Dialarc Time; Zero Experience Here!

[G-ManBart]

How do I find the main panel? I've never seen any other panel inside the house at all - is there anywhere else it could be or could it be that one of those is the main panel?

I'd not be comfortable with that without further guidance.

I have a box truck with liftgate that would make it simple but it's got a big battery drain due to some of the wiring to the liftgate and I've not figured it out yet. If I need to, I may just charge it up, keep the liftgate disconnected and then once arriving onsite, I can connect the liftgate wiring to the battery bank and get it loaded up and then disconnect it once I'm all set to head back.

It could have been a big problem once previously but that was a two hour drive each way and I had it wired to the battery bank the whole way so I think the above would work out if necessary.

It seems like this is probably your main panel and it happens to be located in the garage. You should probably have an electrician take a look and see what it would take to put a 230V 50A outlet in the garage. I would sort that out before you buy a welder...no sense in buying a machine only to find out it's going to take thousands of dollars worth of electrical upgrades to actually use.

[Meltedmetal]

I would guess the garage is attached to the house? If so your panel(probably only panel) is full by the looks. You might want to consult an electrician regarding adding a sub panel in the garage or some other recommended solution.

[Sberry]

Sell the dinosaur? You clearly haven't read the OP's posts.

No, I havnt read a lot here. I know the place is full of compulsive junk collectors hell bent on "saving" old junk. The advice or learning he got about buying this for a first timer might have been different if he said,,, I am in the excavation business or have a heavy farm shop then this machine would have been a dec3ent choice at the right price, where handling, electric and lead expense not an issue but for a guy got to "rent" a cherry picker the price climbs with each event and he got no use for this old junk.
He has poor advisor to start off with this vs something with common input and manageable weight. He gets poor advice from great people here. They are great with technical but poor value added salesman in the sense not helping him get the right machine for him. I got 2 SA200's, they are great machines but no matter the deal I dont think its a great starter machine unless he is headed to pipeline.

[HisWord1ST]

Does having this outlet do me any good here or is it that electrical capacity has been reached and I'll likely overload something by trying to use it?

[HisWord1ST]

I would guess the garage is attached to the house? If so your panel(probably only panel) is full by the looks. You might want to consult an electrician regarding adding a sub panel in the garage or some other recommended solution.

The garage is attached yes and I believe it's the only area any panel exists here.

[Sparkie1957]

Does having this outlet do me any good here or is it that electrical capacity has been reached and I'll likely overload something by trying to use it?

https://images.app.goo.gl/Rc4hGpJbJPpr8LtDA

I would have a electrician check to see what gauge wire is on the plug but it appears to be a 50 amp plug. Have it checked out


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[HisWord1ST]

No, I havnt read a lot here. I know the place is full of compulsive junk collectors hell bent on "saving" old junk. The advice or learning he got about buying this for a first timer might have been different if he said,,, I am in the excavation business or have a heavy farm shop then this machine would have been a dec3ent choice at the right price, where handling, electric and lead expense not an issue but for a guy got to "rent" a cherry picker the price climbs with each event and he got no use for this old junk.
He has poor advisor to start off with this vs something with common input and manageable weight. He gets poor advice from great people here. They are great with technical but poor value added salesman in the sense not helping him get the right machine for him. I got 2 SA200's, they are great machines but no matter the deal I dont think its a great starter machine unless he is headed to pipeline.

I'm new to welding and haven't ever owned or used any welder. I've read a bunch the last month or so on welders and the sense I've gotten is that AC is useful for aluminum welding and certain conditions but that DC is generally more useful if you're not dealing with aluminum. I've read it's ideal to learn to weld with stick and that the skills carry over well to all other forms of welding. I saw a handful of posts on here that consistently mentioned thunderbolts, dialarcs, idealarcs, etc...and that those were great machines for stick welding and assumed it would make sense for me to get a machine that emphasizes stick welding so that I'd be more likely to not get discouraged learning it on my own without guidance in person from anyone skilled at welding. I realize now that the post I read from most was from 2014, so perhaps a lot has changed in that seven years regarding the newer, lighter DC welders...I'm new and did jump the gun a bit and certainly didn't thoroughly consider the electrical panel ramifications involved here. I didn't realize the dialarc had greater demands than some of the more lightweight recent DC options - I simply thought they were lighter and newer, not any lower in electrical demand. I honestly don't know enough about electricity in general to have any clue on any of the specs or requirements. I was considering a Primeweld stick/TIG/plasma cutter and and Everlast 200 STI but both of these options are four to five times what I'd pay for the dialarc which is by all accounts an exceptional device for what I'd planned on attempting to learn.

[Sparkie1957]

The Dialarc is a great welder that would serve your purpose to learn on. Is it more welder than you need? Probably, but sense you already have it, get it hooked up and use it. Take a community college welding class if you can to learn the basics and safety issues with welding. Lots of good YouTube welding videos to help you with your journey. Another option is to sell the Dialarc and buy a small multivoltage inverter machine. Your money, your choice.


