Powering a Portable Welding Rig?

[Scanman]

Hi!

A buddy would like to get set up to do welding from the back of a truck. I thought it may make sense to consider powering his system using a solar array. I would prefer to use a portable system (Bluetti / EcoFlow, etc.) but if I need to I could use a building style system (Growatt, etc.) The hard part is the welder will require 240VAC and a 50 amp circuit.

Can any bonded pair or other system deliver this much power?

Of course, in the worst case I could use discrete components to design and build up this system for my buddy.

Suggestions?

 

[Hedges]

240V 50A draw would be 150A at 80V, for my buzz box. Does his application need that much power, e.g. for welding thick steel? Or lower, like fences?

Any wattage from 1kW to 24kW or so is reasonably doable with batteries and inverters, either 120V or 120/240V.
Bigger issue is how many kWh are needed, because batteries are big and heavy. One hour of welding at 10kW will be easier to achieve than 8 hours continuous.

Many welders these days are high frequency. Inverters may or may not like that.

Solar array - portable solar array would be fairly small, no so practical for commercial work. Something in the 400W to 1000W range could fit above a vehicle, but can get it the way of cargo and doesn't have optimal tilt except in summer.

Fuel powered welder is most practical and economical, but smaller electric welder could be a reasonable addition to a service truck with batteries. High power generator to recharge from engine while driving would be a good idea.

 

[Rednecktek]

What kind of amperages is he welding with? Welding is usually really high amperage at low voltage, but even then when I'm running my 1/4" 7018 that's only 100a @ 30v or 3Kw of power.

The biggest issue is going to be battery capacity as 3Kw of split phase, even rounding up to 5Kw of split phase is still only about an hour of actual bead laying time per battery.

Can it be done? Yes, there are larger units that can be paralleled to provide enough power assuming he's not trying to do 1" thick gas pipe or anything. The batteries are going to cost a fortune no matter which way you go.

Can you roll-your-own? Totally. It all comes down to some sort of split phase inverter and the battery bank to provide enough runtime to be effective.

Find out what your buddy usually runs for amperage, multiply that by 30v and that'll give you the load needed. Then multiply that by how much time he's going to need to actually lay bead and the math should get you on paper.

 

[chriscappuccio]

You can get an engine belt driven unit like this guy Rory has here:

 

[Supervstech]

Can it be done? Sure. I’m right now building a 50A output split phase portable unit. It has 30kWh of LFP and a pair of LV6048 inverters. Handles 16kW of solar input and powers a job site trailer, hvac equipment etc.
If you have room for the solar array, the batteries can be charged up one day, and used the next… no room on the trailer for THAT much solar.
A quick build would set you back around $12K plus shipping, wiring, and labor…then you would need the solar of course…

 

[chriscappuccio]

 

[Alandall1]

Hi!

A buddy would like to get set up to do welding from the back of a truck. I thought it may make sense to consider powering his system using a solar array. I would prefer to use a portable system (Bluetti / EcoFlow, etc.) but if I need to I could use a building style system (Growatt, etc.) The hard part is the welder will require 240VAC and a 50 amp circuit.

Can any bonded pair or other system deliver this much power?

Of course, in the worst case I could use discrete components to design and build up this system for my buddy.

Suggestions?

Might be cheaper buying a second hand miller generator welder

 

[Alandall1]

Can it be done? Sure. I’m right now building a 50A output split phase portable unit. It has 30kWh of LFP and a pair of LV6048 inverters. Handles 16kW of solar input and powers a job site trailer, hvac equipment etc.
If you have room for the solar array, the batteries can be charged up one day, and used the next… no room on the trailer for THAT much solar.
A quick build would set you back around $12K plus shipping, wiring, and labor…then you would need the solar of course…

Now this sounds like what i need for my tig setup