A method and apparatus provides
welding-type power and preferably includes a removable battery or other
energy storage device, a converter connected to the battery, and a controller. The controller may have a CV and / or a CSC and / or an AC weld control module, and / or an ac auxiliary control module. The converter is a
boost converter, a
buck converter, a cuk converter, a
forward converter, an
inverter, a bridge converter, and / or a
resonant converter. The controller may include a battery charging control module, and may have one or more charging schedules, and / or data for stored charge, thermal information, expected life of the battery, maximum amp-hour charge for the battery, maximum charging current and / or feedback. The battery charging schedules may include at least 3 phases, such as a phase of increasing
voltage and a phase of decreasing current, a substantially
constant power phase. The controller can wirelessly provide data to a display or pda. A generator may provide power to the battery, charger, and / or the weld. It can include a vehicle and use its dc power
system.