DCEP DCEN Polarity

[Corsair6]

I don't have time to look back at all the ten quadrabatillion posts so here goes--- I've got a Handler 175. No problems with it thus far... A friend of mine has got himself a Handler 135 and has had trouble with the weld not sticking like it's not hot enough or there's not enough electricity coming from the breaker box no matter where he sets the VOLTAGE or WIRE FEED knobs. The breaker box is fine, there is the correct amount of voltage at the recepticle, the breaker is fine, the recepticle is fine, it's only about about 12 inches from the breaker to the plug, he's using a peice of 10 guage solid copper between the breaker and plug, and no extention cord. He's using .030 solid wire with sheilding gas. OK; the question is would having the DCEP and DCEN polarity backwards make it do this? I've seached my owner's manual from end to end and all I can find is how to switch polarity. Thanks a lot.

[Mark Whiddon]

yes, if everything else is fine, than yes it could do that.

[Mark Whiddon]

forgot one thing. Could be mistaken (it happens more than I like to admit, just ask the wife) BUT .030 SOLID wire is fairly hefty for a 110 volt unit. Don't know if your buddy has welded before. Try switching polarity from what it is if you think that is the problem (it is very easy, all you have to do is switch two cable back and forth). If that is NOT what the problem is, than maybe the wire is too big for that unit. There IS a difference between actual metal thickness in a solid core and flux core wire with the same diameter. Think of it this way, which has more metal and thus is harder to heat a one inch pipe with 1/8" walls OR a one inch solid round bar? Same diameter but one has a WHOLE lot more metal in it right?

[R. Nelson]

Re: DCEP DCEN Polarity

Originally posted by Corsair6
I don't have time to look back at all the ten quadrabatillion posts so here goes--- I've got a Handler 175. No problems with it thus far... A friend of mine has got himself a Handler 135 and has had trouble with the weld not sticking like it's not hot enough or there's not enough electricity coming from the breaker box no matter where he sets the VOLTAGE or WIRE FEED knobs. The breaker box is fine, there is the correct amount of voltage at the recepticle, the breaker is fine, the recepticle is fine, it's only about about 12 inches from the breaker to the plug, he's using a peice of 10 guage solid copper between the breaker and plug, and no extention cord. He's using .030 solid wire with sheilding gas. OK; the question is would having the DCEP and DCEN polarity backwards make it do this? I've seached my owner's manual from end to end and all I can find is how to switch polarity. Thanks a lot.

For solid wire make sure you are dcep and check ground clamp connections.

[Trent Combs]

I have a HH135 and weld routinely with solid .030 and gas - it works great, even with an extension cord. settings 3/30 or 4/50 work best for me on mild steel, 3/32" to 1/8" wall.

[Bob]

Ditto on the setting Trent gave.

The HH135 has a decal inside the wire feed cover that gives polarity setting for different metal/wire cases.

Bob