Arc welding cable size

[Liam567]

Hello all need some advice please I have a 160 amp inverter welder it came with 16mm welding leads are they sufficient or should I get 25mm .

 

[skotl]

16mm CSA is rated at 76A to 85A clipped for 230V, so that would give you around 18.4KVA

Assume your welder is running at around 30V then 18.4KVA is good for 613A.

So I think you're good

Are you sure it's 16mm CSA? That's pretty beefy.

 

[Liam567]

They never get hot they just seemed a bit skinny for a welder. One guy in a local shop said to put 35mm2 mma leads on it but that seemed too heavy.

 

[Sarto]

I agree with MrFuzzy, 16mm2 are ok.

A friend of mine works almost ok with 10mm2 and a similar welder.
The cables became a little warm when he welds with 3.2mm rods (think 5 rods in a row, non stop),
otherwise no problem.

Have a nice weekend

SARTo

 

[Jim Davey]

Depends how long you want them to be. If you wanted 10 metre extended leads I'd make the extensions from 25mm to reduce the loss in voltage. For every metre of cable you add there will be a corresponding drop in voltage, this is reduced by upping the size of conductor but isn't much to worry about if the lead lengths are short.

 

[Liam567]

Thanks for all the advice guys I will only be using 5meter leads . Plus 16mm2 cable is cheaper . I know I'm going off track here but any thoughts on 7018 and 6010 rods

 

[brightspark]

16 mm will be well ok. amperage of cables are given full load current your hardly likely to use full load amps constantly. diversity plays its part

 

[gaz1]

? would an oil arc welder leads be different due to its continuos use

 

[brightspark]

? would an oil arc welder leads be different due to its continuos use

the size is continuous rating no matter what type

 

[Liam567]

Thanks everyone for the advice . I'm upgrading the cables to 25mm my earth lead is 3 meters could I use a 5 meter earth lead the same as the electrode lead . Or would there be a loss of power. My apologies for the novice questions. ☺

 

[Jim Davey]

That will be fine.

 

[Liam567]

Cheers mate I will go get some lead now haha