Look up volt amp curve for whatever machine you can think of and mimic the parameters.

you need 2 or 3 batteries to make this work. years ago, a body guy made a resistance spot welder to spot weld bodies, and weld studs for panel pulling, used 2 batteries in series. worked great!!!!!

Sure can! I use 2 batteries in series, 1/8" 6011 run DCEN. I made my own setup with welding cable jumpers w/ battery terminals, and a stinger and ground clamp. It burns through rods very fast so you have to keep feeding it in quickly. Works great for offroad vehicle repairs on the trails.

Should have tried a wrench, they seem to weld to things pretty easy when your not paying attention, they definitely make more sparks.

High quality jumper cables help also. Cheapies have small gauge wire and poor connections. All those things add up to increase resistance, lowering your voltage. It can also help to use vise grips to hold your rod or ground your work.

I have heard of people using a battery charger to do emergency welding with in the past. You could try linking two batteries together so you get 24volts, that should start an arc because they start trucks really easy! 😂😂😂😂

I’ve used this setup before to spot weld together some thin metal. I had to cut the coat hanger down to about 6” to get it to arc. I didn’t need a bead, but it served my purpose.

Hide a welder behind the wall and blast off some beads🤣

I'd say a mixture of battery size, age and how full it is played a huge factor. I suppose, if stuck and having no better option, having the vehicle run while the alternator keeps the voltage around 13.8-14.4 might be better as well.

I'd say if you had 2 volt batteries and ran them in series it might be enough voltage to light it up. It's most probably a voltage issue not aso much current.

My friend told me about this method. He learned it from his uncle in Puerto Rico who uses it to weld gates and fences.

Anthony bro... the next tool I think you should invest in.. is a portable bandsaw.. or we call them portabands.. instead of burning through all of those zipdiscs and abrasive wheels. the portaband will save you time and money.. I use a Milwaukee 18v at work (millwright for a lumber mill) to cut through all my tubing, angle, channel etc.. when I'm out of the shop. I think you should go see if you could rent one and give it a test run. I think you will be pleased my friend. keep up the good content bro. happy holidays Andrew

I would start with a minimum of 36V (3, 12V batteries in series), all with a good charge to maintain a reasonable arc with a 3/32 6011 rod. Haven't tried this but the voltage is closer to welding voltages of vintage transformer machines. They also have an OCV in the 60-80V range so starting is easier.

Another source of 12 volt batteries is ones used in emergency lighting (exit signs) $12-25 each new. obvious not the capacity of a car or marine battery but a much better price point for proof of concept. I use them for a car stereo I put in a rolling toolbox I made.

I seen welding with 2 or 3 batteries in series. You need more voltage. You also need good fully charged batteries…

I'd say if you had 2 12 volt batteries and ran them in series i.e. connect the positive of one to the negative of the other, and your ground and stinger from the + from one battery and the - from the other,. it might be enough voltage to light it up. It's most probably a voltage issue not so much current. It say you'd still struggle with 6010s as they typically need a much high open circuit voltage OCV to light up over 60V. But who knows, it love to see the experiment with a few different rod types.

I'm here because I once saw a vid of an overland guy do this to repair a tie rod. If i find the vid, ill post it here

Anthony, I love the bender out by the tree, I have always had my benders outside.......lots of room to move.......cheers from Florida ....Paul

I vaguely recall watching a reality TV show (probably either Gold Rush or Axe Men) where they used 2 batteries from heavy equipment (batteries to start diesel engines) to do some field welding. Unfortunately, I don't remember any more details.

1st thing I would have done is cover that bomb/battery up. 2nd thing would be to clean the angle thoroughly and check to see how much surface contact jumper cable clamp to angle has. Interesting to watch anyway.

3- 6 volt deep cycle batteries in series will let you run 6011 1/8” or 7018 3/32”. Better arc the two 12 volts but 2 12 volts will work

Turn your amps up lol … add another battery. From what I’ve seen 2 batteries in series and then switch polarity, you would think negative to your work piece to ground it… but no positive grounds your metal and use the negative to the rod

Good job 👍🏻

Emergency blanket reflex like mirror for welding goggles

you need 2 batteries in series to get the voltage up to 24 volts - for thicker material need 3 batteries in series 36 volts look at your welder - something like Idealarc 250 has 30 volts max output

I already did it and works just fine, use 2 or 3 batteries connected in series if you use bci 65 it'll be better.

Not enough voltage? 12 volts would barely weld 18 gauge on MIG/MAG. I think you had the right idea when you were talking about linking up multiple batteries in series. 2 of those badboys should give you maybe 18-24 volts, depending on the type of batteries used, that should be enough to burn a sheetmetal rod? I dunno if my figuring is correct but it may be worth a try. I may try it myself when I get me a lid. Cool idea. Cool video!

