Personally I never was happy with the orginal SA-250 idler. It was cheap and prone to premature failure. The orginal solenoid was an "open core design" it was never designed to be in the open enviroment, but it was cheap.
Our upgrade solenoid is totally enclosed ane internally permantally lubricated-no other maintance necessary.
A Weldmart exclusive is the addition of the "isloation relay" on the origanal Lincoln PC board the solenoid is powered by giving the solenoid a ground connection through what we call a "scarficial transistor" the timing circuit turns the transistor "on"; this provides a return ground for the circuit and the solenoid pulls in.
"Easy-Peasy" as long as there are no problems, someday there will be a problem. In my opinion; the engineers at Lincoln, who designed the board, specified the cheapest transistor they thought would work. The specification was given to purchasing, request for quotations was sent out, and the cheapest offered was what they bought and installed.
What happens if there is a problem? They battery voltage is low (lower voltage means more current draw, more heat) . The linkage bindes up. Something goes wrong somethere and the board dies?
Luckly Lincoln still makes the orginal PC board (M13708-3) $300.00+. The Weldmart Centurion Idler PC boards (WM-2001) is half the cost, twice the warranty, and jhelps you become more self-sufficent.
