Why does the remote control stutter while a welding machine is running?
A welding arc is by its nature a wideband noise source; it pollutes not a single frequency but a wide part of the spectrum at once. That is why methods effective against narrowband interference, such as frequency hopping, give only partial benefit against a welding arc. While the arc is on, the receiver's noise floor rises, the SNR falls and packets are discarded at the CRC, so the command is cut.
Stuttering during welding is typically intermittent and synchronous with the arc: motion pauses when the arc strikes and returns to normal when the arc stops. This pattern makes the problem all but certain.
Measures that can be taken:
- Move the receiver antenna as far as possible from the welding area and the welding cables; distance is the single most effective variable here.
- Connect the welding earth (ground) clamp as close to the work as possible. A long and roundabout return path causes the current to flow over the machine chassis and creates a large radiating loop.
- Do not take the receiver supply line from the same socket as the welding machine; it superimposes noise through the common impedance.
- Do not route the antenna cable parallel to the welding cables.
- On safety-critical work, make it a procedure to separate welding and remote-controlled motion in time.
Every 6 dB increase in the noise floor halves the effective range. Since a welding arc is a temporary event, the correct behaviour of the system is to discard corrupted packets by CRC and, if the timeout expires, to stop the motion safely; not to continue moving on uncertain data.
Full topic: 433 MHz or 2.4 GHz?