I'm sure you can weld with 2 batteries. Maybe you can try giving more power connecting a battery-charger to just 1 battery ? I haven't seen anybody trying this method yet.... Blessings from Venezuela. (I just discovered your channel today)

Loved the video. 2 - 24v batteries in series should light up. I think it would weld a bit weird though. Off the top of my head a CC machine will pump out 28-34 volts 100ish amps 1/8 7018 depending on arc length. Trying to remember but I think a battery is constant voltage. I imagine if you hooked 2 - 12v battteries in series up to the lugs on a wire feeder you would be able to control amperage with WFS. Your voltage would be stuck at 24v though, and the wire would be hot all the time. Might be worth trying out on a cheapo harbor freight MIG. Food for thought.

I never STICK" welded with batteries. But I have a READYWELDER wire welder spoolgun, that will weld great on 24 or 36 vdc. Flux core or gas mig. From 1/8" to over 1/2" steel. And do as nice as a regular mig welder. It also welds ALUMINUM with Argon gas. Try 2 12 volt batteries in SERIES or even 3. 12volt batteries it will work, plus take a 2ft chain 3/8", and clamp one end to the work and try different links with the ground clamp to change the amperage and voltage, I don't think you have enough voltage. Minimum 2 12v batteries in "SERIES" not parallel, preferably number 31 size fully charged. 😃😃 Great Video

Dude I fucking love your videos. Your videos on the business side of running your own rig really help. Make more about he business side! Keep it up!

I have seen this work on a show about a future apocalypse, the jack of all crew used batteries to weld and it worked out.

the coat hanger would work better if you left the paper on.....that is how the first stick welding rods were improved over bare rods.....the paper burns and releases CO2 gas to protect the weld.....now you know

Turn it down,turn it down, you're killing me I'm melting!!!

I don't know if it can work or not, but the videos I saw (purportedly) show 3 or 4 batteries hooked up series. 12vdc really doesn't want to jump a gap (voltage is a measurement of how much electricity "wants" to conduct through a conductor (electromotive force). Higher voltage DC does want to jump a gap, but usually higher than even 36volts. A lot of fires are started by running solar panels in series (but usually multiple panels and much higher voltages) because of how much it wants to jump a gap and creates a plasma.

Howdy from northern Michigan brother

You should make another one of these videos ... use 2 car Batts wired in series. It'll work

I suspect a lot of these videos where they do this are trucks with 24V batteries rather than the smaller 12V batteries used in cars and other small engine machines. Be interestng to see if cleaning your ground point better might help too. I did see Fab Rats here on youtube temporarily fixing a trailer using this method after his generator chucked it. Seemed to do the trick but odds are it was a 24V setup.

Connect the negative to vice grips and connect the positive to the metal for it to work

I was thinking of repurposing some old batteries from my father's mobility scooter to make a simple welder.

There's actually a field repair welder that you connect to two batteries to repair you're overland vehicle to limp it back home I forget what it's call it's a spool gun you run flux core in it

need at least 18 volts-two 12 volt batteries will give a nice hot arc with 150-200 amps

I think you had a bad connection when you laid the jump cable clamp on that metal table with the other clamp attached to the angle iron that was sitting on the table it should have been sparking… I am a mechanic and have welding burn marks on a couple of wrenches from hitting the positive post on the back of the alternator while taking other parts off and that valve is a lot smaller

You have to carry a second battery with you for welding. You need 24v+ for this to work.

I get a charge out of watching this welding video......

Two batteries group 31 1100 CCA and bolt not jumpers cable's longer the cable less power for the stick.

I’ve seen a couple Iraqi’s fixing a cattle guard with two batteries! My simple ass was like what!

You need more voltage. Wire to batteries in series. Make sure they're actually charged well. Reverse polarity so that negative is your arc. Clean the surfaces you will be welding. If you do that you'll have a much better shot!

They used t sell a welder back in the 70’s that worked of a battery

Do another vid with 2 batts in series! Would like to see it work

Try welding with the old car generators not the modern alternators with voltage regulators but perhaps those would work too if you jump the regulator to always be in full field output. You’ll have another backup welder for your field work and an impressive tool to boast👏✌️

Thanx for the laugh!!

An OCV of only 12 will not do it. If you connect 3 batteries in series you will get 36 OCV and that will do it quite well. Try it next time.

Maybe you could try 2 batteries in series 3/32 dcen next Wednesday

MMA bringing it to us raw... Looking forward to it...

