In a constant-voltage welding system, increasing wire feed speed (WFS) while voltage remains constant will generally cause the welding current to

• A. Increase
• B. Remain the same
• C. Decrease
• D. Fluctuate

Answer: (A)

In a constant-voltage welding system, the arc length is kept roughly fixed by the voltage, so the current rises mainly with how much wire is fed into the arc. When you increase the wire feed speed while the voltage stays the same, more filler metal must be melted and transferred each moment, and the power available from the source is drawn as higher current to supply that extra metal. So the arc current increases. It wouldn’t stay the same or decrease, since more wire requires more heat to melt, and while there may be transient fluctuations in practice, the general trend at fixed voltage is an upward change in current.