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Box
and leads.
I purchased a
“Tweko” 200-amp electrode holder and a 200-amp ground clamp for
the welding duties.
They are connected to two 20' pieces of #2 welding wire, which can
be obtained at any welding supply store.
   
The connections at the
"control" box are welding lead
connector kits and are made by "Miller" . The kits consist of a male and female coupling half,
which are color coded yellow for positive and black for negative. It
provides a very nice mode of connecting the leads.
The “control” box
or project box is 12x8x5 and aluminum. It was about 20 bucks and is
quite strong for an aluminum box.
I installed a 0-150
dc voltmeter,
two coupling kits for the welding leads, a power switch for exciting
the field, and an eight point terminal strip to join all the wires. I
originally installed a circuit breaker for the excitation wire but
removed it in favor of a 10amp fuse.
I ran all wires
into the box through ˝” grommets.
Use whatever
you can to punch holes in the box. I used a knockout tool for my box
but you can use hole saws or drill bits. What ever will work for
you!
Here is a
drawing of the finished project box.
 
Wiring.
Wiring was
rather simple.
I used some of
the #2 welding cable for the positive and negative leads from the
alternator to the "control" box with crimped on terminal ends
and heat shrink. I used 14 gauge wire for the exciter
connections.
The positive lead comes from the positive
output of the alternator and the negative lead is grounded to the
bottom mount bolt of the alternator. The field is excited from my
battery, through a toggle switch, to the #1 terminal on the
alternator, and the #2 terminal is grounded to my battery.
The dc voltmeter is wired directly to the welding lead receptacles, pos.
to pos. and neg. to neg.
I have
found a very nice DC volt meter. It is a rugged panel meter made by
Simpson part # SP09160. The problem is that it adds about 80.00 to
the project but it is a very nice meter. Dimensions: 2"x2"x2"
 
NOTE:
The alternators that I am using have the rectifier plate built in so the
output voltage is rectified to DC voltage from AC voltage. An
alternator by itself puts out only AC voltage and is not the best
choice for welding purposes. You need to use DC voltage to get the
best results.
Here is a
wiring diagram of the completed system.
 <----- click it!!!
Some of you have noticed
that my control box has an outlet. It is there for running power
tools that have brushes such as a grinder. The following drawing
shows the outlet as well as a crude circuit I added for controlling
alternator output voltage. The circuit burned up suddenly after I
started welding with the resisted ground circuit on line instead of
having the switches in the proper position, which would give the
rotor an un resisted ground. This was not a good way to make a
voltage "regulator" and is not recommended for voltage
control. I suggest using the 1st diagram.
Here's the latest drawing.
 <----- click it!!!
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