Redneck engine starting – with a welder!
February 2, 2010 by
Filed under Redneck Videos
After spending all afternoon trying to crank this little diesel engine with 2 batteries, I decided to try something different. Nobody I talked to has tried this before and I could not find any reference on the internet whether it would work or not. I figured welding is about the most violent thing you can do to a power supply so if it can do that, it can run a motor – and I was right!
never tried running it on AC but yes it may well work.
The stall current is about 500 A and it drops to about 150 A when cranking. Yea I later found that optima battery was bad. It does crank fine with two 12V batteries.
dude that’s a small 4 cyl perkins, come on!! your batteries were bad or something, if the starter has winding on the fields and not permanent magnets it will run on AC just the same,, from a buzz box etc……..ernie.
Yes i have seen it before, you can thaw frozen pipes with an ols school buz box. nice vid is that a gen set or welder? thanks joe
Good trick, thanks for showing. I’ll remember this.
dude your a genious i woulda never thought of that
Wow wouldnt have thought of that great idea!!! thanks for the tip with all the P.O.S I have lying around thats a better way to do it than my old and I mean old sears charger
Nice Motor but very messy shop
wow, there’s one way to do it!!
it was a 92 Chevy 1T. w/ 6.5 NA, the guy’s welding rig truck,,
40V is the OC volts??
oh well his Glow plugs were fried anyway!
thats why he needed a jump…
You just need something with a DC output.
If possible the best option is to hook it directly to the starter. If there is no load the voltage will shoot up to 40 V. On a truck the battery will probably prevent that, but if you don’t have one then you may blow up your stereo etc.
The welder provides ample current. On my recent video I’m using it to start a 770 cubic inch Deutz V8 diesel.
I don’t remember the model# off hand. It’s a 20kW marine generator.
Iv’e used a Lincoln SA250 to jump off a truck before,, didn’t figure a Mig would do it, What model is that gen set ?,,
I have one a little smaller with a 2 cyl Petter diesel,
hmm I did the same with my Cat 922
when it was -30 C worked gr8
verry intersting, so pritty much all an arc welder is: a big transformer and some heavy duty rectifier diodes.
The cables are way too small from the batteries, so there would obviously be a voltage drop. Also, less current to the starter. Interesting video though
When voltage goes down the amps go up and cook the starter.
yes, perkins 4cyl diesel. I don’t know much about it, I just fixed some of the fuel line plumbing, sealed up one of the freeze plugs (after flushing 3 pounds of bars stop leak out of there), fixed some of the plumbing, did an oil/filter change etc.. it’s been running great!
ah I’ve been caught! Not really a redneck, in fact I’m an electrical engineer
It was indeed a marine generator, it’s from a pleasure yacht .. dual 8V71’s.. hot dog. It had problems with the control box as evidenced by the wire mess hanging out of it. I just hooked up the current transformer that regulates the output voltage load line and bypassed the charging circuit and automatic power-on/off mumbo jumbo .. and it’s been working like a dream! Good deal for $150!
yup! I have it mounted to a trailer and hooked up to two 8D size batteries and it cranks like a charm!
you need those catapiller batteries to start her my auto teacher has one and its damn big as hell
That is a Lugger motor out of a lobster boat judging but the guys not so redneck accent. Redneck no. Innovative yes.
yeah good idea, i hav noticed that undervoltage can kill a starter too. a higher voltage than the starter requires is fine if not used too often, it can warp the windings and burn out a starter after time though
Actually undervoltage and stalling seems to really kill starters in my experience.
Heh, I’m a world citizen! This is in California
Depends on your starter. I can imagine it killing a weak starter immediately.
Good grief, a Canadian redneck! I love it!!!