251si voltage settings seem low

First of all, I'm a pretty green welder, and this is my first infinitely adjustable everything machine. I love it, and am totally happy with how it's performing, just want to double check something.

In my current project I'm working on material in the 14ga-3/16" range, MIG, .035 wire, c25, clean and flat, running on 110 with a 6-3 SOOW 15ft extension cord.. In order to get that nice sizzle sound I'm having to turn the voltage way down below what any of the lookup tables recommend. Miller and Lincoln tables list somewhere in the 19-22v range and I'm running more like 16-19v.

Welds are clean, pen is good, travel speed is comfortable, but if I get anywhere near their recommended voltages I either blow right through the workpiece, or it just hisses and blows soot all around the bead. I start to get a decent looking weld if I crank the feed WAY up, but wind up with a high profile, and it still doesn't sound like I think it should. Wondering if maybe the calibration is off and the readout isn't accurate, or maybe it's just a hotter machine than red/blue?

Am I placing too much importance on the sound? Are those lookup tables more proprietary than I think they are? Should I even be worried about it if it sounds/looks/holds good?


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I should add, mild steel, ER70S06 wire, and I had the same trouble with .030. Lincoln tables were closer, I'm only about 1-1.2v lower that their recommendations, but the miller app I'm more like 2-4v lower. I don't think I've had it over 17.5v.

On a related note, in syn mode it only reads current in the display, but std mode it's wire speed. If I use the calcs from the manual to extrapolate the wire speed from the current settings in syn mode, I do not get the same performance. Is there more to syn mode than just automating current/wire speed based on voltage and wire size? Is it measuring feedback our output and adjusting itself realtime? TIA!


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Have the same machine and been really happy with it.

I don't worry about what the readout shows though, I just set it to work for me and get to welding.

But yeah, got to agree with you on the Syn mode. Can't seem to find the sweet spot in that mode at all.

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Originally Posted by MichaelChad

Am I placing too much importance on the sound? Are those lookup tables more proprietary than I think they are? Should I even be worried about it if it sounds/looks/holds good?

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Nope, you are placing too much importance on the readouts and charts. Trust the weld quality above all else. The charts are baselines and there are many things that can shift those numbers a whole lot. All they do is get you close enough that you can get started. Gas flow, stickout, travel speed, steel and air temps, position, etc. All these factors and more go into getting the perfect settings. And yes your display may be a bit off, too. Not sure about that model but quite a few older Everlast units, are tweaked in for 240v and read a little off when run on 120v.

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Originally Posted by Kevin Caron

Have the same machine and been really happy with it.

I don't worry about what the readout shows though, I just set it to work for me and get to welding.

But yeah, got to agree with you on the Syn mode. Can't seem to find the sweet spot in that mode at all.

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Thanks Kevin! I've seen your video on it, part of why I got it. I just started welding last summer, and know exactly zero welders. All your videos have actually been a big contribution to my sucking less!

I started with a HF 90, then a Lincoln weld pak. Hard to translate my experience with hi/low, and A/B/C/D. Especially since I've not really run into many problems that weren't 100% hand/eye. This one took me a while to get the hang of, but now that I have one low setting dialed the rest are pretty easy to extrapolate.


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Originally Posted by Rambozo

Nope, you are placing too much importance on the readouts and charts. Trust the weld quality above all else. The charts are baselines and there are many things that can shift those numbers a whole lot. All they do is get you close enough that you can get started. Gas flow, stickout, travel speed, steel and air temps, position, etc. All these factors and more go into getting the perfect settings. And yes your display may be a bit off, too. Not sure about that model but quite a few older Everlast units, are tweaked in for 240v and read a little off when run on 120v.

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Thanks! That helps a lot. It's hard to know where to start, or how far to deviate, when you're this green. I had my lincoln down, but this one has much more power than I expected (even on 110v), it didn't occur to me until a few days in that I needed to be so near the lower end of the range. Now, after a month, and building the cart it lives on, I'm getting the hang of it.

Time to get back to the bench project, and take my floor space back!



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