Where to do spotwelding?

[wesnewell]

They provide specs for house electrical wiring. His best option imo would be to just wire in a 30-75A circuit, assuming he has at least a 75A main, but as long as the other circuits come off the same single phase bus, there's absolutely no reason he couldn't take 3 of them into a larger rated connector. It's no different than paralleling batteries. Calculate the total distance of each 16A outlet and make the extensions so all 3 are of total equal length from fuse box to where they tie together. Now he has a 230V 48A circuit to use. It ain't rocket science. IOW's, it's no different than running 3 parallel cables to the same spot. More wire, higher amperage capability.

 

[Punx0r]

Unless I am mistaken he appears to have effectively only a 25A main supply (presumably with other loads like cooking/heating/lighting roughly balanced across the three phases). The problem is not exceeding 10 or 16A for a single outlet, which would be a problem for a large continuous, it's the momentary inrush current: The supply and outlet wiring is almost certainly capable of it, but the MCB is tripping. I wouldn't be surprised if all outlets in the house (or half the house) are on a single phase with a single 25A MCB. If the house had old fashioned fuse wire instead of MCBs I bet the welder would be working just fine...

 

[eAdrian]

The main is on 25A and very costly to upgrade.

I live in typical Swedish chain houses were 4-6 houses are connected.
I am not confident to influence any wiring in the new constructed house in case something goes wrong.

I will try to investigate garages which allow charging of electrical cars to see if there are any 230V outlets and supplying the desired amps.
That would involve a trip to ikea getting some folding table.

And still campaign proposition is to be evaluated

 

[wesnewell]

Do you have an actual fuse box, or is it really a CB panel? If wiring size permits, you could simply replace the 16A fuse/cb with a larger one up to 25A. Otherwise parallel 2 outlets for 32A capability. But if you exceed 25A by much, it's likely to then blow the main fuse or pop the breaker.

 

[SlowCo]

As said earlier in this thread by punx0r it might be the high momentary inrush current. I had that problem with my TIG welder. As I couldn't find a automatic fuse slow enough not to trip I installed an old fashioned very slow 16A melting fuse (probably called different than that...) in its place. That has been fine for years now.

 

[larghio]

Greetings from Norway. I have the same problem. I tried changing my fuse from c type to d type. Works ok on lower settings. When higher settings Are required i just change the fuse to a 20A. Semi Unsafe and illegal. Will upgrade wiring when funds allow. We have 380v ie 3 phase 230v. It's called isolated Terra . Some parts of the country use TN 400v. I think Sweden use TN 400v phase to phase 230 phase to neutral.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

[friendly1uk]

Change the breaker for a hbc fuse. Same 16 amp. That should be fine unless you have poor earthing arrangements.

A quick search shows HRC being the more common description but they have been HBC since before the internet. HRC is politically incorrect.

You local electrical factors will understand.

 

[eAdrian]

Hi Guys

I went to my friends flat, having an old fashioned very slow 16A melting fuse.
It was working, 12p & highest current welding 2x 0.2mm nickel strips on 18650 batteries.
So good results

I did blow one fuse when I turned on machine at one occasion. But I was playing around for 1 hour after that not having issues.

But, on the other hand, the hand held pen worked very badly, so I will not be able to use that one for 0.2 mm welding.
It did not managed to stick the strip to battery, even with 0.1 mm strip and closer distance between the copper tip. I tried difference settings, but I think the amp dropped to much in the wires.
The pen was very bad plastic quality, even breaking when I tried to fasten the screws.

 

[eAdrian]

I have now spot-welded two 14S5P batteries without blowing 16A fuse.