Welding Tips and Tricks

So I’m sitting in the living room setting up my brand new Lincoln Square Wave 200. Yes you can do that when you are twice divorced. I plug It into the outlet and the fan comes on but the machine display just flashes 100 and you can hear it surging. Can set any parameters at all. Checked the troubleshooting (worthless) but near as I can tell it’s not doing the input voltage sensing for 120V. I can Hear something surging internally when the display flashes. I’d plug it into 230V but I don't have a 230 plug wired in yet. Might do that tomorrow. Any ideas if my suspicions are accurate?

Thanks in advance

I just joined the forum and saw this, so this reply is perhaps too late to be useful. Maybe it will help someone else with a similar issue. If you've solved the problem in the meantime, you might post what you found/learned, to help the rest of us.

I recently saw a YouTube video where a guy had a similar issue on a Square Wave 200, right out of the box. Not exactly the same issue though. In any case, he took the cover off and found a loose cable/connector. I believe it was one that connected a control board to the front panel.

Loose connectors or slightly corroded surfaces inside them are some of the most common problems in welders and other electrical/electronic gear. If you're comfortable getting inside the unit, do the best you can with fingers or pliers to gently wiggle them (if they'll move without removal), or carefully remove and reconnect them. It's often the low voltage computer or control cables and not the big power connections that are the problem.

Remember to unplug the unit first, and beware of the high voltage that can remain on the big capacitors. Sometimes that voltage/charge bleeds down after a few minutes with no power, but it's not a guarantee.