As in title what size genereator (kva) would I need to run My Portamig 211 ? It is to be used to weld a new floor pan in the back of my Discovery.Unfortunately the lock up I will be using has now mains power.Thanks for any replys.
You would have to find out what sort of wattage the Portamig uses ???
1000watts is equal to roughly 1Kva.
If they are anything like arc welders they won't like been run of a genny and the genny won 't like it either. I had a small 140amp arc welder running at about 90amps off a 6Kva genny and it wasn't working out too well.
I was advised that I would need a minimum of 7.5Kva to run my Portamig 185, but that was to cover welding at full power. If you are going to hire one in just to do the Disco floor, then 5.5Kva would probably do. If you want to buy one as a permanent electric source and to be able to run at max power, you will need a very large and very expensive generator. I think shenion posted the formula for the calculation, but I can't find it at the mo.
I have used a 181 portamig on my genny a few times for building gates onsite and welding palisade fence. The genny in question is a oldish honda 13hp engine with 6.5kva alternator.
Ive had the welder up at full whack welding hinges onto rsj and you can hear the genny loading up but it doesnt stall or make the welding rough and spitty. Infact ive not noticed any difference running on the genny compared to running it on mains.
A 9 inch angle grinder can blow up a 2000 watt 12v converter, how do I know, a numpty contractor blew up two in one day on one of our machines (cherry picker hire firm), he didn't like the bill parts/labour....