NewHampshire
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I have a Clarke 100e, I have no power and no one has helped with the pictures I have provided, I think it's the transformer my question is how do I test this.
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The supplied images are far too small to provide any useful faultfinding info. Have you checked for visibly damaged components? Does mains get to the transformer primary when it should? I see there's a thermal switch on the rectifier heatsink. This should have continuity across the two spade terminals (with at least one wire disconnected for this test).
NewHampshire
New Member
- Messages
- 11
All bells and whistles to me, I know what a transformer is, I have no power, the power switch lights up, I heard that this may be due to the thermal overload kicking in what ever the hell that is, I'm guessing the thing in between the primary and secondary windings. Any help would be great. There is no visable component failures from what I can see. The wire feed works but does not arc at all, doesn't even get hot when I touch it Directly to the work lead. As for the pictures that's the best I can do, with what I have. I have a multimeter, never used one before never really needed to up til now. If there something I need to test please tell me how, I can read blue prints and I'm sure I can learn wire diagrams.
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There are plenty of folk on this forum ready to help, but need accurate info on the symptoms in order to provide assistance. "I have no power, the power switch lights up" isn't very helpful.
If you don't have a user manual for this welder, they can be downloaded from the Clarke site:
http://www.clarkeservice.co.uk/product_manuals/mig_welders.shtml
The schematics are given near the back of the manual.
I've had a look at the manuals for both the 100E and 100EN, and neither schematic is exactly the same as the layouts in your pictures.
Having said that, on page 24 of the manual, the reader is informed that when the ON/OFF switch glows amber, the thermal overload device has operated and shut off the welder. If the welder is cold (it should be if it's not working), then the thermal overload switch contacts should be closed. The thermal switch itself is the half inch diameter black object with two opposing spade terminals, screwed to the large Ali plate directly above the main transformer. To test this switch, remove mains power and disconnect one of the two spade connectors and check for continuity between the thermal switch contacts. Do this using the low resistance range on the multimeter (200 Ohms?) the resistance between the two contacts on the switch should be close to zero ohms. If it's open circuit (meter reads overload), or is showing higher than 2 or 3 ohms, then the switch is faulty. You can check if this is the only problem by shorting together the two leads that go to this switch. Then, with the mains power applied, if all else is well, there should be welding current available when the switch on the torch is depressed.
Let us know how you get on.
If you don't have a user manual for this welder, they can be downloaded from the Clarke site:
http://www.clarkeservice.co.uk/product_manuals/mig_welders.shtml
The schematics are given near the back of the manual.
I've had a look at the manuals for both the 100E and 100EN, and neither schematic is exactly the same as the layouts in your pictures.
Having said that, on page 24 of the manual, the reader is informed that when the ON/OFF switch glows amber, the thermal overload device has operated and shut off the welder. If the welder is cold (it should be if it's not working), then the thermal overload switch contacts should be closed. The thermal switch itself is the half inch diameter black object with two opposing spade terminals, screwed to the large Ali plate directly above the main transformer. To test this switch, remove mains power and disconnect one of the two spade connectors and check for continuity between the thermal switch contacts. Do this using the low resistance range on the multimeter (200 Ohms?) the resistance between the two contacts on the switch should be close to zero ohms. If it's open circuit (meter reads overload), or is showing higher than 2 or 3 ohms, then the switch is faulty. You can check if this is the only problem by shorting together the two leads that go to this switch. Then, with the mains power applied, if all else is well, there should be welding current available when the switch on the torch is depressed.
Let us know how you get on.
