14 pin vs 6 pin Miller Foot Pedals

[Jim Caudill]

I recently acquired a Maxstar 150STH that came with a rotary hand control. I have very little experience with hand controls at all, and when I did use them, it was a sliding linear pot.

I also have an XMT300 Miller multi-process welder with a Miller 14 pin foot control. A new Miller 6 pin foot control that "mates" with the Maxstar costs around $250 in the real world (lowest found $231 + shipping). SCS makes a compatible foot pedal for around $160 (on ebay), more at their website (go figure).

I PM'ed Macona (who knows all things regarding such matters) and he advised to get a new Miller pedal. After doing more research, I found that Miller makes an adapter cable that will allow me to use my existing 14 pin foot pedal with the Maxstar. The part number for this adapter is 30057 and the cheapest price I found was $36 @ Miller4less.com. List price seems hard to pin down, but others sell this adapter for between $45 and $55.

I plan on leaving the adapter plugged in to the Maxstar and just move the pedal back and forth as necessary.

Apparently most (all?) Miller welders use the same electrical characteristics for their foot pedals. So, making adapters (or purchasing them) seems like a reasonable alternative if you already own one, or find a good deal on one that isn't a direct match.

I thought having this information "out there" in a searchable form would be a good idea.

You could make your own, but it would cost you more. The 14 pin connector is an Amphenol 97 series and the 6 pin is made by Switchcraft IIRC. Even buying from a discounter, you will pay around $30 to get the Amphenol, but it will be a metal connector and not plastic. The Switchcraft will also cost you around $30. So, you'd have $60 plus shipping and assembly labor, but you'd actually have a higher quality adapter than the 30057 made by Miller. I'm pretty easy on my equipment, so the factory adapter should work just fine for me. If you were carrying this on a truck, you might feel differently.

[oxford]

Thats nice to know that there is an adapter out there. I have been spending some time with a maxstar recently, and I will have to say that I don't really like the hand control that they supply with it. Besides making the torch really bulky, I feel that it takes way too much turn of the wheel to go from off to full amps and then back down when using HF starts.

[gnm109]

As far as I know, Miller uses only five pins of the 14 on their large 14 pin connector.

[Billd]

like the previous guy said, I have 14pin receptacle on my dynasty 200 and the foot pedal only uses 5 pins and the hand control only uses 6 of the pins. I'm not sure why you'd need an adapter unless your connector just doesn't fit the receptacle period?

[macona]

They usually use 6 pins. Pot (CW, Wiper, CCW), Switch (2 wires) and cable shield. Sometime the cable shield is ignored.

The 14 pin connector itself is used for a lot of things. It provides data and power for accessories like the Optima pendant and power for the spoolmatic adapter.

[oxford]

like the previous guy said, I have 14pin receptacle on my dynasty 200 and the foot pedal only uses 5 pins and the hand control only uses 6 of the pins. I'm not sure why you'd need an adapter unless your connector just doesn't fit the receptacle period?

The maxstar uses a different stlye plug than the dynasty. The maxstar only has 6 pins in it where the dynasty has 14(but only uses 6 of them)

[Jim Caudill]

Bill, here's a picture (worth a thousand words, etc)


The 6 pin connector has a barrel diameter of less than 1/2", the 14 pin has a barrel diameter of about 1-1/4".
The part numbers required for the 14 pin adapter is amp 213650 for the main connector and it uses the amp 206070-8 cable clamp assy that screws on the back. Finally, you will need around 6 of the 66565-7 tin plated sockets.

For the 6 pin connector, you will need a Switchcraft EN3C6M connector.

I understand SCS (aftermarket welding controls) sells the Switchcraft connector with a wired pigtail for around $30. The Switchcraft connector is available for less than $7 and the amp componets will set you back close to $20. The 30057 adapter costs around $37 from R&M Welding Products in Wilder, Ky (doing business as "miller4less.com"). If you order less that $100 from them, they hit you with a $10 surcharge. Mine came delivered for $47.

[oxford]

It's really a shame that Miller just doesn't use the same plug on all of there newer machines. Same for the torch/ground adapters.