Welding with an auto darkening welding helmet Part 6

A quality welding helmet that offers an adjustable shade feature will also have at least two more adjustments that help tailor the unit to the welding situation.   Both of these adjustments improve usefulness in less than ideal work environments, where other welders may be present, or where working out in the bright sun where the sensors over-react to the sun light.  The first is a sensitivity adjustment.  Sometimes this adjustment is expressed merely as a number from 1-10.

Other times this is expressed as an amperage.  What this adjustment does is establish a minimum equivalent brightness at which the helmet will turn activate the dark stage.   This adjustment also helps the lens to work better with different welding processes.   TIG requires a more sensitive setting, do to the low amp arc initiation, and the likely scenario where the arc is partially obscured.  Stick would require less sensitivity as the arc is in full view and welding amps are much higher.

A sensitivity setting that is too low will often cause flashing and fluttering of the lens when back lighting or other welding is taking place.

The other adjustment is the delay adjustment.  This adjustment allows the user to set the time that the helmet takes to go from dark to light stage once the arc is terminated.  This can be used as a buffer if you are doing a lot of tack welding or you are on the low threshold of what your helmet can handle, particularly when TIG welding.  It is also a useful tool when you are tacking with MIG or stick.  A long delay can prevent flickering or flashing when sensitivity is set to maximum sensitivity.