Tig welding and garage door opener.

[nitris223]

an the high frequency tig welding screw with the garage door opener. It sure seems like it screws with my door opener. I always have to reset my breaker for the garage door after using the tig welder. Wonder if there is a way to isolate the signal. It doesn't trip the breaker but I have to switch it on and off to get the door to open.

[Rambozo]

There is a ground terminal on the back that you can attach to a ground rod. This can help some issues. However, there are plenty of devices that will always have problems if they are too close to HF TIG. If your opener has a separate receiver box, you might try relocating it as far away from your welding area as possible.

[everlastsupport]

How close is the welder to the receiver? You can put a HF choke inline and see if that helps. I will talk to Mark and see what freq. the HF is at and see if that is an option.

[DaveO]

This post rang a bell for me because we installed a motion-sensitive light and had trouble with it. The problem was using the light on the same circuit as a garage door opener. THis is a clip from Heathco's troubleshooting site:

"INDUCTIVE PULL: Electrical devices that contain a coil will cause the light fixture to turn on without detecting motion if the device is on the same wiring circuit as the light fixture. Possible items that may trigger the fixture are: Ceiling fan, transformer, garage door opener, a fixture using a compact fluorescent (CFL) bulb (or any type of “energy saving” bulb), overhead fluorescent lighting, or an electrical device using a coil plugged into a receptacle on the same circuit. If the device with the inductive pull is not removed from the same circuit as the light fixture, it will eventually lead to the failure of the sensor and the light will stay on all the time or start flashing on and off."

Probably just going to display my ignorance of electronics, but: could it be the action of the welder and not necessarily the high freq that is the culprit?

[everlastsupport]

If you are running 220vac on a single panel, I do not see a way to move off the same circuit. It will just change the breaker you are on.

[nitris223]

The welder is on it's own circuit with a dedicated wire running to the panel box. It is wired 220v while the lights will be 110v. I can't see it being the welder because I have had a welder in this shop since day one. The only thing has changed is that I now have a Tig with a High Frequency start. If I don't use the welder for the next few days the door will open, soon as I use the Tig I have to reset the breaker to open the door. I will try it again the next time I use the mig.

The welder is about 25 feet away from the door button which is hard wired into the opener. See what Everlast support comes up with after talking to Mark. I am glad it is not triggering the door to open when I use the Tig

[everlastsupport]

If it is a one chip circuit and know how to solder, you can solder a .01uF cap across the VCC and GND (decoupling).

[Rambozo]

This post rang a bell for me because we installed a motion-sensitive light and had trouble with it. The problem was using the light on the same circuit as a garage door opener. THis is a clip from Heathco's troubleshooting site:

"INDUCTIVE PULL: Electrical devices that contain a coil will cause the light fixture to turn on without detecting motion if the device is on the same wiring circuit as the light fixture. Possible items that may trigger the fixture are: Ceiling fan, transformer, garage door opener, a fixture using a compact fluorescent (CFL) bulb (or any type of “energy saving” bulb), overhead fluorescent lighting, or an electrical device using a coil plugged into a receptacle on the same circuit. If the device with the inductive pull is not removed from the same circuit as the light fixture, it will eventually lead to the failure of the sensor and the light will stay on all the time or start flashing on and off."

Probably just going to display my ignorance of electronics, but: could it be the action of the welder and not necessarily the high freq that is the culprit?

That is just a poor design of your motion activated light fixture. Proper testing is not only for interference generated by a device, but the ability to tolerate interference from other devices. This is required to get an FCC certification like for a garage door receiver, but alias not for something like a light fixture, and there are an awful lot of Chinese products that just slap on an FCC sticker without the hassle of actually getting the items tested and approved. Happens for UL, CE, and others, too.

[DaveO]

poor design of your motion activated light fixture.

It did give me a detail to look for when shopping for a new one (in a different brand).

[nitris223]

If it is a one chip circuit and know how to solder, you can solder a .01uF cap across the VCC and GND (decoupling).

Ya ---- nope ---- ya lost me there. Tell me again where the 9/16 and 1/2 inch wrench go and I can fix it. Anything electrical and me usually ends up with me getting zapped. Time to call in the electrical buddies.