adding a welding capacitor

[WillP]

Ive got a chinese '200 mig como', had it 2 years and to be fair, its been brilliant, much better than the sip150 topmig it replaced.

However, i thought i would have a go at improving it further by adding a capacitor.

ive put a 47,000uf 40v capacitor in position 'a' below, and its made it much smoother. Just wondered if it would be better in position 'b'??

ive also now got the problem that the rms voltage seems to be significantly higher. is it worth taking a few turns off the transformer to bring it down?

Cheers!

Will

edit: just realised ive drawn transformer symbol wrong

 

[shenion]

B would make things worse as it cancels the effect of the reactor coil. You will get more spatter and less penetration. The wire tends to just disintegrate rather than melt.

Yes, you will increase the RMS voltage. Try 4,700uf, it increase the arc stability without making the voltage vary with load.