Just got this new little guy from HTP. It looks like they're wanting to compete with some of the other "lunchbox" stick welder offerings from other companies, with a few advantages.
Thinking it was going to be a box-inside-a-box, I was pleasantly surprised it came with a pretty big plastic carry case. The small box had the work/ground clamp, HTP stick welding gloves, and HTP T-shirt.
The case is not uber-high quality, but it's better than nothing. The large size lets you put the gloves and plenty other stuff inside with so much space.
Initial observations:
Power cord is a nice, soft flexible rubber 12/3 cord with a 6-50P plug, 10 feet long
Work/ground clamp is pretty normal 400A rating, cable is 10 feet long.
Stinger is 250A rated, good strong spring as one would expect in a good stinger. Cable is 15 feet long.
both clamp and stinger have USA-made Flex-a-prene 4awg cable, very flexible, and both are included with the welder
No Arc Force nor Hot-start adjustability
can be used for TIG (not sure if scratch-start or lift-start yet)
has a PFC circuit so I assume it can run from ~90V to ~270V, and I would be willing to bet it will run on a wide variety of portable generators, where as other cheaper/lower-quality inverter stick welders will void your warranty unless you have clean power with <5% THD. That is usually one major advantage of a PFC circuit.
Low-end is 7 amps.
receptacles are standard Dinse 35, ½" size.
Duty cycle is very respectable
As you can see it's not Italian, but none the less the performance is on-par with the stick-welding side of my Pro Pulse 220MTS
Despite the rather low OCV of 55V, it willproperly run 5P+ and 6P+ 6010s, Hyweld 6010s, but not Blue Demon nor Böhler Fox 6010s. The latter doesn't matter too much, since the Lincoln 6010s are the better smoother running 6010s anyways, IMO.
by "properly" I mean no beating around the bush and "forcing it" by burying the rod in the puddle the way a cheap small inverter stick welder would require. You can whip and drag using a normal 6010 arc length, and the arc will not extinguish when a lesser quality welder would.
As one can expect, to go over 95ish amps on 120V, you do need more breaker than a standard 120V/20A breaker. I1max is 33A, so to get the full 125A on a 120V outlet, you do need a 30A breaker.
The arc dynamic/performance does not decrease when using it on 120V vs 240V. I assume this is a secondary benefit of the PFC circuit; where as in other cheaper inverter welders, if you are not on 240V you see a noticeable decrease in arc intensity when on 120V at the same welding amperage.
More info tomorrow after I do some more testing.
Last edited by Oscar on Sun Oct 17, 2021 5:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
Seems pretty good indeed... I tried to check on their website and its's there but I am arriving on a «page not found». Can you tell us how much you paid for this one?
Good to know it can run 6010 decently... It is hard to figure these days — which one will, based on specs...
[*]has a PFC circuit so I assume it can run from ~90V to ~270V,
[/quote]
no.
PFC is power factor correction, voltage correction is a different ball game.
PFC makes it more efficient so it draws less mains current. very handy if your pushing the limits of the circuit breaker.
voltage correction means it will draw more mains current to make up for lack of mains voltage to give the same welding output.
The case is not uber quality but will last you a heap of time. And will keep the welder immaculate in most conditions. I have the same case for my decade old rooter. It looks abit like the welder too. Just smurfed up a bit
If it is similar it will be bulletproof and accurate for many years.
Rodbelan wrote: ↑Sun Oct 17, 2021 12:31 am
Seems pretty good indeed... I tried to check on their website and its's there but I am arriving on a «page not found». Can you tell us how much you paid for this one?
Good to know it can run 6010 decently... It is hard to figure these days — which one will, based on specs...
It's not there because they're still working on the webpage and the manual for it. Right now it's $499 shipped, because it's already on-sale for Black Friday. I was told regular price will be higher after Black Friday, in the ~$600 range.
tweake wrote: ↑Sun Oct 17, 2021 12:45 am
no.
PFC is power factor correction, voltage correction is a different ball game.
PFC makes it more efficient so it draws less mains current. very handy if your pushing the limits of the circuit breaker.
voltage correction means it will draw more mains current to make up for lack of mains voltage to give the same welding output.
Then it must be something else that I had read about. I know a lot of 'dual voltage' inverter welders can actually run on a wide-range of input voltage like I mentioned.
