Auto-darkening helmets and Transition Glasses

OK... am I crazy?

I just started wearing glasses a year ago. I have a pair of transition lenses that get darker in the Sun, and I have a pair of clear glasses.

I hadn't welded much of anything last summer, but this spring, I bought a new welder, and the first time I tried it, I was wearing my Transition lenses. When I went to weld, my auto-darkening helmet didn't seem to work.

I figured it was old, battery was dead (it's a solar-cell version) battery was old... whatever. I went and bought a new helmet.

Now, things have been good with the new helmet, but just by dumb luck, I had never used it with my Transition Lens glasses.

Until last weekend. I had been outside all day, wearing my Transition Lens glasses; and I started to work on something in the shop late that afternoon. Put on my new welding helmet...over my transition lenses... and I got a serious case of eye burn, as soon as the arc struck.

Of course...stupid me... I tried another arc.

Another eye burn.

Our "son"...(neighbor's kid who practically grew up in our house) was standing by... with my old helmet on... which I have left out to charge a lot this summer... he was like... "Try this one, it was working for me..."

I tried it... Another eye burn.

Now...just dumb luck... I went back to my new helmet, and in all of the changing helmets, putting my fireproof ski-mask thingy off and on... I left my glasses off...

BAM... helmet worked fine...

So, I thought back to high school and college physics... isn't there something about it takes two polarized lenses polarized orthogonally (right angles) to stop light... but if you add another polarized lens behind it... the light comes back. Has something to do with wave-particle duality...

So... has anybody had something like this happen...where their welding helmet appears not to work, if you wear Transition Lens glasses underneath?

Or have I been victimized by some crazy coincidences?

I really don't want to try to experiment with this anymore to prove my point... I think my eyes have had enough...

Last cowboy that is exactly it. As I was reading your post I was thinking no way, the helmet lens can't know about your eye glass lens, but then I remembered reading many years ago when the auto darkening lenses came out that they work by a small current making glass polarize, so yes another polarized lens will cancel it out.

I never had a problem with my auto
darkening helmet and my transition
glasses. But I did wonder if the bright
flash from the ark damages the glasses but
they still work like normal.

I had the problem of my transitions darkening when welding too. Also when I was working in the forge. I couldn't see the color of
the steel. I got a pair of safety glasses made with no coatings.

First time I get flashed the auto-dark is going in the garbage. I will go back to ol reliable flip lense Jackson.

I sure am not saying you're wrong,but I never noticed a problem using my old Speed Glass. My glasses now are not
Transitions(the last 4 have been) but I am going back to them.

never had a problem with mine.

(quoted from post at 05:40:44 10/10/19) never had a problem with mine.

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It didn't really make sense to me either. I haven't gone back to try mine again.

I have had one or two other instances over the last few months since I made this post, and I wasn't wearing the auto darkening glasses.

I'm not sure what the deal is, the last time it happened, I was welding out of position in a weird posture, and I thought that maybe the sensor wasn't seeing the arc. I moved over and got a full view of the weld area, and the helmet worked fine.

Might just be a cheap, crappy helmet.

(quoted from post at 07:25:48 09/02/19) First time I get flashed the auto-dark is going in the garbage. I will go back to ol reliable flip lense Jackson.

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With my auto-dark I close my eye's for a second or two when striking the arc. Even though they react fast to the arc I still don't want to chance it.