Is my welding helmet no more good?

[sh40]

Its an auto darkening welding helmet. I bought it from lidl probably 12 to 18 month ago. Worked fine up until lately. Now it won't darken when welding. It has always been kept in a darkish shed though. Would leaving it out under the sun for a day do any good or is it just a case of dump it and buy a new one?

 

[Exfarmer]

Dont faff about you cant buy a new pair of eyes, get a new one quick!

 

[Lincs Lass]

Ha the battery died

 

[dowcow]

Coin cell batteries in them can be replaced, but I'm not sure the cheaper ones use a battery and just rely on the solar panels if it is only a small LCD. If it has a battery, whip it out and check its voltage if you want to be sure it isn't the battery. I have had two auto darkening helmets killed by being left out in the rain. Neither was left out by me, and the last helmet was a pretty good one that cost a fair bit. Bit miffed about that, next helmet likely to be even more expensive and have an air feed/filter.

 

[box]

They usually stay charged in a shed or workshop as long as they're hung up with the solar panel facing outward (i.e. no facing the wall) or left on the bench facing upwards, but I guess it depends on how dark your shed actually is. Give the solar panel and sensors a wipe down, leave it out in the sun, it might come right. Otherwise check the batteries if it's got replaceable ones.

I've given up on auto helmets, the cheap ones give me sore eyes and don't work properly for TIG welding (or at least, they didn't used to), and the expensive ones are too expensive to have sitting around doing nothing. The $10 manual flip up jobbie is going well for me.

 

[SamN]

The cheaper ones have batteries in that can't be replaced, more expensive ones you can replace them. The instructions that came with my helmet said that it turns off in the dark, so store it in a dark place. Must be 4 years old and still going ok

 

[benferg]

Check the batteries.