Welding? Anyone tried arc welding with PV?

[Gold Country Russ]

I know people do arc weld with a couple of old car batteries. That said, has anyone tried to weld anything with 10 or 12 panels in parallel? Small arc welders usually have about 25V secondary volts and 70-140 amps. Just adding or subtracting panels should work for control.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

You can, but you don't have precise control or anything (just like with car batteries). If you don't have anything else and you absolutely have to weld something, sure, it will work:

But keep in mind that solar panels are not voltage sources (they're current sources), and you'll have issues because your weld won't be at maximum power point and voltage will collapse.