Portamig 185 not starting

[Snatchblock]

Hi, I have a Portamig 185 that has been in dry storeage for the last four years. I pulled it out this weekend, and when plugged in, the light comes on, and the fan starts, but that is it. I have taken the panel off, and checked for loose wires etc. all seems to be in good condition. There is no visible corrosion on the "gun" cable. Can anyone give me a suggestion as to where to start? I have good mechanical skills, but electricity scares me! I am based in Norway ( i brought the welder over with me when i moved here), and there is no one here interested in even looking at it!
Many thanks in advance!

 

[Nick DV]

Hi, I have a Portamig 185 that has been in dry storeage for the last four years. I pulled it out this weekend, and when plugged in, the light comes on, and the fan starts, but that is it. I have taken the panel off, and checked for loose wires etc. all seems to be in good condition. There is no visible corrosion on the "gun" cable. Can anyone give me a suggestion as to where to start? I have good mechanical skills, but electricity scares me! I am based in Norway ( i brought the welder over with me when i moved here), and there is no one here interested in even looking at it!
Many thanks in advance!

Hi & welcome Have you tried changing the torch or even disconnecting it to make sure there's no corrosion on the contact points?

 

[Robotstar5]

You can start the fault finding by unplugging the torch and linking the 2 brass sockets on the euroconnector (low voltage so safe to do) if the welder comes to life the problem is in the torch/harness, if not it's time to look deeper into the welder.

 

[Snatchblock]

Hi & welcome Have you tried changing the torch or even disconnecting it to make sure there's no corrosion on the contact points?

No corrosion on the contact points.

 

[Snatchblock]

You can start the fault finding by unplugging the torch and linking the 2 brass sockets on the euroconnector (low voltage so safe to do) if the welder comes to life the problem is in the torch/harness, if not it's time to look deeper into the welder.

Am off to the garage to try that, thanks!

 

[Nick DV]

No corrosion on the contact points.

Good, an easy one ticked off. Is the trigger on the gun ok? (Robotstar5 test may have already shown that)

 

[eddie49]

In Post #2 of this earlier thread there is an internal photo of a Portamig:

P

Thread 'PortamIg 185'

Jul 3, 2014

Bought a Portamig a while back, just got round to using it. Very impressed by wire feed, stability of the arc and the Parweld torch sold by Weldequip. I don't think I'll ever need the 15a setting, you could quite easily do without it. Design and features are a bit lack lustre but it welds very well. Couple of oddly placed bolt heads, one under the front castor and the other in the bottle tray. Synergic control is good but find myself using more of the finer wire control, prob just my preference. Not sure if it has a burn back feature but it needs one.

On the downside I think the 185a...

• PSweeney
• Replies: 2
• forum: Portamig, Oxford, Tec-Arc

It may not match your exact model. In the upper right corner the grey/blue/black block is the contactor. This heavy-duty relay sends AC mains power to the welding transformer when triggered by the torch switch. There is a manual operating button in the centre, which can be pressed to simulate the trigger. Take care when doing this, the screw terminals there are live, use an insulated screwdriver to press the button. The wirefeed and the gas solenoid may still not operate, but you should at least be able to strike an arc at the tip of the MIG wire.

Please post a similar photo of the inside of your machine, so that we can identify the control printed circuit board and type of auxiliary power supply used in that model.

there is no one here interested in even looking at it!

That is a sad report on the state of electrical engineering in Norway. Who is going to fix all those EVs you have up there?

 

[Snatchblock]

Am off to the garage to try that, thanks!

Plugged in, switched on, and connected the two contacts top right. No change.

 

[Snatchblock]

In Post #2 of this earlier thread there is an internal photo of a Portamig:

P

Thread 'PortamIg 185'

Jul 3, 2014

Bought a Portamig a while back, just got round to using it. Very impressed by wire feed, stability of the arc and the Parweld torch sold by Weldequip. I don't think I'll ever need the 15a setting, you could quite easily do without it. Design and features are a bit lack lustre but it welds very well. Couple of oddly placed bolt heads, one under the front castor and the other in the bottle tray. Synergic control is good but find myself using more of the finer wire control, prob just my preference. Not sure if it has a burn back feature but it needs one.

On the downside I think the 185a...

• PSweeney
• Replies: 2
• forum: Portamig, Oxford, Tec-Arc

It may not match your exact model. In the upper right corner the grey/blue/black block is the contactor. This heavy-duty relay sends AC mains power to the welding transformer when triggered by the torch switch. There is a manual operating button in the centre, which can be pressed to simulate the trigger. Take care when doing this, the screw terminals there are live, use an insulated screwdriver to press the button. The wirefeed and the gas solenoid may still not operate, but you should at least be able to strike an arc at the tip of the MIG wire.

Please post a similar photo of the inside of your machine, so that we can identify the control printed circuit board and type of auxiliary power supply used in that model.


