Question about my new PA200

[Haywire]

Just took it out of the box. I immediately noticed that the power cord is just 12 awg. Is that heavy enough to handle a unit that's capable of pulling 32amps? 12 awg is what I think of as 20 amp wire which would go along with that 20 amp plug that we're supposed leave in the box when we throw it out.

thanks,
Ian

[performance]

Yes, it is. Please see our multiple posts regarding wire gauge, duty cycle, maximum demand, etc.

[Haywire]

Thanks... I found this post by you.. I'll link it up to make it easier for others to find. http://www.everlastgenerators.com/fo...=3190#post3190

[Scooter]

Haywire, I thought the same thing 12 ga.? It looked weird putting 12 ga wire into a 6-50 plug I had to strip the wire farther and fold it over double just to get the wire to stay in the plug wire clamps. I ran the welder continuously for a while (but only at 110 amps) and checked the input wire and it was not warm, the little leads were not hot, but the ground clamp was pretty warm. The input wire on the PowerPlasma 60 is 12 ga. also and it has a max starting amp draw of around 50 amps and running at around 40 amps. I would like to put larger wire on the things even if it does not need it, but I don't know about the warranty issue of doing that. Scooter

[kenwhite]

As Perfomance has stated, the duty cycle/demand of most machines is fairly low so the average power drawn will be much lower.

Plus, very short lengths of wire, such as the units power cord, have very low resistance so the wire won't heat internally very much to create an issue.

[sportbike]

I ran my 200DX bead after bead after bead on aluminum yesterday for about 40 minutes and the 12/3 cord was still room temperature with zero signs of heating.

[performance]

Yes, please, don't mess with your wiring. We have had actual cases where "electricians" thought they knew better than what we have on the machines and have changed the wires, and in so doing broke the switch or created some other issue in the machine. Customers called telling us how we don't have things wired properly and the electrician insisted he change the wire in the machine, and then somehow broke something inside. Yes, then the customers expected us to warranty the unit and parts. The NEC HAS a special section for wiring welders which fully explains it. BUT apparently many certified electricians never got that far, since its in section 630.