Cobramatic to Syncrowave

[Brainfarth]

I bought a Cobramatic wire feeder (150-005) that came with a miller 14 pin plug on it. Then I picked up a Miller Syncrowave 250 (SN LA116099) and found out right away that the pinout is different from machine to machine. For one, I could not find 110v on the miller pins and two, I noticed the pins did not match on the cobramatic side. From what I read, 110v needs to be on pins 'I' and 'G'.. the miller doesnt have those pins populated. I fed 110v directly to the cobramatic to see the indication light illuminate.
So what direction do I go now to get the two to work together?
I picked the feeder up for $450 at a garage sale a while back and then picked up the Miller from an old coworker for $1800 with 2 full bottles and a dual regulator for purge welding. The welder took a camping trip with us this weekend and after I got settled, it went down the road to my Dad's place. Got a few funny looks at the campground.

[MinnesotaDave]

The syncrowave welder is a constant current (CC) machine (stick/tig) and wire feed is normally constant voltage (CV).

[G-ManBart]

The short answer is that you're not going to get those two to work together like a proper MIG.

The 14-pin connector is just a coincidence. On the Syncrowave plug two of the pins are simply for the contactor to start/stop the gas flow and initiate the HF arc and the other three are for amperage modulation....they're all low voltage circuits and can't power a feeder.

There might be some oddball way to cobble together a way to power the feeder from the welder, but even if you can you'd pretty much be limited to flux core as short circuit doesn't really work off of a CC power source.

[Welder Dave]

Curious why you have the welder all strapped down so it can't move but have 2 loose bombs ready to go off if something bad happened? I agree a Cobramatic set up is generally paired with a CV machine not a CC machine. There may be a way to hook the feeder up to a CC machine but likely needs some other type of control box. I know the old Airco Miget spool guns could be hooked up to run on CC machines but needed a special control box. I think Miller spool guns were similar but the cost of the additional control box was too prohibitive.

[EricSamuel]

No disrespect, but if you can get a constant voltage feeder to work off of a constant amperage machine, tell me how you did it. Please.
Eric Sam I am.

[andremajic]

If you look carefully, you can see that there are tie downs wrapped around the necks of each bottle, keeping them from moving.

[Brainfarth]

I didnt like how the bottles were arranged(I attempted to tie them down) so I moved them around. The last photo is before I moved them. The trailer photo shows this change.
I still havent had the chance to hook the Cobra up to a mig welder(CV unit). Hopefully soon so I can decide on what to do with it. Thanks for the replies.

[andremajic]

I looked under my case where the wires are connected, and there are only 4 wires coming from my wiring adapter. You can also direct wire the wire feeder under the case to each individual wire, if you didn't feel like buying an adapter. I've seen Cobramatic wire feeders on ebay with regular 3 pronged 115v plugs sticking out the back of the wire feeders.

The guys at MK industries were very helpful when I called on the phone. They should be able to make or sell you a cord. Look at page 7 of the user manual. You most likely have a lincoln hookup. https://mkproducts.com/support/Manua...ic_5_LoRes.pdf

You can buy the miller cable p/n 005-0316 8ft Interface Cable for Miller 14-Pin, 115VAC
Or the 005-0658 25ft Interface Cable for Miller 14-Pin, 115VAC

All our aluminum welding at work is done with Cobramatic feeders on Lincoln power sources. They purposely make their feeders as compatible with as many brands as they can because they cater to industry, rather than hobbyists, so the prices are....well.....let's just say they're really proud of their products....

Did it come with a spool gun or mig style pull gun?

I used to be stationed up at Coos Bay, Oregon a couple decades ago when I served in the Coast Guard. Also spent time in Astoria, OR. It's beautiful over there.

Andy

[Brainfarth]

I got the gun setup with half a roll of aluminum wire included. I'll need to 3d print or buy a cover for the gun. I see from the pinout inside the machine that I can configure it to whatever I want. I'll just have to do a little research before connecting it to a machine.

And yeah, the Oregon coast is a nice place to be.. Outside of the winter months. I live closer to portland and like to go camping in astoria and pacific city.

[andremajic]

If you decide you don't want to mess with it to get it working, I have a Miller XR wire feeder I'm trying to figure out how to get to work with my ESAB Power source. Let me know. I'm trying to figure the pinout for my Miller to ESAB and not sure if it'll put out 24v for the feeder. I think it'll either do 48v or 115v.

Andy

[ccawgc]

some cobramatics have a cc cv switch on the control pcb. they removed it on the newer units. you can try and weld with the cc welder but the posastart is used.
posastart is not needed with a CV welder. yes you can put a cord with a standard 115 volt 15 amp plug and power it. can plug into the cooler plug on the welder.
set the cobramatic to contact closer and connect to pin A and B. If you are not in contact closer you will send 115 volts into the welder and could blow both the pcb in the cobramatic and damage the welder. Contact closer is a non-powered isolated switch contact. If you have a 14 pin metal plug it can be set for Lincoln (x clock)
or miller. the A pin should be next to the key slot.