Odd electrical "solution" - maybe
Discussion
Posting here as I'm struggling to decide where best to ask...
I have a small garage, remote from my home, with no power. I ran a generator for a while, until the neighbours objected, and since then my occasional power needs have been met by a 4kVA inverter powered by two big car batteries, which get recharged at home and hauled down to the garage when needed.
Now recently I've been doing a bit of bodywork that involves welding. I have a decent (R-Tech) MIG welder, but have been having difficulty starting a weld, which is a particular problem when trying to attach a repair piece using the repeated tack method. It would seem that the inverter is taking too long to respond to the step in demand when the welder is triggered.
What seems to have helped, however, is running a 1hp single-phase induction motor on the same circuit as the welder. The inverter shows a load from the motor of ~700W, which I'm pretty sure is inaccurate (there is no load on the motor). Perhaps the demand meter on the inverter doesn't consider power factor?
Anyhow, the welder now works much better. It will now make a quick, clean, tack weld with no delay. The question is, how? Is the small load from the motor 'priming' the inverter? Is the motor acting as a generator and maintaining voltage until the inverter catches up?
Any ideas?
I have a small garage, remote from my home, with no power. I ran a generator for a while, until the neighbours objected, and since then my occasional power needs have been met by a 4kVA inverter powered by two big car batteries, which get recharged at home and hauled down to the garage when needed.
Now recently I've been doing a bit of bodywork that involves welding. I have a decent (R-Tech) MIG welder, but have been having difficulty starting a weld, which is a particular problem when trying to attach a repair piece using the repeated tack method. It would seem that the inverter is taking too long to respond to the step in demand when the welder is triggered.
What seems to have helped, however, is running a 1hp single-phase induction motor on the same circuit as the welder. The inverter shows a load from the motor of ~700W, which I'm pretty sure is inaccurate (there is no load on the motor). Perhaps the demand meter on the inverter doesn't consider power factor?
Anyhow, the welder now works much better. It will now make a quick, clean, tack weld with no delay. The question is, how? Is the small load from the motor 'priming' the inverter? Is the motor acting as a generator and maintaining voltage until the inverter catches up?
Any ideas?
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