Arc Captain cut 55

[Fishaholic001]

There's a reasonable chance it might still work if you replace the blown cap(s). If it was switched to 120V operation but connected to 240V, it's not a great surprise that it vented the caps in this way. However, I assume it didn't get as far as actually activating the arc as it would still have been initialising, in which case that part of the machine may well still be functional.

When being tested for UL, CSA, CE etc certification, this kind of explosive venting isn't considered acceptable, so normally there would be some sort of voltage limiting device across the bus caps, such as VDRs or gas discharge devices which would cause the input fuse to blow first. The Arc Captain products look pretty well designed internally (I have their MIG and TIG machines, which I've done non destructive teardowns on), so I'm a bit disappointed (or is that simply naive?) to see this kind of failure.

I appreciate you input. I did order all 4 caps I will replace them all. If the caps were already loaded to full or 3/4 possibly the extra surge pushed them beyond what they could reserve and it had to go somewhere. I’m thinking what happened was you know how when you shut it down it continues to run for a few before it shuts down- I’m thinking that he did not let it shut down completely and it didn’t have time to disconnect itself from the 110 and 220 tried to go thru the 110 circuit side ‍ I’m not an electrician but I’m smart enough to know that 220 doesn’t travel well thru a 110 circuit lol. Thank you for your input and I’ll keep everyone updated.

 

[Fishaholic001]

We are still waiting for answers:



A machine that is or can be made to be 220-capable is sometimes shipped with a short power cable adapter to allow connection to a 220 volt 50 Amp NEMA6-50P socket , such as:

Pardon our interruption...

Yes it has an adapter with it. There’s an auto sensing switch inside the machine. When you shut the machine down even if you unplug it, it will continue to run 10 or 15 seconds. I’m not sure if that is draining off the capacitors before it shuts down. I’m not electrician expert, but if you don’t let that machine fully shut down before you put on the adapter and plug it into the 220 I’m thinking maybe it caused some kind of a power surge and didn’t give the machine time to disconnect itself from the 110 circuit and then it got surged with 220 thru a 110 circuit causing the caps to be overloaded

 

[Fishaholic001]

We are still waiting for answers:



A machine that is or can be made to be 220-capable is sometimes shipped with a short power cable adapter to allow connection to a 220 volt 50 Amp NEMA6-50P socket , such as:

Pardon our interruption...

The machine is dual voltage, but there is supposed to be a procedure in which you follow the change from 1:10 to 2:20. I think it involves letting the machine fully shut off before you switch voltage dislike any other welder I’ve ever owned when you turn the machine off or unplug it, it will continue to run for 15 seconds to one minute Before it shuts itself down. I think that’s what you have to do before you switch voltages just to let the machine fully shut down. So it disconnects itself from the previous voltage circuit and I think machine was still running and it’s 110 capacity when he plugged it on to the 220 circuit, causing it to overload the capacitors on the 110 circuit. I’m not an electrician. I’m just going by common sense.