When You Don't Do It For A While...

Hi Bob,

LOL Funny you should post this!! I am having a different thing with batteries on my system. Had no spare replacements for CR2450 that is used in a couple of Water Sensors. Until I get the replacements I decided to use CR2032 batteries that I had to fill in the dead space with some small cardboard strips to make them connect!! Never did that before, so this is a brain test!!

Glad to hear that your system was not destroyed!!

Les

Older panels of some types and some fire panels have a fusible trace on the back of the board. Soldering in a fuse holder fixes them, but it is "not approved" on fire panels. On the other hand how many fire inspectors will pull the circuit board to look on the back if "hypothetically" somebody did that.

I will answer even though you forgot the Question Mark (?)

Absolutely NONE!! ;-)

I usually have both of those on hand. I have auto dark welding helmets that one or the other. I have one helmet I like the best, but I have more than a couple... for... well... it just worked out that way.

Tangent down memory lane:

I was one of those guys who used to refuse to buy an auto dark. I didn't weld often enough. I just didn't see the benefit, and I wasn't a good welder anyway. I could make two piece of metal stick together most of the time, but it looked like it got to close to the north end of a south bound chicken.

One day a friend of mine asked me if I would weld his bait trailer. It had a couple rusted out cross members and he wanted some truss blades welded on to keep it from failing and dumping his boat on the road. I tried to get out of it, but finally I said I would do it for free if he agreed if I burned up his boat and it came apart flying through his vehicle and killed him and all his passengers he wouldn't blame me and he would take responsibility for the passengers.

He agreed. It actually turned out pretty good. He was happy and tried to pay me, but still concerned about liability I refused any sort of payment.

Unbeknownst to me he conspired with my wife to buy me an autodark welding helmet for my birthday. He bought it and she snuck (sneaked?) it into the house. It was a cheap Harbor Freight helmet, but it was my first auto dark. The first time I used it I went, "OH! This is so much easier!" It gave me the ability to use techniques that were beyond my skill with a fixed lens.

When the batteries died I was disappointed to find out they were not replaceable. The slightly upgraded version from HF with replaceable batteries didn't work IMO as well as the cheaper one...

My friend died a few years ago, and that boat and trailer are now part of my stable of boats. I have no intention of replacing the trailer, and a marine mechanic I was helping out a while back thought it looked like a professional repair. I guess that's a trait of welders. Its never as good as it should be.

When I decided I wanted a better welding helmet I went one of the big box stores and bought the most expensive auto dark they had. It was a Lincoln and cost 3-4 times what my HF with replaceable batteries cost. It was just okay. It was better than the HF, but not as good IMO as the original throw away helmet. I could do work with it though. One day in the middle of a big weld out it died... and I found out IT DIDN'T HAVE REPLACEABLE BATTERIES. To say I was pissed would have been like saying an MOAB is a big firecracker. I was furious.

I sent me wife off to Harbor Freight to buy a Vulcan welding hood. By then Harbor Freight had gotten serious in the welding market and started making some "professional" gear. The Vulcan was 199 on sale for 179 I think. To this day that is still my favorite welding helmet. Very responsive, very adjustable, great clarity. It's good. I also whipped off a nasty email to Lincoln. I said I bought the most expensive welding helmet in the store (maybe $159 at the time), and I would have to take hot knife to the lens cartridge to replace the batteries. That was just chicken s*it (see what I did there) and would never buy another Lincoln product again for the rest of eternity. They sent me a free Lincoln Viking helmet and asked me to reconsider the length of eternity.

Then I discovered I could buy auto dark cartridges online pretty cheap to fit into existing helmets. I managed to find one for every other welding helmet I owned. Even my fixed shields got new auto dark cartridges, and I saved he fixed lenses "just in case." They all have replaceable batteries and they all work okay. Then when my dad passed I got his Miller Auto Dark. I just gave that one to my son a week or so ago after cleaning all the lens surfaces and putting new batteries in it. I think I might have five autodark welding helmets, and one old style small lens fixed helmet now. I'd have to go count them.

I blame Gary. Its all his fault that I am addicted to autdark welding helmets.

They say its a poor tradesman that blames his tools, but I can tell you good tools can make a good job easier.

Interesting thing about DC, by installing a bridge diode pack, you'll never need to worry about polarity again.. (just attach the + and - outputs to the battery lead input and the AC inputs to the battery source..) . only thing you'll need to worry about then will be the series battery setup,, LOL

RTS

Oh, I've done some crazy things with batteries and alarm panels.

Several in parallel, solar panel charger, inverter to shut the down AC trouble signal off. Been a while. One old warehouse I drive by from time to time still has a big solar panel sticking up that technically belongs to me. I just didn't have time to go remove it before the tenant moved out.