High frequency Tig damage

I do aluminum welding with my pro in the garage/my shop. I was wondering if the high frequency from the Tig has caused any electronics damage at all? Just wondering if it’s something I need to be concerned about

It sets my sprinkler system off every time I strike an arc. I thought I was going crazy :clown_face:when I heard a loud thud every time I hit and released the trigger. Took me about an hour to figure it out. Went outside to get some fresh air, and there was water everywhere. The thud was water hammer due to the sudden solenoid valve opening and closing when I released the trigger.

I now have label on that machine’s front cover to remind me to pull the plug on the sprinkler timer before welding. It’ll disrupt all sorts of things depending on how close they are and how well your equipment grounding system works. Some interference is unavoidable. Lift Arc is often used in sensitive environments. Best to keep computers and cell phones away.

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I tig weld almost every day. Never had any trouble with my cell phone. But it will kick out one of the GFI circuits on the far wall if I long arc it.

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What are you running for a tig welder? I have an Everlast Powermax 250 and haven’t seen an issue with cell phones or laptops (I would use them to watch training videos and follow along when I first started). I’ve not run both the welder & the Crossfire at the same time though - not enough hands & eyes :slightly_smiling_face:

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I have the avortec av6 , I don’t use at the same time,I was wondering if being in vicinity of each other if I need to worry about the electronics for the table

You most likely wont ever see an issue, but it’s likely disrupting the cell signals momentarily. Unless you are on a call while you’re tig welding (that would be fun to watch) won’t really do much, but there have been cases of it damaging sensitive equipment that is not shielded well. Think hospitals and stuff like that. It depends on your environment. If you are in a shop with metal walls, you’ll probably never see any impact. In a close quarters residential type garage with electronics close by it can do some weird things. It’s not strong enough to fry most things, but I wouldn’t put my phone on top of the welder to find out. If you have a ham radio operator within 500 feet, you might get a call asking what’s going on because you interrupted the data uplink to the space station…(I’m a ham :nerd_face:)…

Also depends on the machine…I have an AHP AlphaTIG 201XD which activates my sprinklers and a Miller Multimatic 220 AC/DC that does not. The label is on the AHP…cheaper electronics and shielding in the AHP. Miller has lift arc and HF.

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I don’t think it will do any harm - but some welders have very noisy HF start. Same issue LS had/has with HF plasma machines and interference with USB. Best to keep some distance and just be aware if strange stuff happens.

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How far away is the gfi? My sprinkler solenoid was about 15 feet.

Edit - on second thought - that’s probably not from the HF start…

73 …9Z4CLB :boom::rofl:

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… …- … / .-- … .- - / -… — / -.-- — …- / -.- -. — .-- …–… / - … . .-. . / .- .-. . / .- / …-. . .-- / … .- – … / … . .-. . .-.-.- / --… …-- / -… . / -.- -…- ----. –

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Cool
-.-. — --- .-… / --… …-- … / ----. --… …- -.-. .-… -…
No intent on hijacking the thread! :rofl:

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The voices in my head tell me not to worry every time I try to weld aluminumminumminumminum…

the cold thing is the steel plate in my head tingles a bit…

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We know you are. You’ve been showing off for months!

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I’ve always wondered if welding AL with HF could cause issues with pacemakers and stuff like that. My guess is it probably could, but those electronics are much better than they used to be 10-20 years ago. I have no idea.

True! :grin:

A few years back when I was still welding for Catapillar. We used TIG as a post weld stress relief on heavy weldments. It would not only kill the AM/FM radio signal but would disrupt our short wave radios the entire time I had the arc lit up. Obviously running a much larger machine than most will have in their garage. I think as long as the table is disconnected it shouldn’t be an issue. But certainly wouldn’t run them both at the same time.

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