Trail welding w/ vehicle battery?

[Q1svt]

I read threads in the past , never got truly solid information/ knowledge…

On a recent thread someone posted a couple of links , one was this one
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/my-recovery-gear-set-up.14803/#post-539816

I believe the Rod needed is a 1060, guessing small 1/16 is ideal for one battery, just will need multiple passes to get a solid weld.

I do weld (but not a welder ;^) ), so something in me keeps thinking ‘ battery goes boom.

I would like to hear from those that do this or not because….

Tks

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[Brian_B]

Wow. Yeah.

I mean, yeah it would work, technically... I remember welding with pennies and lawnmower batteries back when I was a kid and didn't know any better. Not sure how many passes you would get before you either drain and kill the AGM battery or blew it up via hydrogen gas though.

Even a lithium battery - you may not get hydrogen, but it's gonna get hot quick since the rod is the only thing you have regulating current, and possibly hit thermal runaway.

I agree, seems to be one of those brilliant ideas that should just remain theoretical though. Even if someone else comes along here with a glowing review, I don't think I'd use a direct connection to a battery for it.

 

[swamp2]

I remember welding with pennies and lawnmower batteries back when I was a kid and didn't know any better.

Love these little snippets. Tell us more.

My childhood was awash with very dangerous science-y experiments...

 

[Brian_B]

Love these little snippets. Tell us more.

My childhood was awash with very dangerous science-y experiments...

I never blew anything up, but killed more than one battery draining it entirely. Took me a bit more schooling before I learned that completely draining a battery dead is not good for it.

My neighbor though, he saw me doing it and decided to try. He broke his wrist when the battery in the car exploded and it slammed his hand against the hood. I kinda felt bad, but not really, since he was the one who decided to try it with his parents' car and trying to weld his initials on the top of the engine bay.

 

[LockedBronco]

I never blew anything up, but killed more than one battery draining it entirely. Took me a bit more schooling before I learned that completely draining a battery dead is not good for it.

My neighbor though, he saw me doing it and decided to try. He broke his wrist when the battery in the car exploded and it slammed his hand against the hood. I kinda felt bad, but not really, since he was the one who decided to try it with his parents' car and trying to weld his initials on the top of the engine bay.

That's just Natural selection.

 

[LockedBronco]

I read threads in the past , never got truly solid information/ knowledge…

On a recent thread someone posted a couple of links , one was this one
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/my-recovery-gear-set-up.14803/#post-539816

I believe the Rod needed is a 1060, guessing small 1/16 is ideal for one battery, just will need multiple passes to get a solid weld.

I do weld (but not a welder ;^) ), so something in me keeps thinking ‘ battery goes boom.

I would like to hear from those that do this or not because….

Tks

1 battery and way too many computers

 

[swamp2]

He broke his wrist when the battery in the car exploded and it slammed his hand against the hood. I kinda felt bad, but not really, since he was the one who decided to try it with his parents' car and trying to weld his initials on the top of the engine bay.

, but yeah, not really...

 

[Q1svt]

That's just Natural selection.

Improve the human Genome, remove all warning labels…
Darwinism

 

[Oldhippie]

I welded my CJ2a frame together with two jumper cables, two batteries, 3 sets of sunglasses and some sticks of 1060 before all these fancy setups…

 

[Q1svt]

I welded my CJ2a frame together with two jumper cables, two batteries, 3 sets of sunglasses and some sticks of 1060 before all these fancy setups…

2 batteries for greater amps or 24 volts?

 

[Oldhippie]

2 batteries for greater amps or 24 volts?

volts

 

[userdude]

That's just Natural selection.

Only if it were with Rosie Hand and her five sisters. For uh natural selection to work, it would've needed to sever the jewels from the jewelry at a minimum.

 

[Ukko Wildtrak]

I read threads in the past , never got truly solid information/ knowledge…

On a recent thread someone posted a couple of links , one was this one
https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/my-recovery-gear-set-up.14803/#post-539816

I believe the Rod needed is a 1060, guessing small 1/16 is ideal for one battery, just will need multiple passes to get a solid weld.

I do weld (but not a welder ;^) ), so something in me keeps thinking ‘ battery goes boom.

I would like to hear from those that do this or not because….

Tks

Not a welder either, but a I grew up a poor redneck for sure.

First, 1 battery isn't going to do it. 2 Might get an arc, but it's going to stick a lot. 3 batteries is as good as you get, and 4 is on the high end of too much voltage.

Keeping in mind that this is a makeshift, limp me off the trail tool. For safety, you can weld a tie rod or whatever you broke back together, but the welding should not be considered a repair, or a fix. This is a temp limp home at best and likely only a temp limp to the parking lot.

Considering the limited emergency use nature of this "welder", you should not be concerned that this will destroy the batteries...that's just the nature of the tool. Consider the batteries as limited-use and maybe "one-time use" depending if they are new or not and how low you draw them down. You could likely sleeve a broken tie rod going like 15 seconds at a time and resting a min or two in between to let the batteries equilibrate. This wouldn't destroy them and you can always charge them in your truck as the voltage gets low.

This hits the Fast and Cheap points of the Iron Triangle.

 

[Q1svt]

@Ukko Wildtrak thanks nice write up…

agree it is/was an Emergency fix

Today with inverter arc welders cheaper than the old buzz box and running 110 ac … and cost less than $200
That’s less than a new battery…

I’ll have to see if a battery generator like Jackery can supply enough power…

 

[userdude]

Not necessarily super cheap, but there's the Karnage portable welder I see on MORR all the time:

https://www.karnagewelder.com/collections/frontpage

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