Thread: ESAB Power Compac 200 ECP mig welder- faulty circuit board

Hi Guys,
I have been given an ESAB 200 Mig welder with a main circuit board fault. The welding wire is live when the welder is on. I have been told the wire feeds ok when welding. Someone has removed a .1uf capacitor from the circuit board in an effort to get the welder to work I think. Can anyone recommend someone to repair the circuit board or suggest which part may be causing the fault. There are 4 black wires that have been removed from a strip of 4 terminals on the board when the board was removed, using the circuit diagram I have not been able to work out which terminals they go on. If anyone can help that would be great. I have attached photos of the main circuit board to help identify it.
IMG_8781.jpgMain circuit board 2.jpgmain circuit board PC side.jpg

John

I have a 200 esab compact mig, not too sure on exact model but will check it out Monday or Tuesday, doing a run in the truck early in the morning and will be back home sometime Monday.

Thanks M8, Looking at the board, at the top are 5 terminals. . wires marked 01 & 03 go to a circuit board for "wire length" adjustment. The other two wires -4- & -5- go to a green button for "wire Inching". I am guessing the wires go 01 ( terminal 1 ), 03 ( term 3) , -4- ( term 4) , -5- (term 5) , on the terminals from left to right. The circuit board does not have the terminals numbered so cant confirm this.

Further testing shows the arc & gas are present whether the trigger is on or off. Looks like the main circuit board is faulty. Does anyone know if these can be repaired or is a new board required ?



John

As a general comment, most circuit board problems can be fixed, since it's usually just one dead component an the parts are mostly generic - capacitors, diodes, transistors, etc. Finding a pro to do board level repairs is hard or expensive.

You can DIY if you are interested getting into electronics, but would need some equipment - at least a soldering iron and a multimeter. An ESR meter is really useful for electrolytic capacitor failures, probably #1 on the fault list. But the cheap option is to just replace the electrolytic caps and see what happens, for a few dollars, nothing lost. Semiconductors can be tested.

Peak electronics UK makes some really nifty test equipment. I have a set, bought direct for a lot less than local prices.

The missing capacitor is more likely to have been deleted by designers as unnecessary.

No worries, thanks for the input. I have a tech background so will change the caps first. I have the cap that was removed by a previous attempt at repair, it was not a design problem.

Originally Posted by jex

using the circuit diagram

You have a circuit diagram? Best thing you could do is post a photo/scan of it.

The last time I spoke to ESAB some months ago they had an office in Brisbane. I just did a search and found this Support

I think they are still in Brisbane but have reverted to and agency type operation.

Its not actually a circuit diagram, more a wiring diagram of how the parts interconnect. I think I have managed to nut out how the wires go back on the main board. Terminal numbers on the board would have helped. I will chase up the ESAB contact No today to see what a new main board costs. Even though the welder is old it seems very well made.

I had wire feed issues with mine and the repairer asked me to sell it to him, he likes them that much.

Ok, I'm back home, will look at mine tomorrow and take some pics

Ok, wires 1 & 3 go to the burn back control with 4 & 5 going to the wire feed button.

Terminals numbered 1 thru to 5, 2 is empty

ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1383615651.376021.jpg

Back of burn back control

ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1383615692.616008.jpg

And wire feed button

ImageUploadedByTapatalkHD1383615719.856045.jpg