Gdarc21 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 17, 2021 3:11 am
The case is not uber quality but will last you a heap of time. And will keep the welder immaculate in most conditions. I have the same case for my decade old rooter. It looks abit like the welder too. Just smurfed up a bit
If it is similar it will be bulletproof and accurate for many years.
Very similar to that one it appears, but with DV capability and PFC.
Last edited by Oscar on Sun Oct 17, 2021 8:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Rodbelan wrote: ↑Sun Oct 17, 2021 12:31 am
Seems pretty good indeed... I tried to check on their website and its's there but I am arriving on a «page not found». Can you tell us how much you paid for this one?
Good to know it can run 6010 decently... It is hard to figure these days — which one will, based on specs...
It's not there because they're still working on the webpage and the manual for it. Right now it's $499 shipped, because it's already on-sale already for Black Friday. I was told regular price will be higher after Black Friday, in the ~$600 range.
one of the things i hate here is they charge an absolute fortune for PFC models. typically double the price, for $5 worth of extra circuit.
At that price and that brand I’d nearly get one.
I know what you mean tweake but our power isn’t really that bad at least eastern Aust, only generators and even they are close enough To ok.
I was looking longingly a while ago at the MTS 200 from CK, and then I thought I recognised the knobs, sure enough it is a Unimig 180 AC/DC with 20 extra amps, which the 180 would unofficially put out anyway with a different control panel bolted in..........good switches, not the frustrating ‘all doing solo knob’, I know they work exactly the same. and all the official CK gear of course, while it is still a great buy, if that’s what it is I will save the few hundred in postage
You mean the Esab Rogue 180i... Yeah, seems like a great machine, just more expensive though... The HTP interarc 160 is just 499$. On Ebay, I can certainly get a Rogue 180i for about that amount of money from Dublin Ireland. It is still a dual voltage but I do not know why they would need it in UK. And it comes with a 2 pin plug that I would need to change for a NA 3 pin prong... Not too sure about that one (changing the plug and keeping dual voltage function).
I use some Esabs, but they make great welders and some boat achors that are sold as welders. If you are not sure always go HTP or jasic. Features are just features some times but quality is important just my opinion
You're collecting enough machines it's only fair you start sending them out on vacations for others to play with for a little while .
Any toaster welder that'll even keep any brand of 6010 lit the entire rod at all let alone let you whip and such without worry still impresses me, not to mention the fact I believe you said it runs 6010 the same on 120v as 240v also. As far as I'm concerned 5p and 5p+ are the only 6010 worth worrying about anyway, I'm always open to the idea of improving on perfection, but 5p and 5p+ are the standards for a reason based on the other brands of 6010 I've tried.
I think many people overestimate just how many machines out there will actually burn a 6010, a $3600 Multimatic 220 with associated arc force settings and such won't even come close to keeping one lit from person experience. I've used an everlast with a 6010 setting even that still really wouldn't reliably keep one lit for a whole rod even if you babied it. I rarely see it mentioned but it's not even an inverter phenomenon either, I had an old transformer AC/DC buzz box that couldn't keep a 6010 lit either. Personally my theory is it that it's some sort of inductance related issue or at least how well the machine filters sine wave from the primary power source into DC, I've noticed on cheaper machines, especially that old AC/DC machine, I would could read a sizable portion of the OCV with my multimeter set to AC while measuring the DC output, compare that to a DC power source that has extremely good filtering like a laptop charger or desktop power source and It'll read practically zero when set on AC. There's a whole lot of fluctuation going on in some "DC" machines.
Yup, I agree. A few here and there have tested additional inductance and it seems to definitely help. Peeking into the front vent I can see a decent sized toroid with good sized wire wrapped around it. I should take it apart and have a better look inside. I also agree on the 5P/5P+. Böhler comes in at a very close 2nd. I hear Kiswel 6010s run well, but I haven't tried those, only their 6013s. "Ebay 6010s" from Hyweld run decently well, as do Anchor brand 6010s, but I feel like those are more like 6011s. Reason is, my super cheap inverter welders won't run 5P/5P+/Böhler/Blue Demon/Best Weld 6010s, but they will run the Hyweld & Anchor. So IMO, they are more closely related to 6011s than true 6010s.
Anyone can come to weld their stuff at my house. Machines usage and electricity usage free of charge. Just bring your own shielding gas and consumables.
