self darkening welding helmet

Hayfarmer

Well-known Member
I have an older Speedglas self darkening welding helmet which seems to work great for stick welding but too dark for mig welding the shade is not adjustable and apparently you can't change it over. Looking at newer helmets with variable shades. A lot of them are "solar powered" I don't use my welder a lot but when I want to use it I don't want to put it outside to charge a while. What experience have others found with the solar powered helmets?
 
I have Miller pro hobby that is probably 8 years old. It has adjustable shade from 8-12 and uses AAA battery. It's lightweight and I can only remember changing battery once or twice and it gets used quite a bit. It's still a little dark for me when plasma cutting. I prefer a 5 shade.
 
I have the newest Lincoln helmet, don't remember the name. Altho it works great and has variable shades from clear for grinding to 12, I will not recomend it. Ot is always on so of it sits in the shop for a week the battery is dead. I have to remember to take the battery out each time if I want it to work next time. My last one was a Jackson with adjuatable shadeand it was great for 12 uears til I busted it. It had aaa batteries and I only changed them a couple times.
 
I don't know anything about a solar powered helmet. Friends told me Harbor Freight had a good working auto darkening helmet cheap. But my eyes are most precious to me, so I bought a helmet at my local welding shop. I think it's a Miller. It has one or two of those quarter sized batteries. It's adjustable several ways. You push a button to turn it on. It turns itself off after a while. I've been very pleased with it. I don't weld much any more. I've had this several years now, and have replaced the batteries once.
 
I have a Antra from Amazon that is shades 5-9 and 9-13 includes a shade for grinding.
It is a solar rechargeable battery unit. I just leave in a sunny window when not in use.
 
There is a cheap black one at Harbor Freight for $50 or so. I got it "on sale" For $30. Just use it if doing a welding project with someone else or grinding for a long time.
 
I have the Harbor Freight one, I like it fine and it's adjustable from grind (no autodarkening) to 13. Even though it's described as being solar powered there is still a battery inside, just not accessible. The solar cell, apparently, charges this battery. After a number of years the internal battery can go bad and some people have figured out how to take the helmet apart and replace the battery (if interested try googling). Anyway one thing I recently discovered is that if you use the helmet for both grinding and welding eventually you will leave the helmet in grind mode when striking an arc (human error).
 
I have not tried one yet but I am leaning toward a large lens,maybe a Miller. I have the same Speedglass as you,it is just getting really old and I expect it to die every time I use it. Jackson has a nice one at 130.00(close) I just can t trust my eyes to HF(and I buy a lot of from them)
 
I find if I sit the helmet in the sun when I start getting things ready to weld it's charged up by the time I strick an arc. The arc also charge's batteries so if it's up enough to begain,arc will keep batteries up. I believe floresent lighting will also charge the battreies.
 
I bought a cheap solar auto darkening helmet and it worked fine for about a year and then quit darkening. If I leave it in the sun for a while it tries and then quits. Google search shows how to fix that. It turns out that there is a coin battery inside that isn't meant to be recharged and if left out of the sun long enough it will completely discharge. That battery isn't meant to be replaceable either but it can be removed and an external battery connected that can be replaced. Any 3 volt battery or a combination of cells that add up to 3 volts can be used and if you mount a holder where they are accessible you will be able to replace then as needed.
 
I bought a cheap HF helmet and it has a knob on it where you can adjust how dark it darkens. Perhaps your Speedg;as does too.
 
Because I wear trifocal glasses I needed a use a hood with the large window.
I found an auto darkening one at Northern Tool. I've had it for several years now. I store it in a drawer. When I first got it, it would darken under the florescent, it doesn't do anymore, and I have not had any other problems with it.

Dusty
 
I am into my second cheap HF solar powered helmet; wore out the first one. Have no problem using it with my MIG welder. Set the speed as fast as you want and go. Obviously the stick works too. I got the 2.5x magnifier lens and taped that inside so that I can use my prescription glasses using the distance main lense looking straight ahead, rather than having to raise my head to see through the magnified "bipolar".....reading part of my glasses.
 
I leave a night light on all the time in the barn, and leave my solar powered helmet near enough to the light to keep it charged. Sometimes I might go months without needing it.
 
There is so many different ones to choose from nowadays, and
welding all my life I've tried quite a few and most seem to
work fine. The way the solar power works is from the arc, or
welding out in the sun, not normal lights. And from what I've
found on some models the arc from welding, or being outside
will charge batt.
 
Check out the ArcOne helmet. It is solar with a battery backup. Battery is supposed to be good for 10 years but mine is older and still works fine. I think enough of them that I bought a back up a few years ago even though they set me back $200 each. They are a bit cheaper now but they are worth the money no matter what they cost. I have never been flashed with this helmet.

My BIL talked me into buying one of the Harbor Freight helmets for a backup before I bought the second ArcOne. I used it once at his shop and gave it away. Once you get a hold of a good helmet the dime store ones ain't worth picking up. JMO
 
(quoted from post at 17:24:22 10/01/16) I don't know anything about a solar powered helmet. Friends told me Harbor Freight had a good working auto darkening helmet cheap. But my eyes are most precious to me, so I bought a helmet at my local welding shop. I think it's a Miller. It has one or two of those quarter sized batteries. It's adjustable several ways. You push a button to turn it on. It turns itself off after a while. I've been very pleased with it. I don't weld much any more. I've had this several years now, and have replaced the batteries once.

ditto on the Miller. Love mine, doesn't get used much but I've never had to change the battery (several years). Just need to press the RESET button to turn it on.
 
(quoted from post at 07:44:31 10/04/16) The helmets are not "solar powered."

They have a regular coin battery in them. The solar cell is the arc strike sensor.

I re-powered my HF helmet with AAA batteries mounted in holders hot-glued to the inside of helmet. They work good but there are coin battery holders available that allow the use of long-life (7 to 10 years) button cells and that is what I would use next time.

Someone posted that he used his torch striker to make sure that his helmet was working BEFORE using it. I tried this and it has now become a habit as a dead battery is a dead battery, no matter the helmet brand and you WILL get flashed! 8)
 

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