wot inverter ??

[andy17164]

hi could someone reccomend a general inverter to buy , i would use it for general repair work on site and tig work in the workshop , so it needs to be portable not more than £500 and dual voltage would be nice ?
any ideas ? nothing chinese please
Andy

 

[irondarren]

duel voltage kind of limits what you can get, on 110v your max is likely to be 150amps
http://www.inverterfusion.com/
check here they do 110v and 240v units but not duel voltage, dam nice inverters though

 

[weldequip]

hi could someone reccomend a general inverter to buy , i would use it for general repair work on site and tig work in the workshop , so it needs to be portable not more than £500 and dual voltage would be nice ?
any ideas ? nothing chinese please
Andy

If you want HF start TIG you won't get anything other than Chinese for £500... basic, scratch start TIG then yes.
Dual voltage machines are not as efficient as straight 240v or straight 110v machines, the Duty Cycle being affected by the fact they are trying to squeeze two machines into one box.
Inverter Fusion (who specialise in making Inverters) make 230v or 110v but not a dual voltage for this very reason. Look at their Duty Cycles; their 151MA is rated at 100% @ 150amps 110v & their 180MA is rated at 100% @ 160amps 240v...both market leading figures.
That said, a dual voltage machine can be very useful but expect to lose duty cycle performance (especially on the 110v side).
weldequip

 

[irondarren]

Of course the other option would be a welder genset, dam useful when there is no suitable power on site, which is more often than not. A more expensive option but a better one for site use. my one get quite a lot of use, often gets used at the workshop as i can drag the gen out in the yard. Inverter fusion do a genset based on there 200hf inverter unit, giving 180 amps on MMA, plenty good enough to burn a 4mm rod silly, and 200amps on the TIG with HF, but you wont get any change out of about £2300