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[vwguy3]

I think your choice of machine is just fine. Yes, it's a dinosaur and as such has stone age technology that was designed to run and run and run. No, it doesn't have lots of bells and whistles and you don't need(or want) those as you are learning the basics. As has been said a number of times have an electrician look at your available power. If you have 50 amps great if you don't you can likely run that on 30 amps and never have an issue.
Get some 7014 and start running beads, watch the molten puddle not the flux.
Lastly you are going to find 25 different answers for every question you ask.

[Meltedmetal]

The outlet in your picture is what used to pass for a welder outlet around here. If you have someone capable get them to test the outlet with a meter so you can discover which breaker is on that circuit. On the assumption that your house was wired by a competent electrician, it might indicate whether or not it is a robust enough circuit for the welder. Or as Sparkie said get your friendly neighborhood electrician to swing by and check it out. Also if the welder was originally on 480 v you may have to replace the wire in the flex tube with something larger and swap the outlet for a disconnect switch or a different connection such as a cord if you want to be able to unplug it to move it for storage.. Depending on what you choose to do that might involve replacing the outlet with a different style.

Oh yes, I see nothing wrong with the choice of machine although you are already discovering the limits of portability. The new inverters are nice too and usually easily portable. The welder you've got will have room for you to grow if your ambitions expand in the future. Some of the low end cheap inverters are limited and some welders are able to do amazing things with them but that may say something about the operators experience/skill more than it does about the machines. Just my opinion, nothing more.

[HisWord1ST]

Thank you everyone for your help and your time and energy to help me in all the considerations and aspects to look into here.

I was given an out on the auction and took it, so the dialarc I would have paid $93 for is now someone else's for $91.

With lead cables at $2.87/foot, having to figure out the power cable and the power panel, hiring an electrician, diesel for a 6.5 hour drive along with possibly getting stranded also with my liftgate battery bank drain issue, I opted to just take the out and find a simpler route for now.

There was an Everlast 160 STH even further from me at about half price but that's a heck of a drive and the seller won't be bothered shipping it to me...

There's an Everlast 200 STI that's just over a half hour from me. I'm trying to understand the differences between these two DC only models, given the $130 price difference between them - is it that there are better TIG options with the 160? The seller wants $300 for it.
Says it's like new. It retails for $400 and if I buy from him I don't get the 5 year warranty.

Does anyone here see any other welders listed anywhere within an hour or two of Mountain Home AR? Something that might meet my needs better? At a better price or a better value?

[Sparkie1957]

Probably a wise decision on your part. If it didn’t feel right for you. Somebody will get a sweet deal on a fantastic stick welder so it’s a win-win. Good luck with your pursuit of welding knowledge. It’s a worthwhile endeavor. Anyone on this forum can tell you of jams we have gotten out of do to our ability to weld and make something work to finish a job


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[Sberry]

The cheap price was just the start, 6 hr drive, lift gate etc, was gonna be spensive . Get a 160 dvi, 120v welding is revolutionary. That outlet cirxuit would run 1/8 lohy. Take that range thing off and put welder outlet on. I think the 150 weigz 15#. Will run on 100 ft 12 cord well. Will run 1/8 6011 and 3/32 lohy from 20A at 120v.

[Sberry]

Buy a new one in box.

[Sparkie1957]

Speaking of Miller. I too have a inverter and think it’s great. It’s a Maxstar 140STR, it was made by Fronius for Miller in 2003. I got it’s used and do stick and lift arc tig. It weighs 10lbs and is the size of a 4 slice toaster, hence its nickname “the toaster”. Works on household 115v or 230v current. Great technology, will it last for 50 years like a Dialarc? Probably not but it’s great while it lasts


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[G-ManBart]

The cheap price was just the start, 6 hr drive, lift gate etc, was gonna be spensive . Get a 160 dvi, 120v welding is revolutionary. That outlet cirxuit would run 1/8 lohy. Take that range thing off and put welder outlet on. I think the 150 weigz 15#. Will run on 100 ft 12 cord well. Will run 1/8 6011 and 3/32 lohy from 20A at 120v.

Someone's been

[Willie B]

I'm a bit confused by the chart posted. My Dialarc 250HF was, (I'm sure) rated at 105 amp input. Mine ran on #4 copper & 100 amp breaker.

I wonder if "rated" amperage is like my Miller MIG welder, 60% duty cycle @ 200 amps, but 300 amps maximum?

Yours is a big welder, but I doubt you'll ever need its full power stick welding A 5/32 electrode only wants half its potential output. My greater concern is voltage loss from too long a run, the welder will not perform at its best running on lower than intended voltage. 230 means 230, not less.

[G-ManBart]

I'm a bit confused by the chart posted. My Dialarc 250HF was, (I'm sure) rated at 105 amp input. Mine ran on #4 copper & 100 amp breaker.

I wonder if "rated" amperage is like my Miller MIG welder, 60% duty cycle @ 200 amps, but 300 amps maximum?

Yours is a big welder, but I doubt you'll ever need its full power stick welding A 5/32 electrode only wants half its potential output. My greater concern is voltage loss from too long a run, the welder will not perform at its best running on lower than intended voltage. 230 means 230, not less.

