A welding-type system comprising: a power source having a controller to regulate welding operations for at least one welder; a wireless communication system (12, 40) configured to receive a wireless signal and provide the wireless signal to the controller for controlling the at least one welder according to at least one operational parameter indicated by the wireless signal; characterized by a pairing apparatus coupled to the wireless communication system (12, 40), and configured to: identify a wireless remote control capable of communicating with the wireless communication system (12, 40); sensing if the wireless remote control is not programmed by communicating with the wireless remote control over the wireless communication system (12, 40) to remotely access the at least one operational parameter for the welding operations; and initiate a code download to the wireless remote control using an over-the-air programming protocol when the wireless remote control is in an un-programmed state to configure the wireless remote control to select the at least one operational parameter and communicate the at least one operational parameter using the wireless signal to the controller, wherein the pairing apparatus is configured to determine a type of configurable interface of the wireless remote control and a plurality of buttons of the wireless remote control and select a code download from a plurality of code downloads to be delivered to the wireless remote control using the over-the-air programming protocol. a power source having a controller to regulate welding operations for at least one welder; a wireless communication system (12, 40) configured to receive a wireless signal and provide the wireless signal to the controller for controlling the at least one welder according to at least one operational parameter indicated by the wireless signal; characterized by a pairing apparatus coupled to the wireless communication system (12, 40), and configured to: identify a wireless remote control capable of communicating with the wireless communication system (12, 40); sensing if the wireless remote control is not programmed by communicating with the wireless remote control over the wireless communication system (12, 40) to remotely access the at least one operational parameter for the welding operations; and initiate a code download to the wireless remote control using an over-the-air programming protocol when the wireless remote control is in an un-programmed state to configure the wireless remote control to select the at least one operational parameter and communicate the at least one operational parameter using the wireless signal to the controller, wherein the pairing apparatus is configured to determine a type of configurable interface of the wireless remote control and a plurality of buttons of the wireless remote control and select a code download from a plurality of code downloads to be delivered to the wireless remote control using the over-the-air programming protocol. identify a wireless remote control capable of communicating with the wireless communication system (12, 40); sensing if the wireless remote control is not programmed by communicating with the wireless remote control over the wireless communication system (12, 40) to remotely access the at least one operational parameter for the welding operations; and initiate a code download to the wireless remote control using an over-the-air programming protocol when the wireless remote control is in an un-programmed state to configure the wireless remote control to select the at least one operational parameter and communicate the at least one operational parameter using the wireless signal to the controller, wherein the pairing apparatus is configured to determine a type of configurable interface of the wireless remote control and a plurality of buttons of the wireless remote control and select a code download from a plurality of code downloads to be delivered to the wireless remote control using the over-the-air programming protocol.