syncrowave 350lx

[tbody321]

I have an opportunity to buy a miller syncrowave 350 lx, My question is,
does anyone know what is need to use this machine on residential power?
I currently have 100 amp service to my workshop and have a 220 outlet
that I use for a lincoln mig welder. Any help would be appreciated.
Sincerely, Tony

[Avalonjr]

tony,

Well the good news and the bad news....
Good news: it operates on single phase power.
Bad news: it weighs 500 lbs and takes 120 amps at 220 VAC.

If you installed a 200 amp service, you could wire this up off the main panel. I doubt that the outlet for the mig that you are using is any bigger than 50 amps, so that won't be of any use here.

If your shop is off of a subpanel coming from the house mainpanel, you might be better off just having the power company drop a 200 amp service directly to your shop.

If your current wiring is old or oxidized, you will probably have some voltage drop in the house when the welder comes on-line. This tears up appliances, like computers, refrigerators and HVAC. In the long run it is cheaper to spend a couple of hundred on a new panel, and meter socket and just install a direct service to the shop.

You should be able to feed the current shop panel as a sub off of your new 200 amp panel. This makes the installation simple and avoids having to rewire all of your circuits.

If you aren't using this unit full power, it won't use the full 120 amps, but I'd never wire it up for anything but full power.

Nice unit. Are you working with structural steel?

[Avalonjr]

http://www.millerwelds.com/pdf/spec_sheets/AD4-2.pdf

[tbody321]

John,
Thanks for the response. Last winter I had upgraded my hosue to 200 amp
and ran a 100 amp line to the garage with a sub panel in the garage. If I was to do it over I would put direct 200 amp serv. to the garage with its own meter. There are 4 welders for sale at my work and the price cant be beat.
I have read some things about a power conversion device I can add to drop the power of the machine, do you know anything about these?

[Avalonjr]

Tony,

You are looking at a 400 amp machine. If you don't go all the way up to 400 amps, you won't pull 120 amps. For example, if you are welding with 200 amps, you will be drawing around 60 amps. The idle current when you are not actively welding is nominal. Idle is listed as 2.2 amps.... So its your choice.

Personally, I don't think that I would modify the welder. Anything that you did to it wouldn't be any more effective than simply not going above the amperage that the circuit breaker could handle.

You could decide to just not turn it up.... by the way what type of structural steel are you welding?... or you could pull new wires from the house and go with a 200 amp panel. If you ran the wires in conduit, pulling out the old wires and pulling in the new wires shouldn't be a problem. Just hook the new wire to the old and do it in one operation.

Good luck,

[ep-98-z]

Tony,
That is a big machine for a home shop for sure, but it's always nice to have the capacity when you need it.http://metalmeet.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif

I have a new 250 synchrowave and I ordered it with the optional power correction factor. Basically it's a few huge capacitors that reduce the peak draw quite a bit. I think in my case it when from 112 amps down to 90 amps. You may want to consider that if you're on the ragged edge.

I ended up upgrading to 400 amp service at my house. I'm in the middle of a big addition and the elctrician looked over all my equipment and the central a/c being added and calculated that even 200 amp service would be marginal.http://metalmeet.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_surprised.gif

[Avalonjr]

400 amp service going to the house! Wow. I wonder how common that is.

[kustomizingkid]

I worked in a shop over the summer and it only had 100 amp service on the main panel. We would blow the main breaker several times a day and if you had to weld something you would have to turn the lights off and unplug the air commpressor.:)

Brandon McCarthy

[87gtmustang]

I worked in a shop over the summer and it only had 100 amp service on the main panel. We would blow the main breaker several times a day and if you had to weld something you would have to turn the lights off and unplug the air commpressor.:)

Brandon McCarthy

That is scary! Doesn't sound safe at all, but you gotta do what you gotta do, I guess!

Brian =)

[kustomizingkid]

That shop was anything but safe and thats why I no longer work there. I just always had an uneasy feeling while I was there.


Brandon McCarthy

[Avalonjr]

I'm sure you've heard it before, but be aware that circuit breakers do fail. Unfortuneately they usually fail in the "on" condition and don't provide the over current protection.

Good wiring practice is cheap insurance.

Fuses may be annoying to replace when they blow, but they are very safe. When they fail, your circuit is broken and power is cut. Commercial applications require fused disconnects.