Wondering ?? welding on tractor

I was wondering if you are welding on a tractor [ or Wheelhorse ] if you should unhook the BATTERY ???
will the welding,.. screw up the CHARGING system ??

THANKS for any and ALL advice ... I do APPRICATE it ..

Mark

Don't weld near the Battery! It's a bomb waiting if sparks get near it. My advise,remove the battery to a safe location.

It's best to unhook the battery in any vehicle when welding on it. If not remove the battery like the other man said to keep it away from any sparks.

If your tractor has a computer be sure to disconnect battery.
Ron

In my experience, it would be wise to disconnect the ALTERNATOR, if tractor is equipped with one. Welding on any vehicle equipped with an alternator is likely to fry the diodes in the alternator...BTDT. This results in an alternator that is in constant discharge mode when the vehicle isn't running, and will drain your battery rather quickly.

Exception, of course, is oxyacetylene welding or brazing.

What you say about batteries, sparks and bombs may very well be true. But it does pose the question of why a lot more batteries don't blow up? After all don't you get sparks when you have a bad connection? Don't you get sparks when you boost a battery? Has anyone ever gotten sparks when tightening clamps?

I was welding on a firetruck years ago and blew the battery's side right out. What a mess.
Like the man said remove battery if it is close to the welding and always disconnect alternators or any thing that has diodes or transistors or computers. Actually if you can remove the part to be welded its always best.
Walt

It's the gas that comes off the battery while charging that is explosive. That's why jumper cables are dangerous.

If welding won't mix with electrical equipment, then how do gasoline powered welders work? I drill water wells for a living, and when we weld on another piece of casing, the rig keeps right on running. The new one is a 2004 IHC truck under it. When we got it we wondered about it, but the job needs to be done. The pump service trucks are both new enough to have computers, etc, and we weld while those are running, too. I was always taught to try to ground close to where the welding will be done. I have thought about it, and in some ways the battery hooked up would seem to possibly prevent problems because it is a large enought unit to maybe prevent stray currents better than having open circuits for the power to wander through.

Easiest way to disconnect the Alternator? Pull the wire off'n the grounded post!

Very dangerous welding anywhere close to the battery. Disconnecting the battery ma protect some electrical parts but you need to remove the battery completely away from the welding.

THANK YOU ,, I do APPRICATE the advice ..

Mark

In doing auto body work, I've welded on many, many vehicles with a MIG welder and/or a spot welder that runs off an arc welder set on a minimum setting, and have never given a thought to the battery, alternator, computer, etc. I've also never had, or caused, any problems. I worry a lot more about the gas tank.

Have I just been lucky? I honestly don't know.

It's never a bad idea to disconnect the battery. A lot of people don't but probably should. Dave

Probably would not hurt, but how many of you see welding trucks working on their bed day in and day out?...All I know do..


MAY GOD BLESS THE USA

Besides disconnecting the battery, I Vise-Grip the (+) and (-) cables together, thus preventing voltage spikes in the "ungrounded" side of the system.

IMHO, just disconnecting the battery is WORSE than leaving it connected, as the battery itself would absorb voltage spikes at lot better than just leaving the system "open".

I can't remember the exact source, but I first learned of this in a manufacturer's instruction sheet, IIRC from a major truck builder's instruction sheet for truck accessory installers.

Makes sense to me, so I've been doing it for YEARS with ZERO problems.

One Battery blew up on me so I don't take chances and advise doing the same as I do. No theorization,just plain good sense! You don't want to take my advise? Sorry for you.

Should you? Yeah...
Do most of us actually disconnect it? No...

I've always had the philosophy that you keep away from the alt or ECU. Don't make a current path through sensitive electronic equipment... or BEARINGS, keep the ground close to where you're working, that kind of thing.
I've never had a problem. Knock on wood....

Rod

(quoted from post at 13:28:02 05/16/09) I was wondering if you are welding on a tractor [ or Wheelhorse ] if you should unhook the BATTERY ???
will the welding,.. screw up the CHARGING system ??

THANKS for any and ALL advice ... I do APPRICATE it ..

Mark

Click to expand...

I never hurts to be careful. However, the risks are generally over stated.
A battery at rest is not producing hydrogen gas. This comes about during charging, especially overcharging. One reason we do not blow ourselves up on a regular basis is the the explosive range of air/fuel mixtures is very narrow with most fuels. Hydrogen & acetylene are somewhat of an exception to the "narrow range" situation. Also, with the fill caps in place, whatever hydrogen there is inside, it is reasonably devoid of oxygen, so not within the explosive mixture range. Yes, batteries do occasionally explode, but we seldom know exactly what were all the details surrounding the incident. Most likely, someone was doing something that they should not have been doing...caps off, reverse polarity, making a connecting spark on a battery just taken off charge, etc.
As for welding on a vehicle, probably even more overstated than the explosion potential. When all electrical equipment is properly connected & grounded, it is difficult for welding to induce voltage/current into the electrical system. On the other hand if eqmt is not grounded well, connections faulty, etc. yes it could damage something. For example, say your battery is grounded to the battery box and the battery box mounting bracket breaks lose from the chassis & you proceed to connect welder ground to chassis and strike an arc on the battery box bracket. Now your 6v or 12v system sees the battery +/- the welder's ~30volts.......probably not good, more especially if the - vs the +. Now if you are welding on a new rear bumper.........very, very slim chance of damaging the electrical system......but someone, somewhere can probably do it.
Use common sense & you won't have a problem.

Upper & lower fuel/air ratios within explosive limits. (Note gasoline....now you know why it is so hard to get your tractor to run when carb malfunctions!)
The explosive limits (Lower & Upper) of some gases and vapors are given below. Concentrations are given in percent by volume of air.

Substance LEL UEL
Acetone 3% 13%
Acetylene 2.5% 82%
Benzene 1.2% 7.8%
Butane 1.8% 8.4%
Ethanol 3% 19%
Ethylbenzene 1.0% 7.1%
Ethylene 2.7% 36%
Diethyl ether 1.9% 36%
Diesel fuel 0.6% 7.5%
Gasoline 1.4% 7.6%
Hexane 1.1% 7.5%
Heptane 1.05% 6.7%
Hydrogen 4% 75%
Hydrogen sulfide 4.3% 46%
Kerosene 0.6% 4.9%
Methane 5.0% 15%
Octane 1% 7%
Pentane 1.5% 7.8%
Propane 2.1% 9.5%
Propylene 2.0% 11.1%
Styrene 1.1% 6.1%
Toluene 1.2% 7.1%
Xylene 1.0% 7.0%