Torch arc voltage

[Rbeckett]

Any body know what the voltages are at the torch arc voltage terminals in a hypertherm powermax 1000 G3. I know that some controllers use the 50 to 300 range but that is a pretty large range and I need a little closer idea of the actual voltages and what the voltage of a good arc is. Any help?

[Torchhead]

Look in the User Manual at the cut charts. That will give the correct arc volts with the arc gap at .063 on different materials. If you are looking for the Arc Good signal (Arc XFR in the 1000) that signals the presence of a valid arc then the two ARC XFR ouputs on J19 are dry contacts. A valid arc is based on the arc current rather that the arc volts.

You pick up raw arc volts at J15 and J16. Open arc volts (firing in the air) is approx 160 to 180VDC. The actual volts while cutting are a function of the Arc Gap (distance from the nozzle tip to the top of the workpiece), the feedrate and the current setting of the plasma combined with the nozzle (orifice) size.

TOM caudle
www.CandCNC.com

[jimcolt]

If you are asking about the voltage divider output pins that are available on the newer Hypertherm Powermax units....it is 1/50th of actual arc voltage. If you look in the Powermax1000 manual (cut charts).....the minimum arc voltage is around 55 volts....and the maximum is around 160 volts DC.....so the typical operatin range during steady state cutting of this 50:1 output is 1.1 to 3.2 volts DC. If you are building a circuit to look at this voltage for height control purposes....make sure it can handle higher voltages (likely as much as 4.8 volts)....which can occur if the consumables are at the end of their life and misfire.

If you are looking at the raw voltage terminals inside the power supply as Tom mentioned.....expect anywhere from 55 volts to 240 volts DC on these terminals.

Jim Colt

Originally Posted by Rbeckett Any body know what the voltages are at the torch arc voltage terminals in a hypertherm powermax 1000 G3. I know that some controllers use the 50 to 300 range but that is a pretty large range and I need a little closer idea of the actual voltages and what the voltage of a good arc is. Any help?