the great inverter scandal....

Date 11-12-2004 02:14

in another post the inverter topic came up. which got me to thinking. our shop is wired with 480 3 phase {i think thats right} 408, i dunno its 400 and some odd volts, huge overhead cranes. they used to build... something enormous there. anyways we had to get some sort of inverter installed by the electrician so we could run our lift compressor and welder off there higher voltage system. is this the same thing id need to supply the correct voltage to a tig machine using household current?

or am i completely on the wrong path.

By RonG

Date 11-12-2004 13:02

You left out a lot of information. What part of the world are you in? Are you using 60 cycle current? What voltage & cycle do your machines use?

Generally you need a transformer to step down from higher to lower voltage.

By OSUtigger (**)

Date 11-12-2004 16:43

kawgomoo,

The only reason you would have to have an inverter to run that stuff would be to a) change the current to DC (they may use DC motors on the compressor) or b) adjust frequency for the equipment (this allows AC motors to run at different speeds if so equipped). Any welder sold locally should be set up for whatever the correct voltage and freqency that is commonly available for the local standards, so no, an inverter or transformer should not be necessary to accomplish installation.

G. L.