FIGURE A.5
B
A
C
WORK
POWER
WAVE
S350
CABLE INDUCTANCE AND ITS EFFECTS ON
WELDING
Excessive cable inductance will cause the welding performance
to degrade. There are several factors that contribute to the
overall inductance of the cabling system including cable size,
and loop area. The loop area is defined by the separation dis-
tance between the electrode and work cables, and the overall
welding loop length. The welding loop length is defined as the
total of length of the electrode cable (A) + work cable (B) + work
path (C) (See
Figure A.5
).
To minimize inductance always use the appropriate size cables,
and whenever possible, run the electrode and work cables in
close proximity to one another to minimize the loop area. Since
the most significant factor in cable inductance is the welding
loop length, avoid excessive lengths and do not coil excess
cable. For long work piece lengths, a sliding ground should be
considered to keep the total welding loop length as short as
possible.
REMOTE SENSE LEAD
SPECIFICATIONS
Voltage Sensing Overview
The best arc performance occurs when the Power Wave
®
S350
has accurate data about the arc conditions.
Depending upon the process, inductance within the electrode
and work cables can influence the voltage apparent at the studs
of the welder, and have a dramatic effect on performance.
Remote voltage sense leads are used to improve the accuracy of
the arc voltage information supplied to the control pc board.
Sense Lead Kits (K940-xx) are available for this purpose.
The Power Wave
®
S350 has the ability to automatically sense
when remote sense leads are connected. With this feature there
are no requirements for setting-up the machine to use remote
sense leads. This feature can be disabled through the Weld
Manager Utility (available at
www.powerwavesoftware.com
) or
through the set up menu (if a user interface is installed into the
power source).
If the auto sense lead feature is disabled and remote voltage
sensing is enabled but the sense leads are missing, improperly
connected extremely high welding outputs may occur.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
General Guidelines for Voltage Sense Leads
Sense leads should be attached as close to the weld as practical,
and out of the weld current path when possible. In extremely
sensitive applications it may be necessary to route cables that
contain the sense leads away from the electrode and work
welding cables.
Voltage sense leads requirements are based on the weld process
(See
Table A.2
)
A-8
INSTALLATION
POWER WAVE
®
S350 & S350 ALUMINUM
CAUTION
Process
GMAW
GMAW-P
FCAW
GTAW
SMAW
Electrode Voltage Sensing
(1)
67 lead
67 lead required
67 lead required
67 lead required
Voltage sense at studs
Voltage sense at studs
Work Voltage Sensing
(2)
21 lead
21 lead optional
(3)
21 lead optional
(3)
21 lead optional
(3)
Voltage sense at studs
Voltage sense at studs
TABLE A.2
(1)
The electrode voltage sense lead (67) is automatically enabled by the weld process, and integral to the 5 pin arclink control cable (K1543-xx).
(2)
When a work voltage sense lead (21) is connected the power source will automatically switch over to using this feedback (if the auto sense feature is enable).
(3)
Negative polarity semi-automatic process operation WITHOUT use of a remote work sense lead (21) requires the Negative Electrode Polarity attribute to be set.
