HH135 Control Board is dead

[coostv]

Hey all,

I have a HH135 with a dead board. I called a guy at the local repair facility and he gave me a series of checks to see if it was the drive motor or the board. I did the tests with my meter and they proved the motor to be good and the board is fried.

I have found a couple of places that I can send the board to for refurbishing. It costs about half the price of a new board at $65 or so. I suppose I have made my mind up, but has anyone here or know someone who had to replace a board in their Hobart or Miller?

Thanks,
Chris

[MAC702]

I am EXTREMELY interested in hearing about the places that can refurbish the board! I have an old MIG here that I am trying to repair the board on, maybe for the same reason. I know the drive motor works because a battery charger will make it turn, but I get very little DC component to it from the board, and I am sure learning a lot about electronics as I try to figure it out.

[dseman]

I am EXTREMELY interested in hearing about the places that can refurbish the board! I have an old MIG here that I am trying to repair the board on, maybe for the same reason. I know the drive motor works because a battery charger will make it turn, but I get very little DC component to it from the board, and I am sure learning a lot about electronics as I try to figure it out.

Mac, check these out:

http://www.yorkelectronics.com/
http://www.industrialelectronics.com/htm/welding.htm
http://www.arc-products.com/downloads/pcb.pdf
http://miller4less.com/
http://innovatcorp.com/
http://www.elsouth.com/default.aspx
http://www.plccenter.com/sm/mfr-list.aspx?mfr=Miller+Electric

That should get you started!
-dseman

[coostv]

Papua New Guinea? We help support a missionary family there! The husband is a pilot.

http://www.yorkelectronics.com/

http://innovatcorp.com/

http://www.clsdirect.com/

To name a few. You will need your board number to look it up.

Hope this helps!

Chris:D

[MAC702]

You will need your board number to look it up.


Stupid question time (and a hijack at that!): Where is the board's number, typically? Will it even have one? This is from a NZIG brand (New Zealand Industrial Gasses), a TransMIG 185.

[coostv]

Well... For me it was simple it has a number printed on it and it states "Assembly Number" it. If you can locate a list of replacements for your make you could try to match up a number on the board with numbers listed.

Chris

[drizler]

I toasted mine once by leaving it plugged in during lightning season. Lesson learned, fool me once. :confused: Now I unplug any gear with a circuit board all the time when I am done using it. At least the expensive stuff.

[MAC702]

Or just put a triggered spark-gap surge diverter in your main panel.

[coostv]

I sent the board out to Innovat Corp. today. Hopefully I will get it back in the next couple weeks and be welding again at home. I have many things laying around collecting dust due to no welder. I have been without this thing for about 2 years now. I "Borrowed" my brothers Lincoln for about 6 months and have been going to my father in laws garage for the I need it done NOW stuff.. I never knew how much I used it until it broke.

Chris

HH135- possibly working again soon.:D

[drizler]

Or just put a triggered spark-gap surge diverter in your main panel.


What the devil is a triggered surge whachamacallit????
I get pounded by lightning around here always through the power lines. I inquired 10 years or so back at the local electric supply and he said they had something to go in the main panel which acts like a bigass surge protector. He said they were 35bucks plus and you needed to replace them after each use, no one much wanted them and he didn't recommend them even for someone like me who has the tv sets all toasted frequently. Is this something new that works, please enlighten this old cooter.:(

[MAC702]

Look at Erico's website, which you can guess as well as I can, probably. Or Google "triggered spark gap" and you should find some good stuff. They initiate a spark during the first few nanoseconds of the spike, causing the discharge to go through the gap of the device, which is in parallel to your main conductor. The spike goes straight to the neutral, and practically nothing gets into the panel. There is nothing to reset, they are instantly ready for the next spike.

They have saved this facility here many times. We have them on each phase. I don't know how expensive they are, but they are the size of a typical residential two-pole breaker.

[Mr Meck]

OOOh the lightning thing. Stay in your car, its insulated by the rubber tires. Good advice? Hardly. Think about it. The bolt of lighting has traveled upwards 2 or 3 MILES through OPEN air to get to the ground. Whats a few inches of rubber? Nothing at all. To keep your stuff from getting fried, unplug it when lightning is within 3 miles. Just a rule of thumb.:D

[hankj]

OOOh the lightning thing. Stay in your car, its insulated by the rubber tires. Good advice? Hardly. Think about it. The bolt of lighting has traveled upwards 2 or 3 MILES through OPEN air to get to the ground. Whats a few inches of rubber? Nothing at all. To keep your stuff from getting fried, unplug it when lightning is within 3 miles. Just a rule of thumb.:D

Hey, brother, you're mixing the apples and oranges!;)

Rubber tired vehicles (or any enclosure that is insulated from ground) are sufficient to insulate you from a lightning strike. I know. Got hit with one in the Lava Beds National Monument in 1994. Made the truck stop, but no folks inside were hurt, except for a short hearing loss!

The other side of the coin, isolation of electrical apparatus (which is normally grounded as a safety issue presents a whole different scenario.

All electrical systems installed per the NEC have designed lighning protection. Failure of connected equipment and appliances associated with a lightning strike are nearly always related to systems installed in violation of the codes. There are rare incidents of damage or injury from strikles into domestic or commercial occupancies that have been installed per the codes.

I'm making this statemnt based on 42 years in the trade. If you have any data to refute my stements, please post it, as it would be valuable to all of us.

Hank

[MAC702]

Tires are insulated against small voltages, sure. So a vehicle under the service drop to your house would be insulated from ground if something on the vehicle touched a bare part of that service drop conductor (120V).

But they don't insulate against lightning or other high voltages. In fact, Hank, the fact that the car you were in was hit is proof of that, isn't it?

Persons inside the vehicle would be fine, usually, because the lightning would much rather stay in the steel skin of the car as it makes its way through the chassis and through the steel belts of the radials (with that little bit of rubber between them) on its way to ground, or vice-versa, depending on the polarity of that strike.

[hankj]

.....But they don't insulate against lightning or other high voltages. In fact, Hank, the fact that the car you were in was hit is proof of that, isn't it?......

Absolutely corret, my friend. I should quit posting stuff while consuming the adult beverages!

Hank

[Critter]

Most electric appliances have a certain amount of static electricity, the power strips will protect from damage from that, but a direct lightning hit is designed to go to earth instead of burning your house down. Works part of the time!

[Mr Meck]

No Hank, you should not stop posting while Hmmm... relaxing. I enjoyed your response and experience with lightning. I have quite a few myself. A good strike can shatter 13 courses of a brick chimney on a house with properly installed lightning rods. The strike also ignored the 35 foot evergreens surrounding the property. As for mixing fruit I seem to be doing that a lot lately but don't notice it at all. Seemed perfectly connected at the time.:D

[coostv]

I thought I should post an update about my board.

I sent it to Innovat. They repaired it and sent it back to me within 2 weeks time. I am more than happy with the performance of the welder. Of course now that it works the performance has increased 100%!

Chris

[hankj]

Good one, Chris.

Thanks for the update.

Hank