Linde voltmeter help

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I just bought a Peterson subarc with a Linde VI253 as the welder. The amp meter is working but the volt meter on both the welder and welderhead does not work. I have checked all the external fuses but no luck. Any suggestions?
Reply:The first place to go with a question like this is the manufacturer.  They may not respond or may brush you off, but I am often surprised at tha assistance they will offer.  At least go to their website and download or request a schematic of the unit.  Also may lead nowhere, but invaluable if one is available.  If you do obtain a schematic, post it and we can probably help you out.In the absence of a schematic, communication and assistance become very difficult unless you find someone out there with personal knowledge of the unit.Good luck.  Let us know what you find.awright
Reply:Peterson = not too helpfull
Reply:Peterson = not too helpfullAnyone else????????????
Reply:I have no idea what this welder looks like nor the meters, but if you need meters get an electronics supply catalog like Newarkinone (the old Newark Electronics).   The have all sorts of meters.As far as figuring out whats wrong that will be tough if you are short electrical tools.   At the very least you would need a multimeter of some sort.    Possibly other tools but I've never been near a sub arc machine so I can't really say.I would imagine the first order of business would be to verify welder operation.    Then to try to track things through the subarc unit.ThanksDave
Reply:If you have a multimeter you should use the probes and check your voltage.  I am guessing that your machine is running and you just want feedback on operating voltage.  We regularly check our meters on the machine by using a hand held multimeter.  Put one probe to ground and the other to the back end of the contact tip or the power cable leading to hour head.  Make sure your polarity is correct.   If your machine is running properly and you just want to replace the meter first check to see if you have voltage at the connection to your permanent meter by probing with your multimeter.  If your panel meter is bad just remove it and go down to an electronics supply house.  Often they have standard meters that would fit in your panel.  I am sure the original meter from the manufacturer will cost an arm and a leg and work no better than a standard off the shelf unit.
Reply:I concur with lotechman's recommendation except that calibration of the new meter is an issue, depending upon the type of meter and the circuitry around the meter.  Is it a digital meter or a d'Arsonval (analog, with magnet, moving coil, and pointer) meter?  Either way, there is probably a voltage dropping resistor or a voltage dividing resistor network that will have to be adjusted to the sensitivity and range of the substitute meter, although it is possible that the meter itself has internal sensitivity setting resistors and it reads external voltage directly.Setting up sensitivity of a new or different meter is no big deal, but you should know what you are dealing with before simply connecting a new meter to the welder meter leads and possibly burning it out.  Just because a d'Arsonval meter has a scale that reads some relatively high voltage does not necessarily mean that the meter reads that directly in the absence of an external series resistor.  In fact, some faces on older meters have printed on them in very small type, " * With external resistor."Digital meters often have a basic sensitivity of 200 mv, full scale and you have to set them up internally or with external resistors to read higher voltages.  Some make it easy with dip switches to select range and decimal point location.  Some force you to do it all yourself.It would be beneficial if you could measure the voltage at the meter leads with the original meter disconnected and at the welder output terminals with a digital voltmeter.  Then connect a 100,000 ohm resistor across the meter leads and measure again.  Repeat with a 10,000 ohm resistor.  That will tell us if the source resistance in the circuit feeding the meter is high enough to be a potential problem due to loading by the new meter.  Loading is a function of meter type, also.awright
Reply:ESAB has  linde and L-techs old owners manuals and some schematic`s. and such.I found the manual to the L-tech VI450 here http://www.esabna.com/html/downloads...=Miscellaneousabout 1/4 way down the page. 3 diffrent downloads.Im sure if you email them they can get you schematics tot he VI253.http://www.esabna.com/html/downloads/files.cfm  for all the files.