Help with welder wiring!

[bookzguy]

I bought a mig welder online through Harbor Freight Tools. Problem is that it arrived not pre-wired and recommended a separate plug be purchased and installed by an electrician. The manual that came with the welder did not specially state how to wire the machine. Does anyone familiar with welders know how to correctly hook up the wires. I bought an extended 8 gauge cord and plug that fits into my washer/dryer connector.

Welder purchased:

Cord from welder: Green, White and Black.

4 prong plug and cord: White, Black, Red and Green.

Someone help me out. I want to get started on welding my floor boards.

 

[ForceFed70]

I think that's probably the wrong cord/plug, but if you have the matching outlet in your garage then go with it. Otherwise, you'll probably want to use something with a "welder" style plug.

The wiring is easy, usually it's just a matter of matching the colors.
The Green wire is ground, and will probably be grounded to the case somewhere.
The white wire is the neutral, and probably won't be used.
The red and the black are your "hot" wires.

The welder will likely only have 2 wires, they will connect to the hot wires. There will be a screw/bolt somewhere nearby that the green wire goes to.

Don't forget to use an antishort/antistrain gromet where the cable goes into the welder.

 

[Ryans67]

Are you using the dryer plug, or do you have an extra plug that is only for the welder? If your stuck using the dryer plug (which is a newer house, hence the 4plug) You've got the extra neutral which the welder doesnt need. If you have an extra receptacle and are not using the dryer outlet, I would buy the older 3plug receptacle and rewire that so that the extra wire is in the box and not wrapped in tape on the welder cord.

Otherwise, I would recommend leaving out the green on the 4cord (the ground) and then hooking up the green (3) to the white (4), the blacks, and then the white (3) to the red (4).

Mind you, I work in a cabinet shop and my only experience with wiring is rigging new machines to old wiring and vice versa. I am no expert.

 

[Grabber70Mach]

?????????

 

[bookzguy]

Are you using the dryer plug, or do you have an extra plug that is only for the welder? If your stuck using the dryer plug (which is a newer house, hence the 4plug) You've got the extra neutral which the welder doesnt need. If you have an extra receptacle and are not using the dryer outlet, I would buy the older 3plug receptacle and rewire that so that the extra wire is in the box and not wrapped in tape on the welder cord.

Otherwise, I would recommend leaving out the green on the 4cord (the ground) and then hooking up the green (3) to the white (4), the blacks, and then the white (3) to the red (4).

Mind you, I work in a cabinet shop and my only experience with wiring is rigging new machines to old wiring and vice versa. I am no expert.

Everything worked great thanks to your advise! Now I can get started back up on the ol'rustang since I've been putting it off for several months.

 

[sparx]

The newer 4 wire dryer and range style outlets were added some years ago, because for over 60 years (in the case of ranges, less for dryers) the combined ground and neutral wire (one wire) were used for the same function.

The NEC changed this and thus, there are now separate ground and neutral conductions for both of these appliances. Ground is NOT supposed to carry current on AC systems unless there is a fault current AKA a short dumping into the frame of the appliance. This is by design. Ground on a car and ground in a building wiring system are two entirely difference conductors with different functions, except on older range and dryers circuits.

The neutral for these appliances is not a ground and allows 120volt lamps, timers, clocks, and controls to be properly served with 120 volt power. As stated above years back the ground conductor served as a neutral in this case. One more fact, this will confuse some, the neutral IS a grounded conductor but it NOT a ground. Just don't worry about that fact.

So, if your welder came with a 4 wire cord and male, you should plug it into the same NEMA spec outlet. A modern dryer outlet is 30 amp 125/240 volt 4-wire and a range is 50 amp 125/240 volt 4-wire with ground as the fourth wire in an up to date system.

I would like to see a wiring diagram for the input side of your welder, also I would very much like to know how it performs, I am in the market for a MIG myself.

(not that it matters but I have been a licensed electrical contractor, State of Illinois, since 1977) Here in AZ an unemployed Contractor.

Normally you will not have more wires than is needed furnished on any appliance or device.


sparx

 

[bookzguy]

It actually works great for what it is. It can either be used as a flux core or changed to a gas welder. Currently It's set up for the flux core, it works quite well other than the fact the welds are kinda dirty due to oxygen in the air causing spots. It was a deal to me, I bought it from Harbor Freight's for $119.