Oscar wrote: ↑Tue Oct 19, 2021 9:10 pm
Yup, I agree. A few here and there have tested additional inductance and it seems to definitely help. Peeking into the front vent I can see a decent sized toroid with good sized wire wrapped around it. I should take it apart and have a better look inside. I also agree on the 5P/5P+. Böhler comes in at a very close 2nd. I hear Kiswel 6010s run well, but I haven't tried those, only their 6013s. "Ebay 6010s" from Hyweld run decently well, as do Anchor brand 6010s, but I feel like those are more like 6011s. Reason is, my super cheap inverter welders won't run 5P/5P+/Böhler/Blue Demon/Best Weld 6010s, but they will run the Hyweld & Anchor. So IMO, they are more closely related to 6011s than true 6010s.
Anyone can come to weld their stuff at my house. Machines usage and electricity usage free of charge. Just bring your own shielding gas and consumables.
I've also noticed that most the machines generally regarded as the gold standard for 6010 performance inverters included tend to have a bit more heft on average than those that aren't. My invertec 275 weighed a solid 55lbs, I'm not saying that's especially heavy or extremely disproportionate considering the max output of 275 amps, but you're also talking a machine that has no gas solenoid, zero HF system, just purely an inverter stick/lift arc tig welder, there are 200 amp inverter based stick welders that weigh 15lbs. Perhaps it was just a bit heavier than you'd expect due to slightly older technology, but I also wouldn't be surprised if a good 10-15lbs of that weight came from beefed up, larger than normal internals, additional or larger capacitors etc to help it run stick electrodes especially 6010 as ideally as possible, I could light a 6010 and just draw that arc back further and further and further until I practically had a 3 inch arc length and it'd stay lit. The Multimatic 220 weighs more or less exactly the same despite having a wirefeeder system, dual gas solonoids, HF tig ignition etc. Yes different max outputs so apples to oranges, but I still find it a little odd, I wish I'd opened the invertec up when I'd owned it to see just how it was built and if anything seemed oversized etc.
I'm not an EE nor do I know a lot about welder circuitry, so I'll just leave it at that.
Plastic protective sheets on both sides, likely to protect against accidental short-circuits if the case is bent inwards
No cheesy super-large globs of solder anywhere, like you see on some very low tier welders. Boards are lacquer coated. It's not super thick like my other welders, but none the less, it is there.
Very large fan for the size of the internals.
What I can see is that this thing is nearly all heat-sink inside. I like how the fins themselves are "corrugatted", so the fins themselves have fins for more surface area for better heat dissipation. Can't remember if I've seen that before or not.
I could've been an EE if I hadn't became a welder instead so I'm not either, but I have at least an elementary understanding of both due to it, and you're right, that is one HELL of a heat sink setup. It makes sense though, the better you can dissipate heat the smaller you can pack it, and the harder you can push the components. It's actually a really efficient cooling design, you've got two massive heat sinks spanning the entire machine that will have basically perfect direct air flow through them at all times. For example when building computers cooling isn't just about how many fans you have installed or even how many are pulling air in vs pushing it out, instead ideally for example you'd want a pair of fans pulling air in directly across your GPU than pushing it out on the other side preventing all the hot air from one of if not the largest heat generating component getting pulled through your CPU radiator exhaust fans instead.
In short you've got a lot of heat sink there and nowhere for the air to go but directly through them, that's going to function a lot more efficiently than simply pulling cool air in from somewhere and pushing hot air out from somewhere else where the heat sink fins might not have any actual air flow over them at all and they're simply radiating heat outward into the case to eventually be vented out. You'd kind of have to build inline heat sinks to fit in a machine this small, but my point is those aren't just massive heat sinks, they're going to be efficient ones too.
Another sign of build quality is the appearance of the solder itself, good solder joints should be bright and shiny, while cold or otherwise poor soldering almost always takes on a dull haze.
Thanks for your in-depth look at this welder Oscar. Will begin welding this spring and have spent months trying to decide which unit to start with. Looks like the HTP 160 will be my choice.
Gdarc21 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 17, 2021 3:11 am
The case is not uber quality but will last you a heap of time. And will keep the welder immaculate in most conditions. I have the same case for my decade old rooter. It looks abit like the welder too. Just smurfed up a bit
If it is similar it will be bulletproof and accurate for many years.
I have this same little CIG but mine has HF on the tig function and down slope/post flow.
Not an advanced tig by any means but a real handy little machine for remote jobs with the luxury of HF and gas solenoid.
Just smurfed up a bit 
