Welding Cable Selection; Welding Duty Cycle - Honda EW171 Owner's Manual

Welding Cable Selection
The table below shows the current carrying capacity of various lengths and
gauges of standard copper welding cable. Whenever possible, refer to the
cable manufacturer's recommendations.
Always allow a considerable safety margin when selecting welding cables.
The cable's length and gauge (diameter), along with the material it is made
from, all combine to determine how much current it can safely carry.
m An undersize welding cable will offer unacceptably high
resistance to current flow. This high resistance will shorten the service life of
the generator/welder, and can even make the welding cables become hot
enough to cause painful burns.
LENGTH IN FEET*
CABLE CABLE
GAUGE
DIA.
O-50 FT. I50-100 FT. loo-2250 FT.
CURRENT CAPACITY AMPERES
1 .644
250 200
170
2 .604
200 195
NOTE: The cable lengths given in the table above are the combined lengths
of the negative and positive cables.
Welding Duty Cycle
The duty cycle is the percentage of time that the welder can be operated in a
given 10 minute period.
For example, at a rated output of 130 amperes, the EW171 's duty cycle is 50%.
This means that at 130 amperes, welding can be performed for a total of 5
minutes out of every 10 minute period. The duty cycle is longer at lower
operating currents, and shorter at highter currents.
Current 170A 150A 130A
110A Below 90A
Rate 15% 25%
50%
65%
100%
(1
Do not operate the welder beyond its duty cycle; doing so will
decrease the performance and service life of the generator/welder.
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