Can you safely run a mig off a generator

[Kidds]

Might be a dumb question but prefer to ask rather than find out after it breaks.
My mig is a Clarke 205TE https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/205te-turbo-mig-welder/
My generator is a Senci 8000 http://www.senci.co.uk/sc8000-ii.php
Is the welder able to cope with the generator and vice versa?

 

[sawdust]

If your genny, has automatic voltage regulation “AVR” and it has enough oomph then yes it should

 

[JeepJeep]

Gen sets a bit small I'd say for full belt 185amps

 

[dave mountain]

it will work but it wont weld very nicely. if you had decent inverter (migatronic, fronius, lorch etc.. ) they have internal circuitry specifically to deal with voltage variations from generators or very long extension cables and keep the arc silky smooth

 

[Kidds]

Thanks for the answers.
If I had a go to decide if it was good enough and provided I didn't try and run at full power will it harm the welder? I don't want to bugger up the circuitry which is my biggest concern.

 

[Exfarmer]

It should be fine but I would use it on a lowish power for a start, see how it handles it.
I have never tried a mig on a gennie always having a small stick for working away. Soonfound that gennie electric is not as good as that out the socket

 

[dave mountain]

it looks like a transformer type welder to me so not really anything to hurt, if it gets hot it will cut out anyway

 

[dave mountain]

It should be fine but I would use it on a lowish power for a start, see how it handles it.
I have never tried a mig on a gennie always having a small stick for working away. Soonfound that gennie electric is not as good as that out the socket

it can be just as good with a decent welding set

 

[Exfarmer]

it can be just as good with a decent welding set

I really meant that the quoted outputs for a lot of these cheaper gennys are very generous

 

[Kidds]

I really meant that the quoted outputs for a lot of these cheaper gennys are very generous

This one wasn't cheap.
Nor was it bought to run the welder, it runs some big motors and does indeed run 6.5kw constant when I ask it to.
Ideally I would use mains electric but they asked me £23k to install it so that won't be any time soon.

 

[DrWazzock]

Depends how high you turn up the welder. Do you actually need max welding amps for the job. I’ve welded roadside gate hinges with fairly small generators with the welding amps set low.

 

[Richard Smyth]

I have a 180 amp Lincoln mug which I regularly run on a 8kva eBay chinesium genset. No issues so far as long as I don’t run full amps which trips the circuit breaker. Don’t need to drop it far tho.

 

[davidroberts30]

I got a old air cooled arc welder for extension lead or genny jobs
Although my decent welder is genny rated I'd rather not risk it and leave it in the workshop

 

[Bury the Trash]

a non modern type 'electronics welder' for want of a more technical way to put it is unlikely to be the problem but the generator might be ,

trouble is (and not what is mention on any bumf) is that using that as anexample of those engine gennies 14hp isnt enough to run its alternator under a fairish load, what happens is it will pull the revs down as torque increase s then it can be running at slower than enough revs for the correct output, plus the engine will be working hard and wont last so long being petrol (and less torque ) as well.
The possible result of that happenning is alternator damage and or engine damage.

the point i make is that the engine powering the gennie is very important , more important than is mentioned in a sales brochure

A good Answer to this in my experience (if you have a tractor) is thus...

A PTO generator.



happy days.

 

[Gadget]

I read somewhere that if you run a light bulb, as well as the welder, it helps to protect it.