HTP InverArc 160 Plus DV - Dual-Voltage Stick/TIG welder

[Oscar]

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
• 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 will properly 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.

[Oscar]

Oops, on the Hot-start and Arc Force, I meant to say, "No adjustability on Hot-start nor on Arc-force".

[lugweld]

Nice unit from WTL, same as the esab factory.

[El Greco]

Oscar,

just saw this machine today on the HTP site and your review. Any thoughts on how this compares to the Esab 180 mini rogue? I have an HTP 221 Tig but for me it does not run normal Lincoln 6010 very well at all. I think you stated yours does good, but you are probably a better stick welder than me. Anyway I would like one of these small lunchbox and the price on this one is really good.

Tony

[kize]

Oscar,

just saw this machine today on the HTP site and your review. Any thoughts on how this compares to the Esab 180 mini rogue? I have an HTP 221 Tig but for me it does not run normal Lincoln 6010 very well at all. I think you stated yours does good, but you are probably a better stick welder than me. Anyway I would like one of these small lunchbox and the price on this one is really good.

Tony

I have the esab 180 rogue. I have been super impressed with it. 6010 is a breeze. I love the portability of it.

[Oscar]

Oscar,

just saw this machine today on the HTP site and your review. Any thoughts on how this compares to the Esab 180 mini rogue? I have an HTP 221 Tig but for me it does not run normal Lincoln 6010 very well at all. I think you stated yours does good, but you are probably a better stick welder than me. Anyway I would like one of these small lunchbox and the price on this one is really good.

Tony

IMO, the 221 is a better 6010 stick welder than then Invertig 160. To me, Lincoln 5P+ and 6P+ are the easiest of the 6010s to run, and the 221 does it very well. I've never used the Esab 180 mini rogue so I can't compare it.

[Sberry]

How much $?

[Oscar]

Right now its $499 shipped, but they said in a flyer that is introductory pricing.

[Welder Dave]

You should try it with 5P+ before commenting on how well it will work. 5P+ is the most common 6010 so could be used as a baseline. If it struggles with 5P+ it may be worse with other brands of 6010. Some might be better though. Since practice rooms are all but gone from welding supplies, it would be nice if manufacturers could at least have videos of their machines (particularly the lower end machines) using different rods. You buy and XMT350 and it doesn't weld how you like, you send it back. The higher end machines tend to live up to their expectations. The tiny portables are great when you have to climb 270 steps to the top of a roller coaster to do repairs. Pic. 8 shows where the stairs start. It's a long way up. First we ran a power cords up and then just had to carry a small inverter. Way easier than dragging welding cables up and the biggest advantage is you can set your heat right there. Remotes are generally limited to 100 feet. A good video of the stairs to the top too.

https://rcdb.com/193.htm#p=54237

[Oscar]

You should try it with 5P+ before commenting on how well it will work. 5P+ is the most common 6010 so could be used as a baseline.]

Yes, I already commented on that specifically here:

Despite the rather low OCV of 55V, it will properly 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.

In this context, will = does.

[Welder Dave]

OK, I wasn't sure if it was you doing the testing or HTP making the claims? The first machine I used was a Thermal Arc and it was a decent welder. I'm sure there have been improvements along the way too. The tiny inverters are the bomb for a lot of applications.

[Oscar]

Testing E6010s was the first thing I did because it is somehow the "gold standard" for a stick welder. If it can work with those, the rest are eazy peazy.

[DenimDann]

Have you tried this on a generator yet?

[Oscar]

Not yet, but I can.

[precivilization]

Oscar, can the pro pulse 220 do 6010?


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[Oscar]

Oscar, can the pro pulse 220 do 6010?


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Nope, but the Pro Pulse 300 does.

[Sberry]

What is Millers similar model and how much does each cost now?

[Sberry]

I see the Esab 180 is 5 bones less than the 160S from the same dealer. Esab has went down the road to compete with the HTP. Good for the customers from a value perspective.

[cornchip]

miller has the maxstar 160 but its $1500 for the base model. for that amount of money you can get into the fronius transpocket180 and get 20 more amps and a much better duty cyle across the board. hek the transpocket180 duty cycle is neck to neck and even beats the maxstar210 in some areas

[Sberry]

I paid 8 for my Max 15+ years ago. Can do the work for 1/2 that now. The blue makes us look pro,,, ha, but not that anyone knows or cares. I have never used it 240 except for a stick or 2 test in the shop. I could easily get by with 120V unit for this. I dont need it in home shop, already have machines in place. It used to be a pain, had to haul engine drive everywhere for everything. Only down side is I need to test the old machine from time to time just in case. I really dont need it for my own but occasional customer. Used engine 3 or 4 times in the last 10 years.

[Oscar]

Have you tried this on a generator yet?

I tried on my generator but no luck, seems it doesn't like the voltage/frequency swings upon arc strike and it just cuts out, so I wouldn't recommend it. Household power it's rock solid.

[Brand X]

I tried on my generator but no luck, seems it doesn't like the voltage/frequency swings upon arc strike and it just cuts out, so I wouldn't recommend it. Household power it's rock solid.

Just about every inverter has generators it likes, and it dislikes.. My Lorch would not really turn on correctly with one of mine, and will run fantastic on my engine drive's 460/3 phase. My INE skyline 1500 will not turn on on generators it does not like the look of the power.

[DenimDann]

I tried on my generator but no luck, seems it doesn't like the voltage/frequency swings upon arc strike and it just cuts out, so I wouldn't recommend it. Household power it's rock solid.

Bummer, thank you for testing it.

[Brand X]

Since it's a basic machine like the Thermal Arc 161i (and might be the same machine) It should run fine on a quality generator. 120 or tested on 240 volts? if you don't list the generator, then not really any info that matters.. It could and should run as well as a Thermal did on one..(which was excellent) Measure the peak amp draw at starting the arc. Might just be too much for your generator to handle. I never had a issue from a 30 amp Champion 120 volt inverter generator starting a small welder except my Pee Wee Thermal.
It would draw something like 60 amps for a micro second on starting the arc. It would run on a 6000 watt MQ unit fine.

[Oscar]

Since it's a basic machine like the Thermal Arc 161i (and might be the same machine) It should run fine on a quality generator. 120 or tested on 240 volts? if you don't list the generator, then not really any info that matters.. It could and should run as well as a Thermal did on one..(which was excellent) Measure the peak amp draw at starting the arc. Might just be too much for your generator to handle. I never had a issue from a 30 amp Champion 120 volt inverter generator starting a small welder except my Pee Wee Thermal.
It would draw something like 60 amps for a micro second on starting the arc. It would run on a 6000 watt MQ unit fine.

Good point, I posted last night after I was really tired and dragged myself out to test it out.

The generator is, IMO, a pretty good one it's a Troy-Bilt 7000XP; 7kw Running, 10.5kW Max, Troy-Bilt says <6% THD and has ran my other welders pretty good. I tested both on 120V and 240V. On 120V attempting to strike an arc above ~70A resulted in the fussiness. On 240V it was a little worse, I'm guessing the hot-start is a little hotter on 240V operation. Anything above ~65A and it started getting fussy. My ammeters won't see the hot-start amperage unfortunately, they register a little too late after the peak has subsided. If I had to subjectively compare the arc start on the Inverarc 160 Plus to my other stick capable welders, I'd say it's in the +35% to +40% range. It definitely has a substantial kick to it.