

[eggyknap]

Supposedly you can make your own with wire coat hangers wrapped in newspaper soaked in sodium silicate, which will act as flux.

[Justin Verbaux]

My memory isn't as good as it used to be but I believe my Everlast plasma cutter cuts at a voltage somewhere between 90 and 100V with an amperage of anywhere between 20A - 60A for cutting thicknesses of over 1 inch steel. Not sure how that would translate into number of car batteries and whether they would need to be in series as well as parallel to push up the volts and amps?

[earthsurfer13]

Thanks for the vid. Great info!

[Bob Builder]

Could you use something like an Everlast 140st stick welder on 110v and a 1500W inverter in an emergency? The welder is pretty efficient and could burn 3/32" rods pretty well on 110v.

[netwt42oz]

I hate to be "that guy" but you really shouldn't weld/torch right on concrete, it can shatter dangerously.