Welding with jumper cables and a pair of batteries

This is a short video demonstrating how to weld steel using a pair of batteries and a set of jumper cables. I've used this method out on the trail lots of times and it comes in handy when you find yourself with broken parts out in the middle of nowhere!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• weld
• welding
• trail
• repairs
• crawl
• crawling
• 4x4
• redneck
• survival
• offroad

[Insanity0919]

How strong are the welds that it makes? Will i want to build a brush gaurd on my mud mower. Would that hold up?

[sewerzuk]

@Insanity0919 The strength and appearance of the welds is most affected by the skill of the person holding the welding rod. The welds are just as strong as using a conventional welder, if done properly. It works best on 3/16"-1/4" material thickness; you can go thinner if you do multiple starts and stops to allow your workpiece to cool down. 1/8" is about as thin as I can weld using this method.

[Osmigo1]

Can you do it with ONE battery? I normally don't drive around with a 2nd battery in the trunk....

[sewerzuk]

@Osmigo1 I've tried one battery...just not enough arc to work with. I was kind of targeting this at the off-road crowd; many people have dual batteries in their trail vehicles, and those who don't can always borrow a battery from somebody in their group. If you're by yourself its a different story!

[galegregory97comcast]

YES IT IS

[SeasideBJJ]

I love how you tagged redneck in this one! Sweet video Matt!

[WheeliePete]

@WheeliePete Yeah I bet that helps. My rods were pretty old and had been subjected to hot/cold swings and humidity fluctuations...

[sewerzuk]

@WheeliePete The rod is about 7-8 years old; it was just stored in a non-gasketed plastic rod holder in my shop. The shop environment is controlled; heated to at least 60 degrees all the time and dehumidified to about 20%. I do that to keep my high-carbon steel (punches, dies, tooling, etc.) from rusting, but it probably helps the welding rod a lot...

[WheeliePete]

@sewerzuk I was frankly quite impressed with how stable the arc was in your video, and you said you were using 1/8" 6011? How fresh was it? I'm starting to thing the rod I was using in my video was probably pretty old and had absorbed some moisture because I was having issues with my arc stability. But yeah, If I can find some time this week to pull batteries I might make a video of test welding with different voltages and different rods.

[sewerzuk]

@WheeliePete I'd like to see that video! I was planning on doing that exact thing, except comparing welds using various electrodes between my batteries and my Synchrowave 200. I've tried 3 batteries and found that it was too hot for most of the repairs that I was doing...although there are obviously a ton of variables. Battery size, state of charge, condition, age, type of jumper cables, etc. all make a difference.