Need more volt 32-48v will be enough for stick and 60-80v for tig use a boost converter with constant current

It dose work ur sousposed to use the positive as ground and negative to weld but have it right on the battery

subbed..Any day can be WTFW and I hope everyday would be. I appreciate the honest testing and curiousity! I have an offgrid need to weld 1/4 rebar. I am wondering if 480w @ 24v buck converter "safely" attached to my running van is enough? My van running alternator (160amps) WHILE RUNNING feeds my oversized starter battery 12v 155AH deep cycle. FYI: I am current able to power 1500watt using a 2000 watt inverter with no issues to cook and power anything under 12amps. If so and reasonable, What rod would you recommend? Any way to isolate to protect my battery, alternator and van since effectively shorting my battery.

Yeah I've always seen this done with multiple batteries

The problem is the battery doesn't have enough volts. You definitely need to make sure the batteries are fully charged and wire 3 or 4 of them in series. Really 5 of them would be pretty close to what a welder should be running at.

Can you do this while a vehicle is running, or will the draw blow out your alternator?

You need two battery’s in series for 24volts

Take a d cell battery, open up get the carbon rod strike an arc with pos. And solder two pieces of metal. No weilding. Larger the 12 volt the better!

Try it with the 50 Amp engine start setting on a battery charger and see what happens

My guess is that the jumper cables are not nearly heavy enough to carry the load. Have you ever cut open a cheap pair of jumper cables? They are wimpy.

If u put 2 batteries toghter and put a reostat in line on ure stinger lead u can controll the voltage

Think you're supposed to use 2 batteries and 2 sets of cables.

Sounds like two batteries from the comments, but was wondering at home what would happen if you used a charger with the one battery?

I've been trying to figure out an emergency roadside/ trail focused mobile welding set up. Found most people don't care for 120 volt welders and even they require a big generator with the typical 30 amp breaker not being ideal. 12 Volt batteries usually have to be ran at 24-36 volts and drain very quickly. Does anyone have a better idea than just lugging around the bigass acetylene and oxygen bottles I already have and torch welding? Obviously not a pipe welding rig setup but for getting some poor guy (possibly myself) back on the road again.

Not enought voltage :) need like battery in serie as 24 volt or more to do welding need like 2 or 3 batteries

It can be done with 2 batteries. 👍

Use 3 batteries DCEN . Watch Wheelie Pete do it on his channel

Just like Jake mentioned in his you need two batteries to do it I've seen it done off-road and someone break a tie rod use a piece of angle iron and weld it on with two batteries and jumper cables

Looks to me that you have terminals on backward. Negative to work piece (vice locks) and positive to work piece.

So 1, 12v battery usually runs around 14v.... in DC welding you need 24v minimum... you need 2 batteries in series to get 24v... also in DC welding the positive is your ground... also jumper cables don't hold them tight enough to get a solid connection use a pair of vice grips in the jumper cables!!! Lastly you will never weld with a wire hanger... welding rods and wire usually have Flux core inside them, non Flux welding wire or rods require the welder to use his own Flux!!! There are 2 ways to connect batteries 1 way will double the voltage output the other will double charge capacity!!! Wire in series is negative to positive leaving a negative and positive from each battery, doubles voltage output so 2 x 12v = 24v...at whatever amp hours the batteries capacity has... but wired in parallel or negative to negative and positive to positive should double the capacity of charge staying at 12v... in theory if you get 4 Batteries and run 2 in series then the other 2 in series and then run the sets parallel you will get 24v at the capacity of 2 batteries!!! It will also work the other way around so 2 batteries in parallel and another 2 in parallel and then run the sets in series giving 24v at capacity of 2 batteries!!!

MM77 Approved 👍🏼👍🏼

Voltage isn’t high enough need at least two deep cell batteries 👀 maybe grind that metal clean and wire them in series positive on one battery negative on the other ..,, and make sure positive to negative to make 24 volts

Put 2 or 3 batteries together in series and it will work. Think about a mig welder. You set your voltage between say 17 and 24 volts. That's two 12 volt batteries wired in series.

Two battery’s in series is how to weld with them.

I heard you need to hook up several batteries, maybe when you get to 24 volts. Really don't know.

Yes 24vdc in series

You need 2 batteries in 24 volts

Like you mentioned you need a really healthy 24v battery and some thick boi jumpers.

You need closer to 24v

you'd really need 2 batteries minimum in series seen it done but with an actual electrode holder

Oh boy.....lol

How did you find a metal coat hanger 😂

I usually see it done with two batteries or more

Try with a running vehicle being reved

I usually see this done with 2 batteries

Two batteries and aluminum weld rods

Positive on workpiece negative on rod ,. Possible

you need at least 2 hefty 12v car batteries

Does the batteries get damaged afterwards? or they still work

Don't set battery on the ground will drain it.

Darien gap style

May have tried positive for ground

With 24 volts u can weld with them

cheap inverter welding machines are cheaper than car batteries these days.

It's probably those Chinese jumper cables.