Wiring syncrowave 200 at home

[123]

Getting a Syncro 200. Been using the 250DX at work and loved it. Working with thin to med gauge steel/ aluminum. For the stuff at home wont be going over 70 amps. The welder will be maybe 5 - feet from the box. What the simplest way to hook this up? Our dryer uses a 60 amp but I think thats going to be too low to use. Am I just going to buy a higher amp breaker and branch off the main in the garage? Or could I just use the Dryer breaker? Here are some picks of my box and maybe someone could help with explaining how you all wire these things up. Thanks!

[DSW]

Our dryer uses a 60 amp but I think thats going to be too low to use.

60 amp 220v is a bit high for a dryer. Most I've seen are 30 amps. You can run a Syncro 200 on a 50 amp breaker. That's what mines curently hooked into in the garage. So far I haven't tripped the breaker yet.

[X83]

Looks like you still have room for one more double breaker if you move them all up and reposition one the single breakers on the opposite side.

[duaneb55]

I agree with DSW. I think you'll find one of those 30A breakers is feeding your dryer and 50A will be plenty for the 70A output you expect to be seeing plus a bunch. If you were anticipating being flat out all the time with it then you might consider a 60A to prevent possible tripping of a 50A as the input requirements for the machine running AC at 150A output is 54A.

That said though, I've run my 180 SD at max output on AC off a 50A thru a 50' 8/3 extension cord without tripping the breaker so . . .

[technoid]

Getting a Syncro 200. Been using the 250DX at work and loved it. Working with thin to med gauge steel/ aluminum. For the stuff at home wont be going over 70 amps. The welder will be maybe 5 - feet from the box. What the simplest way to hook this up? Our dryer uses a 60 amp but I think thats going to be too low to use. Am I just going to buy a higher amp breaker and branch off the main in the garage? Or could I just use the Dryer breaker? Here are some picks of my box and maybe someone could help with explaining how you all wire these things up. Thanks!

Here is a good web site for your electrical questions. They have many licensed electricians and electrical engineers to answer you....http://forums.mikeholt.com

[tkanzler]

You should still have 4 slots available since it's a 20-30 panel (20 slots, 30 circuits max using tandems), which means you can plug a 2-pole breaker in on top of either column. The other bar is hidden above that top-right breaker.

From the lack of single-pole breakers, and the large number of 2-pole, I'm guessing you have subpanels someplace, which is probably fed from the 60A breaker. But that's just a guess.

Your welder has a 54A rating, with (as far as I can tell) 40% duty cycle, so you need 34A conductors (min). You could use 10 gauge THHN in conduit (flex included), which is rated 35A at 75 deg. C, or 8 guage of almost any copper cable or conductor style, which is rated 40A at 60C and 50A at 75C.

Since the installation instructions mention 8 gauge copper, you should use that. Two conductors plus ground (manual says 8 gauge, though NEC Table 250-95 only requires 10 gauge copper equipment ground for 60A circuit). The manual references Table 310-16, but that's not for grounds. No matter.

Use a 60A 2-pole breaker, which should be under $20 (probably well under) for a Square D QO series. They're HACR types (special curves for hermetic A/C equipment), which are time delay with a generous time-current curve.

You won't get a response from Mike Holt's forum, as it's for pros only, and they won't allow a 'how do I ___' post from a DIYer. Just so you know.

[technoid]

You should still have 4 slots available since it's a 20-30 panel (20 slots, 30 circuits max using tandems), which means you can plug a 2-pole breaker in on top of either column. The other bar is hidden above that top-right breaker.

From the lack of single-pole breakers, and the large number of 2-pole, I'm guessing you have subpanels someplace, which is probably fed from the 60A breaker. But that's just a guess.

Your welder has a 54A rating, with (as far as I can tell) 40% duty cycle, so you need 34A conductors (min). You could use 10 gauge THHN in conduit (flex included), which is rated 35A at 75 deg. C, or 8 guage of almost any copper cable or conductor style, which is rated 40A at 60C and 50A at 75C.

Since the installation instructions mention 8 gauge copper, you should use that. Two conductors plus ground (manual says 8 gauge, though NEC Table 250-95 only requires 10 gauge copper equipment ground for 60A circuit). The manual references Table 310-16, but that's not for grounds. No matter.

Use a 60A 2-pole breaker, which should be under $20 (probably well under) for a Square D QO series. They're HACR types (special curves for hermetic A/C equipment), which are time delay with a generous time-current curve.

You won't get a response from Mike Holt's forum, as it's for pros only, and they won't allow a 'how do I ___' post from a DIYer. Just so you know.

I don't know where you got that from? I posted my questions on there many times. Did you log in and get a password and user name? Did you enter the NEC section? I am not a licensed electrician. And you will find many others who are also not licensed asking questions. They were very helpful to me with wiring in my whole house 12kw genset to code.

[tkanzler]

Excerpted from this page on rules, policies, and disclaimers. http://forums.mikeholt.com/about/about_forum.htm

"* This NEC® Forum is for those in the electrical and related industries. Questions of a "How-To" nature by persons not involved in the electrical industry will be removed without notice."

"Do-it-yourselfers
This is not a site for do-it-yourselfers.
This Forum is intended to assist professional electricians, inspectors, engineers, and other members of the electrical industry in the performance of their job-related tasks. However, if you are not an electrician or an electrical contractor, then we are not permitted to help you perform your own electrical installation work."

There is frequent mention of the moderators holding and reviewing posts from new members prior to allowing them through, with the intent of culling the DIY posts. I was just trying to make folks aware that they might not be responsive to such posts.

And yes, I am a member, and have been for a while, but I design a lot of very large electrically-driven machinery (hundreds and sometimes thousands of hp).