Monitoring Weld Voltage & Amperage

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Is anybody out there using any kind of equipment on a regular basis to monitor welding voltage and current?I have some equipment that gets used where I work for monitoring heat input through recording voltage, current, distance covered, and travel speed.  I'm looking at adding another unit because more often we're competing over the 1 setup we have available.I've looked at a data-logging Fluke clamp meter (model 345).  It's portable, half the cost of the current setup we use, battery powered and capable of sampling data with more than the needed frequency.  It uses USB to download to a PC.  It'll log data for 4-5 hours at the highest reporting rate, once per second. (sampling each second at 8K Hz, according to Fluke)Is there any other equipment out there I should be looking at?I  want the following features:- Logs AC and DC voltage and Amperage.  0-100 Volts, 0-1000 amps- Portable- capable of recording for at least 30 minutes between downloads to a PC- well shielded enough that RF interference from welding won't scramble it's circuits- certified by the manufacturer and capable of being recalibrated when necessary.Thanks..Benson's Mobile Welding - Dayton, OH metro area - AWS Certified Welding Inspector
Reply:Ya mean the geeky stuff I do for fun....http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php...ght=wave+formsFluke model 98.  Records a graph up to 32 days,  (plugged in)  Has infrared port to download info.  I don't have the software.David   I only look, I don't actually use it on a job.Real world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:That's cool David.  I'd forgotten all about that post.  How much did that fluke 98 set you back, if I may ask?The 345 is about $1700.  The boss would like a cheaper solution...Benson's Mobile Welding - Dayton, OH metro area - AWS Certified Welding Inspector
Reply:Originally Posted by A_DAB_will_doThat's cool David.  I'd forgotten all about that post.  How much did that fluke 98 set you back, if I may ask?The 345 is about $1700.  The boss would like a cheaper solution...
Reply:that makes the 98 about the same price as the dedicated weld monitoring system we have from tehse guys:http://www.cweldtech.com/Weld_monitoring.htmIts great and actually can track temp, gas flow, WFS, and probably other things I don't even realize.  But it's software is a alittle dated and it ain't portable...Benson's Mobile Welding - Dayton, OH metro area - AWS Certified Welding Inspector
Reply:Here were the volts and amps of the 110 migs.  Post # 83 http://weldingweb.com/vbb/showthread.php...welders&page=4DavidReal world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:Agilent (a division of Hewlett Packard) has a selection of USB data loggers for just such a project.   http://cp.literature.agilent.com/lit...989-9923EN.pdfSometimes you can pick up this stuff used off of e-bay. How do you intend to monitor the weld current?  A Hall device would be a PITA to keep calibrated.   How about a CT (current transformer) on the input side of the welder?   There are some other low cost USB data loggers for the electronics geeks.  I will ask one of my geek friends about this.   I AM NOT A GEEK!
Reply:Thanks Billdacat.  I've got a lead on something similar to the agilent data logger you mentioned.  I"m going to take a look at it this PM.  It'll cost about $500, but also needs some custom built electronics to interface to teh welder.  Fortunately, somebody else at my company has built these interfaces and can supply one for free to me.Yes, it'll use a hall effect sensor to measure amperage.  and yes, I'm concerned abouty keep it calibrated.  Part of my current issue is that the system I'm using now may need to be calibrated/monitored for performance....Benson's Mobile Welding - Dayton, OH metro area - AWS Certified Welding Inspector
Reply:Check out using a "switch-board" shunt…Grainger has a selection of shunts ranging from 100 to 500 amp capacity with a only 50mV drop.  (500 amps is 100 micro ohms)  The 500 amp shunt is under 75 bucks.   Grainger item number 1T995 and 1T998 This would be considerably less complicated then a Hall or CT device.
Reply:I think my V350 can be plugged into a computer for data logging.  It has a serial port on the front.  It can also have the software updated.  Lincoln has software for data.  I have no use for it right now.David Real world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.
Reply:The only equipment anyone has ever let me use for that is my eyes. Boy do I feel cheated now, LMAO. I do think it would be interesting to actually see what it does over a period of time.The difference between art and craft is the quality of the workmanship. I am an artist.
Reply:Jolly Roger,The link at the top of this thread, to David R's earlier posting, shows some really good data on what the weld current and voltage are doing while welding.  I'd rather go by feel and my own eyes as well.  But for welding low alloy steels, we're trying to monitor the heat input.  What I really use from this equipment is the overall average amperage and voltage for each pass.  Using this, the length of the bead, and the travel time, I can compute the heat input for the weld.My boss sets targets for heat input, and we'll work up a range of travel speed that keeps the heat input acceptable.I've looked at some welding data to try and assess how smooth a wire runs, and compare one wire to another.  All this is semi-automatic MIG/FCAW welding.  But the differences seem to be really subtle; and so far it seems that the human eye and brain are a better tool for judging this than the data I've looked at so far.  I'm not sure if this is because the equipment just isn't good enough, the test setup isn't good enough(too much variation in stickout and other parameters), or if the differences just aren't reflected in the voltage and amperage.I'm figuring this out for myself, in my spare time at work, welding by hand.  This may be a lost cause.  I suspect that the data from a mechanized welding setup would be more revealing.  But I haven't invested the time and energy in getting something rigged up.Benson's Mobile Welding - Dayton, OH metro area - AWS Certified Welding Inspector
Reply:The one thing you can see is the crappy bead in the 110 volt mig thread had a crappy amp trace to go along with it.  It was when I was TRYING to get 140 amps out of an HH 140.  It didn't work.  The machine would NOT lay down a nice bead and the volts/amps had a lot of fluctuation. Bottom line there weren't enough volts to weld at 140 amps.I could see it on the meter and in the bead.David Real world weldin.  When I grow up I want to be a tig weldor.