A Dialarc 250 HF has a higher maximum output of 310A. The rated amperage was 250A at 30% duty cycle. A standard Dialarc 250 is only 265A max output and rated 225A at 30% duty cycle.

That's why the chart is different. I just looked at the last version of 250 HF manual and it called for 90A input service at 230V with 4ga wires and a 120A breaker....that varied from version to version a bit.

The OP didn't buy the machine in the end.

[Sberry]

Someone's been

Get help if you need it then.

[G-ManBart]

Get help if you need it then.

I would need help trying to interpret your rambling, incoherent posts, but I'm pretty certain I'm not missing anything so I don't bother.

[Sberry]

Your advice was some of the better in the thread considering he cant find the frickin electric panel. Telling him to get an outlet first was a good step. But we are not doing him a favor or giving any great advice leading him on to think this is a great machine for him. Cant even unload it, move it, wire it, got to pay every step of the way, add 3$ a foot lead. I believe it was a 6 hour drive on top of it. Not sure what is incomprehensible about that, seems pretty simple.
For 1/4 the cost of this brain fart could get a new machine in a box and plug it in the wall, weld something 10 minutes after getting it home.

[Sberry]

I did wonder if there were different versions due to the chart. I dont own one, have a 300 Synch though. Its the same type of thing, cheap or free and its ok for a guy like myself or Bart who can handle and install it but I am not investing in one. I use DC buzzer for shop sticks.
But,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, for most people asking this type of question,,, need to learn how to listen so to speak and the advice givers need to asses the situation and experts SHOULD be a value add. Its kind of easy to simply rave over what machine we have and recommend it as well as learning on a 250 or 400 Idealarc.
Tig is raved on endlessly but I can do it,,, dont however as simply dont need it. That doesnt mean it doesnt have its place or might not be fun or even a guy likes it better but I make 10000 wire and stick welds on common steel vs exotic alloy and even when I do use a spool gun if its humanly possible. The reason I say is for 99% of the guys come here and ask a question of this nature anyone telling him to get anything other than a 200 wire feeder is doing them a disservice and if they do somehow manage to find something they cant do with that its time to look for another machine.

[Sparkie1957]

As to different versions of the Dialarc, there absolutely was. The first MA type Dialarc came out in about 1974, they had a white faceplate and 250 amp maximum amperage on DC. The next version in the 80’s had a black faceplate and 265 amp maximum DC output. In the late 90’s they went away from the pin type lead connections and went to normal lugs under a panel.


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[Sberry]

I could make it on 2 machines. A 210 feeder and a 150 stick inverter. Bud of mine bought 2 machines when he retire, the 211 has 50 hrs on it, cost a grand, the Dynasty 5 and those from farting around with it on job he could have done wire. I do use a few sticks but work on equipment, its really more for convenience than the fact a feeder couldnt do it. Use a 250 feeder for cost on occasion but for hobby/maintenance you wasting your time if you dont get a feeder first.
This is double true for lots of new entrants, they are welding because they have something they want to do rather than a hobby itself, a 55 yr old retiree doesnt really want to become a career welder or isnt headed to a career in heavy construction, he gonna do some car crap and yard work with grand kids.
New modern equipment is cheap, some of it now at hobby and disposable pricing so to speak, some got great warranty and the new cheap cost is a super bonus as a guy doesnt have to save up for lead, doesnt have to be gut wrenching, 300$, 15# plug in and welding.
This would all be different if a guy came and said he needs a welder for excavating shop, I think some of this is obvious, maybe not? Wish we had this stuff when I was a kid. Including this forum when I made the wrenching decisions about my first portable,,, the schools and my job really didnt help either. For all the what iffs,,, i might have bought my last plasma at 1/2 or 2/3 the cost, bought features I never used, not once. Had SA200 before I has small footprint machine I use 10 as much as the 200.
Just wired a new garage with a couple outets and the owner said wire thwem for these machines, I aint nev3er dragging that junk home and if thats the case we face it if it happens. Its one of the treats of the modern world, lighter cheaper faster, can replace a welder cheaper than the wire. Can now weld from 12 cord, maybe even lighter since inverter mig draws 16A. Nothing was easy and it was expensive. I did add 25 ft stinger to the Maxstar but its only 6, nothing. Can run 120v at 100 ft on a 12 cord never miss a thing. I got a bunch of old stuff would trade for new any day.

[Sberry]

To the original poster. Welding is worthwhile and you should pursue this and look for factory cord and plug machines. That circuit in your pic would be dandy, easy to extend and put the proper recept on it. It likely has the correct breaker on it for machines come factory 50 end. The new machines also plug in to 120V for limited work.
I only recently have a 140 feeder. Its gonna leave and I think I might find one. If I was really serious might have 3 machines and it lets you keep spare gas bottle in use but a 140 could be added for small wire if I was a regular driver, really gets down to foil thin and nicer on exhaust etc. So much of the worlds stuff is sheet metal. A first timer could find something to weld every day with a 140 or 180-210, hundreds of welds before he need a fuggin Dialarc.