That is a sad report on the state of electrical engineering in Norway. Who is going to fix all those EVs you have up there?

Couldn’t find anything that I think I could manually operate. As for ev’s, my son has just had his heating compressor replaced by Tesla. Only they can work on the vehicle, everything is coded to the vehicle, at the cost of a mere 60,000 nok! Fortunately his insurance covered it!

 

[Snatchblock]

Good, an easy one ticked off. Is the trigger on the gun ok? (Robotstar5 test may have already shown that)

Visually fine, it appears to be a moulded handle, so can’t rip it to pieces.

 

[Nick DV]

Visually fine, it appears to be a moulded handle, so can’t rip it to pieces.

Fair enough and probably fine as shorting the two euroconnector terminals has proved it to be inside the machine.

 

[eddie49]

Thank you for the photos inside your welder. They show that it is not fitted with a contactor, and the auxiliary power supply is a small transformer. That transformer has two 9 volt AC secondaries and it is mounted on the PCB. Instead of a contactor there is a relay, with a solid white plastic case, also on the board next to the transformer.
There are two possible next steps:
- measure the output voltage of the small transformer ( these small ones fail very often )
- remove the AC mains wires that connect to the contacts of the relay and join them together, bypassing the relay.
To do this you will need a voltmeter, and some clearer photos of the PCB.
I very much suspect that the small transformer will have to be replaced, removing it from the board and soldering in a new one. A similar generic part will be readily available online.

 

[Snatchblock]

Thank you for the photos inside your welder. They show that it is not fitted with a contactor, and the auxiliary power supply is a small transformer. That transformer has two 9 volt AC secondaries and it is mounted on the PCB. Instead of a contactor there is a relay, with a solid white plastic case, also on the board next to the transformer.
There are two possible next steps:
- measure the output voltage of the small transformer ( these small ones fail very often )
- remove the AC mains wires that connect to the contacts of the relay and join them together, bypassing the relay.
To do this you will need a voltmeter, and some clearer photos of the PCB.
I very much suspect that the small transformer will have to be replaced, removing it from the board and soldering in a new one. A similar generic part will be readily available online.

I have a volt meter, not much idea what to do with it though!

 

[eddie49]

To eliminate the relay we have to identify the thick wires to find the Live AC supply into the relay contacts, and the switched output that feeds the welding transformer, then disconnect them from the board and join them together.

The small transformer has two 115v primaries, which will be wired in series for the 230v supply. There are two 9 volt secondaries, and they will also be joined in series for 18v, which after rectification provides power to drive the coil of the 24v DC relay.

The transformer primaries usually fail open-circuit, so it would be enough to simply assume that is the case and use your meter set to Ohms to check for that. Each 115v primary should be less than 2,000 Ohms, but I guess one of them is burnt out.

The problem is gaining access and identifying these connections. I will look for more information. There is another Portamig thread with some details about the board here:

Thread 'Portamig repeat problem, reliability?'

Oct 4, 2021

I've just sent my main board away for the second time in two years. I have a Portamig 215 and have a repeat issue where I get no wire feed or gas, second time in two years so am worried this is just going to be a problem that keeps happening now. Anyone had the same issue?

• Burdekin
• Replies: 21
• forum: Portamig, Oxford, Tec-Arc

• 

 

[eddie49]

There are some more internal views of a Portamig 185 here:

M

Thread 'Portamig 185 won't play'

Mar 6, 2021

Hi all.

I have a Portamig 185 I have owned for some years, but it gets very little use.

Yesterday I thought I would repair some fire tongs whose handle had broken off.

Set up my folding welding table and clamped the broken parts to it. Can't have set up properly as I got a very messy weld. When I tried to clean ut up with an angle grinder to have another go, jt fell apart. My welder is connected direct to a 16A MCB on my garage's distribution board and a couple of times the welder tripped this out, and shut off the welder although it reset ok.

Today, on trying another go, I found...

• miggins
• Replies: 48
• forum: Portamig, Oxford, Tec-Arc

but there is still not enough detail to decide which wires go to the relay contacts.

I think that measuring the resistance of the primary windings on the small transformer to check for an open circuit is the easiest next step. This would be done with the machine powered off and unplugged. However, to access the four connector pins of the two 115v primary coils, the PCB has to be unfastened from the chassis. If there is not enough slack in the wires to reach the underside of the board, the wires will have to be disconnected. Cutting some of the cable ties may help to create slack.
If the wires have to be disconnected it is important to first identify them securely. Do not rely on memory, photographs, or tape!
You could use a permanent felt pen to number the push-on tags on the left side of the board 0, 1, 2, and 3, and then draw 1, 2, and 3 rings onto the second, third, and fourth thick red wires. Disconnecting those four tags may be enough to be able to turn the board over.