Smoking Syncrowave 180!!

[Purgemonkey]

I powered up my brand new machine and after sitting idle for about 3 minutes I could see a light cloud of smoke rising from the back. Everything looks normal except for the smoke. Suggestions??

[Bulldog]

Take it back to the place that ya bought from and tell them what happened. If you start messing with it you run the risk of voiding the warranity
Bulldog

[Purgemonkey]

Hot resistor

Thank you Bulldog, I will end up taking the machine back to have it checked out if that is the only solution.
I did however remove the top cover to see what exactly is getting so hot. It is the resistor labeled WW FXD 100 W 50 OHM. Part # 186468 in the owners manual.
I won't go any further than that, I don't want to "monkey around" with it.
Maybe someone will know something about this otherwise I'll just haul it back to the dealer.

[Bulldog]

Hey Purge,
Are you sure the transformer jumpers are correct? Let us know what happens.
Bulldog

[Purgemonkey]

Neutral ground instead of safety ground

I just found some info about the wiring in this antiquated house.
The recepticle the the welder is connected to is 125v neutral instead of 0v safety ground. If this is wrong I will have someone correct it before I turn the welder on again.

[Bulldog]

Purge, The 180 wants 230v. Maybe I don't understand but your not plugin' it into 125v outlet are ya?
Bulldog
By the way you should post your location so if you have somone close to you they may lend a helping hand.

[Purgemonkey]

Send in the electricians!

Bulldog,the plug is 230v, but from what I have learned there are two different ways to ground this circuit.
One way is where the ground can be used as a 125v neutral lets say like for a clothes dryer. If you test the voltage across the two hot wires the reading is 230v if you test from one hot wire to the ground you get a read of 117v
The other way is to have a 0v safety ground. This is where a 5/8" metal rod is driven something like 5 or 8 ft. into the ground and the ground wire is connected to that.
This is something that I'm sure needs to be done,seeing as there's nothing like that here.
Either way I'll be making phone calls tomorrow to an electrician. I've done about all I can.
I'm better at welding than wiring.

[Sberry]

The ground rod is not what you are thinking it is, has nothing to do with it. If you are coming from the main entrance service panel the ground and neutral are one in the same for this purpose. If it is hooked to a 4 wire sub panel then the ground needs to be hooked to the equipment ground bar. If you are getting 230 to the machine (on the right leads) its wired right, the ground has nothing to do with the problem. The ground rod needs to be driven in and connected to the neutral bar of your main panel, which is where the machine is grounded to. If you have underground steel underground water line it may be grounded to that instead of rods,,, although it should really have both should that become disconnected for some reason. The waterline is the primary grounding electrode if its available. But,,,,, its not considered an equipmet saftey ground or allowed to be the sole grounding means, needs the wire to the panel.

[Purgemonkey]

Thanks for clearing that up Sberry.

[Bulldog]

Hey Purge,
Did ya bring the 180 back or talk to the dealer today?
Bulldog

[Purgemonkey]

Nope, they close at 4:30. I'll get it in to them sometime this week.

I'll let you know how it all turns out.

[Sberry]

As far as I know there are no jumpers in the 180, could be wrong though so dont bet the bank until you look at the manual.

[Purgemonkey]

You're right, it says 230v model right on the cover of the manual and the front label of the unit.

I'll be talking to the dealer or someone at Miller just to be sure I actually need to take it back.(long ride)

[Purgemonkey]

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that I talked to the dealer today.
Turned out to be no big deal. He said the thing's still under warranty so run it.

So I ran it for about an hour and burned a whole bunch of 1/8" 7018 rod at anywhere from 65 to 140 amps DC and AC, per his advice.

No more smoking, just nice looking stick welds on 3/4" plate.

I'll be picking up some argon and putting in grounding for the HF this weekend.

Thanks to all for reading my posts, and all the advice.

[Sberry]

There are a few things to pay attn to about grounding for hi freq, first, I wouldnt bother unless there were problems. Remember, this is not a substitute for equipment ground and by nature the equipment ground will take care of it on its own. Some of the issues would be more important with several people in an area working 8 hrs a day or for interference with electronics equipment.