A welding wire feeder comprising: a welding wire feed drive configured to drive welding wire towards a welding application; wire feed control circuitry coupled to the welding wire feed drive and configured to control the drive of welding wire towards the welding application; power conversion circuitry configured to receive input power and to convert the input power to welding output suitable for a welding application, wherein the power conversion circuitry comprises a boost converter, an internal bus, a bus capacitor connected to the boost converter through the internal bus, and configured to store energy and to discharge at least a portion of the stored energy during an overdraw event, wherein the overdraw event is a period of time when the demand welding output is greater than the DC bus power the boost converter may provide to the internal bus; an output voltage sensor configured to measure output voltage of the welding output; an output current sensor configured to measure output current of the welding output; and control circuitry coupled to the power conversion circuitry, to the output voltage sensor, and to the output current sensor, characterized in that the power conversion circuitry further comprises a buck converter electrically coupled through the internal bus between the bus capacitor and the welding output, wherein the buck converter draws energy stored in the bus capacitor to supplement the input power converted to the welding output during overdraw events when the welding output exceeds the input power, the internal bus protecting the boost converter from the overdraw event by supplying some of the stored energy of the bus capacitor to the buck converter while the voltage of the bus capacitor is greater than a desired protection voltage. a welding wire feed drive configured to drive welding wire towards a welding application; wire feed control circuitry coupled to the welding wire feed drive and configured to control the drive of welding wire towards the welding application; power conversion circuitry configured to receive input power and to convert the input power to welding output suitable for a welding application, wherein the power conversion circuitry comprises a boost converter, an internal bus, a bus capacitor connected to the boost converter through the internal bus, and configured to store energy and to discharge at least a portion of the stored energy during an overdraw event, wherein the overdraw event is a period of time when the demand welding output is greater than the DC bus power the boost converter may provide to the internal bus; an output voltage sensor configured to measure output voltage of the welding output; an output current sensor configured to measure output current of the welding output; and control circuitry coupled to the power conversion circuitry, to the output voltage sensor, and to the output current sensor, characterized in that the power conversion circuitry further comprises a buck converter electrically coupled through the internal bus between the bus capacitor and the welding output, wherein the buck converter draws energy stored in the bus capacitor to supplement the input power converted to the welding output during overdraw events when the welding output exceeds the input power, the internal bus protecting the boost converter from the overdraw event by supplying some of the stored energy of the bus capacitor to the buck converter while the voltage of the bus capacitor is greater than a desired protection voltage.