Power settings, the manual IS wrong!

I've seen lots of posts on here about Clarke power settings and wasn't sure about my 151TE as i've not really used it on anything except 3-MAX!! I have attached the page from the manual which says it goes 1-MIN, 2-MIN etc...however I checked it with a volt meter and it DOES go:

1-MIN
1-MAX
2-MIN
2-MAX
3-MIN
3-MAX

So there you go! You can check your own with a voltmeter (nothing special), I flipped the tentioner off on the wire feed to stop it feeding metres of wire out while I did this. Of course yours might actually be different.

Hmmm, I might actually bother to check mine with a meter, because my experience has been that it is also a different sequence of switch positions than the manual says. (CIG TransMIG 165)

Endacy,

How did you do this test please?

Cheers,

Rich

Rich,

It's very simple to do this on your own set, you'll need a voltmeter of some description. I have a digital voltmeter and set it to the 200v range, I also have crocodile clip leads which make life a little easier.

1. Connect positive meter lead to torch tip (or piece of protruding wire if you undo the wire tensioner to stop it feeding)
2. Connect negative meter lead to earth clamp
3. Turn on welder
4. Choose a setting on the welder - lowest would be a good starting point!
5. Pull the trigger
6. Record voltage shown on the meter
7. Change welder setting and repeat

The voltage will be somewhere around the 20 - 30v ish so is easy to measure with any old meter. Hope this helps!

Thanks for your help Endacy, I will give it a test at the weekend.

Cheers,

Rich

One thing that's always puzzled me, and amply illustrated in the chart above, is the useful range of the wire speed control.
For example, according to the chart above the useful range for this welder is 5-8, i.e. about 40% of the total control (assuming its 1-10). So more than half of the control range has no use!
So far I have yet to find any use for wire speeds below '4', let alone the slow crawl that is '1'.

Thanks Endacy, I also have the 151TE and have never been able to understand why this model apparently differed from the others in the Clarke range but all makes sense now.

Originally Posted by mishka

One thing that's always puzzled me, and amply illustrated in the chart above, is the useful range of the wire speed control.
For example, according to the chart above the useful range for this welder is 5-8, i.e. about 40% of the total control (assuming its 1-10). So more than half of the control range has no use!
So far I have yet to find any use for wire speeds below '4', let alone the slow crawl that is '1'.

On my 130 the speed is 2-6. That is until I did some Al welding, then it was at 9

Hi folks, I'm new to this forum but on the subject of Clarke manuals, I have a 160EN with no manual - so thanks for the info above very useful.
I have downloaded the Clarke manual on this site - however that is wrong aswell I think!
It lists settings for the various thicknesses for the 150TE as (0.8mm wire)

Min 1
Max 1
Min 2
Max 2
Max 3 <-- Wrong? Should be Min 3?
Max 3
Max 3

Must be wrong as there is no Min 3 setting at all!

Chris

They aren't very good at manuals

They've messed up the wire speed settings in one of the manuals as well - they have 0.6mm the same as 0.8mm where 0.6mm should be faster.