I just bought one of those auto darkening welding helmets from the welding store and it's acting weird. The lens keeps flashing on and off even when I have the arc struck with the mig. I tried changing the batteries and no difference, but when I go outside in the sun it stays stable. Whats up with that? I was using it in my garage with the door open and I was in the shade of garage.

 

What brand and model did you get?

Did you let it charge for the time the directions say? Mine says to charge it for 20 minutes minimum for 8 hours of usage or minimum 8 hours for 8 months usage. And when it says charge it means dircet sunlight not sit it under a lamp or kinda in the light. I sttick mine in the window when i leave for work and when i get home its good to go for months.

If charging isnt your problem does your helmet have a reset button, sensitivity adjust, and or delay adjust? If it does i would adjust your sensitivty and delay to the most sensitive and smallest delay settings possible, its usally shipped like that. try resetting it it should click on as if an arc was struck then go out, this will tell you if you have any charge at all at least.

Check your instructions that came with it it should give you some guidelines for use. My instructions give hints if you encounter flickering or other problems.


Since its new i would check these things over and consider bringing it back to where you bought it if its not something you overooked. Your eyes arent worth fooling around with.

 

I don't know what brand it is but the instructions didn't say anything about charging the helmet. I thought the solar cell was just a back-up to keep the battery fully charged. I did try different batteries and it still does the same thing. There is an ON button and a dial adjustment that goes from 9-13. I didn't set it in the sunlight at all because the instructions said nothing about that.

 

can't garauntee it but i would take an educated guess and say if that helmet has a solar cell on it it charges those batteries by the sun alone. set it near a window for half an hour in the sun then give it a shot and let us know if it works.

 

Flickering and model sounds same as mine; set it facing the sun 20 minutes and it'll darken right. For MiG i use setting "11", buzz box setting "12" or "13", save 'dem eyeballs :-)

 

I have a battery in mine that I just replace b4 welding. Cheap insurance.

 

You didn't mention what brand or model of helmet you bought?

FYI, on the autodarkening helmets the solar cell is what's used to tell the circuitry to turn on and dim the viewing window. It's not for recharging the battery. Most of these helmets use lithium batteries that last for years without recharging.

The only time my unit flickers is when I look at the sun. Otherwise when I'm welding and start up a spark it works just as normal. It sounds as though your helmet is working the opposite way.

 

i comfortably weld with mine set to 12 or 13 at all times even if i dip below 100A when the manuf. recommends less.

i didn't want to infer that all autodarkening units were the same. my helmet is a month old. a new miller XLix series that was a promotional freebie with my new welder. and yes this one does recharge by the solar cells. it may use a photocell controller for lens activation but it certainly does charge off the solar cell.

 

Don't forget to blink when you strick a arc. First time I used mine was at work. I welded the good part of the day on some heavy steel. Got a pretty good flash out of it. Mine is one of the first ones out but I can adjust it to trigger at really low light levels. But even though it triggers fast nano seconds. Its not fast enough to keep from screwing with your eyes.
Me personally only time I use it is when I am in a really tight spot. Beats using duct tape and a lense.
I like the bigger lenses anyhow. Besides I have been at it so long that I flip my hood up 99.9% of the time.

 

There are no markings on the helmet or the instructions as far as who made it. The instructions list it as HM-2-FG. It doesn't say made in China anywhere which is what I was worried about. It takes two AAA batteries which I tried replacing with some I just bought and still does the same thing. I have to wait until Friday to go back to the welding store to ask them about it.

 

On my lens, it has Shade, Sensitivity, and Delay controls. If yours only has the 9-13 shade control, then the sensitvity is preset. I would say if it's dropping out indoors, and working ok in the sunlight, then the Sens. is preset too low. Try placing a droplight near your work and see if that keeps it from dropping out.

I don't care for those ones that use the solar panel to detect the arc, mine uses two IR detectors to control that. You can set the sens so high, the spark from a bic lighter a foot away turns it on.

Make sure your using alkyline batteries in it also. The droplight thing should help.

If anyone want's to know make and model number, I'll look at it later and follow up here. It was a little pricey when I bought it 3 years ago, (245.00) I'm sure these are cheaper now, but it was rated 5 stars in a magazine test on durability and performance. We've all heard the old saying: If you have a 10 dollar head, then get a 10 dollar helmet.