Inverter ES1600 Welder

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
As someone who worked in a welding supply shop as a service tech I can say with very good certainty that if you fried resistors on a control board (plus Q102 looks like it might have gotten its head blown off too) in a inverter welder the odds are you will not be able to repair it yourself.

When the little bitty parts go up in smoke on control boards that usually means that great big expensive parts in the power handling circuitry are damaged as well.
 

Thread Starter

R!f@@

Joined Apr 2, 2009
9,918
I am not worried about the expensive parts. All I like to know is the blown resistor color code.
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
I am not worried about the expensive parts. All I like to know is the blown resistor color code.

Fair enough but what about the Q102 transistor that looks like it has a chunk blown out of it as well?

Is that just a optical illusion or does it have a chunk blown out of it?

I'm just curious as to the reasoning/story behind for wanting to find that resistors value when it's a very high likelihood that the unit has far more expensive components that may be bad too.
 

Thread Starter

R!f@@

Joined Apr 2, 2009
9,918
Transistor back is blown. Front is intact. Not worth checking if I cannot figure out the resistor

I am going to give crack at it tomorrow though.
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
There's not much to check on a transistor when it has blown itself to bits.

It's like checking your car to see if its drivable after the whole thing burned down to the ground to where even the tires are gone and the rims have melted. Common sense should tell you it's junk just by looking at it. :rolleyes:
 

Thread Starter

R!f@@

Joined Apr 2, 2009
9,918
I believe it can be fixed if I can get the resistor value.
The transistor number can be identified if the front is intact.
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
I would be looking closely at how the circuitry is laid out to figure out what caused what to fail first.

If the transistor went dead short and cooked the resistor that is one issue but if the resistor fried and went open circuit causing the transistor to pop that another problem and if the two are not actually related to each others failings and the problem is with other yet to be found failed components you have even bigger problems to deal with.

To be honest if you are thinking you need to figure out the resistors value but are not willing to unsolder it plus feel there is no need to examine the blown up transistor next to it which is obviously bad I have every reason to feel you are likely way in over your head on the likelihood of you being able to fix this thing at all.

Believe me I have worked with enough inverter based power supplies in my life know that when they quit and you find a few simple components with visible physical damage on a control board that it's very unlikely that they are the cause for the unit not working let alone are the only things damaged. That's my take on this so far given the information presented.

BTW I see these inverter welders are only around $450 new so I would not put a huge amount of time and money into trying to fix it. They are obviously designed to be throw away units.

To be honest I have worked on the higher end big name brand inverter welders that retail for $2500- $4000+ new and even then if they didn't have warranty coverage (to basically give you a brand new machine on the inside repair wise) they were better off to be thrown away than fixed.
 
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