I'm posting this in the hope it might help owners of broken SIP MIG welders resurrect their machines.
This week I switched my SIP HandyMIG on, the power switch lit up but when I pulled the trigger nothing happened, not even the relay was switching.
I took my welder around to a friend who is good with electronics and he checked over the PCB (with the welder switched off). It was discovered that the small black transformer on the PCB had gone open circuit on the input.
After desoldering the transformer from the board, we hooked up a 12v AC power adapter from an old appliance and put it where the transformer outputs were on the PCB. This fixed the welder.
I'm now able to weld again even though I've now got 2 plugs to plug in (the welder plug and the power adapter). I plan on buying a chassis mounted 240v to 12v transformer to implement a more permanent fix.
So if your welder dies, don't panic - check the transformer on the PCB!
This week I switched my SIP HandyMIG on, the power switch lit up but when I pulled the trigger nothing happened, not even the relay was switching.
I took my welder around to a friend who is good with electronics and he checked over the PCB (with the welder switched off). It was discovered that the small black transformer on the PCB had gone open circuit on the input.
After desoldering the transformer from the board, we hooked up a 12v AC power adapter from an old appliance and put it where the transformer outputs were on the PCB. This fixed the welder.
I'm now able to weld again even though I've now got 2 plugs to plug in (the welder plug and the power adapter). I plan on buying a chassis mounted 240v to 12v transformer to implement a more permanent fix.
So if your welder dies, don't panic - check the transformer on the PCB!
