I have an SCR firing board controlled with 0-5V potentiometer input and separately a microcontroller. This microcontroller can output
0-5v.I have a dilemma. I can either:
1) Let the pots control SCR firing board output, and let the microcontroller simply turn it on and off2) Let the PWM outputs (filtered to DC) control the SCR firing board.
Which is best? In the long run, 2 is more versatile and could allow me to do fun stuff like TIG pulsing, "Lift Arc" starts without high frequency, etc, with just some BASIC programming.
On the other hand, it is a little more dangerous if I make a mistake in code (which sometimes happens ;).
A common sense approach would be to wire the board so that I have two sets of outputs, PWM and pots, and connect SCR firing board to pots first. When I get some tig welds done, etc, I could experiment further with PWM control of the board.
What am I afraid of? That I make a mistake and programming and somehow the welder would go very crazy.
Is what I am saying, making any sense? Any words of wisdom?
i