sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems ESI Telephones & Systems ESI 100 welder issue (?)

I had a customer today call to tell me that when the welder in the shop turns on the "high freq" switch on the welders box the phones lock up. ESI said they don't know of a solution but to try the sandman. In the mean time any one here ever have this issue or any suggestions?

I seem to remember an issue with welding equipment however it was mentioned in another category other than ESI. I did a quick search of ESI and it definitely was somewhere else. I keep looking and post back here if I find it.

Obviously it is RF....bad ground at the welder or a bad connection internal to the welder.

Verify your ground, ground all unused IW pairs, and if all else fails, use sheilded wire and put a secondary grounded shield over the KSU.

If the KSU is "locking up" it must be feeding RF back through the electrical as well. Do you have it on an UPS?

These can be pesky but do it one step at a time, then you'll know what the cure/fix/problem is.

Good luck.

Sometimes it can't be fixed. Some manufacturers are more susceptible than others. I had a shop that made canvas awnings and everytime the welder came on it killed the phones. Site around the welder was shielded, shielded cables, grounds checked etc. It wasn't until we saw that you unplug the Nortel sets and the LEDs would still flicker when the welder was turned up that we realized it was a losing battle. Installed an Iwatsu system and the problem never reoccured. Spent 3 solid weeks trying to fix it. Even put aluminum foil inside the Nortel sets..nothing worked.

Had the same problem with an old Isotec system 36

No phones when welding.

I had it happen with a C Class. Happened when the customer relocated the welder two months after installation of system. Moving the welder back to it's original spot solved the problem.

Thanks for all of your responses. I will be going out to this site this week. I will try all the ground advice and advise.

Ok, I went back to the fore mentioned site and to keep a long story short we found that grounding the metal table that the welder works on (and starts the arc to) helped about 85% of the "lock up" lcd screen issue. EVEN though he had his welding machine ground clamp clamped to the table. Thank you all for your input. I never stop learning in this feild.

Hi Tom, are they still getting the occasional garbled display?

-Paul
Alt Systems

Paul,
Yes the occasional display issue still does happen but only when the welder is creating his arc serveral times in a row. If he fires it up 5 or more times in a row within approx. 20 seconds it does still happen. This is what I had him doing while I was testing. In "real life" he would never need to fire it up more than once or twice at a time. Keep in mind it only was an issue when he had his machine set on "high freq." to weld certain (cobalt) types of metal.