Ok guys. Promised I'd buy one and review it. Looked at Amazing and saw a bunch of 160 amp ones and then found the S7 200 amp Inverter Welder for $99.99. They had a 250 in a Morphon brand but it was another extra 25 bux.
Executive summary of the review is that it gets an A grade.
S7 was the store it sold from but I found that name only in one place and that was a sticker on the stinger holder bracket. The model is MMA/ARC200 in 120v/220volt Power Mosfet/IGBT controlled, DC welding power source. Came in a generic box that said made in China. The 7 half page manual came in the typical pigeon English that a lot of chinese manuals come with but I could manage to translate to regular English. Example: "6. Suitable for job of high-altitude and outdoor and fitment of inside or outside" and "3. Measure voltage volume if it is in waved arrange by AVOmeter".
Weight with cords and leads was 12.4 lbs so very light. The main power cord with a 220 volt Nema 6-50 plug was 64" long and labeled " UL SJT 3/G 12awg 3.31mm2 - 105 degree C UV-1 300V". The 3.31mm squared is the same as 12 gauge. The adapter with a Nema 6-50 plug to regular 120v 3 prong was 19" long so a total of 83" of plug in. The adapter is better than what I've seen on trailers. The Nema 6-50 plug is the standard 50 amp welding plug with a round ground on top with a taller and shorter vertical blades.
The main lead is 62" long labeled 1 x 16mm2 plus an 8" stinger. 16 mm squared is 5 awg. The ground is 39" long labeled the same plus a 7" clamp. Quality of the stinger and clamp is decent and I've seen worse. I burnt a couple rods down to the stinger and it is still ok. The angle grooves for holding rods aren't the deepest but I may file those and add another one for the angle I like. The plugs on the leads were the twist lock type.
Description said it came with the above cables, a bracket, 2 extra lead plugs, and a strap. Everything was there except the strap which doesn't matter to me. Ordered it on Saturday and said I would get it on Tuesday. Monday I see it says arrived at post office in Windsor, CT and coming by USPS so I figure it will be late. Tuesday I get a notice from Amazing that it was misslabeled and may be lost and they would issue me a refund if it doesn't arrive in a day or two. I got it on Wednesday and it arrived by UPS second day air from Denver. Amazing still says it may be lost and I can get a refund. Just looked and it says it is out of stock and they don't know when one will come in. Go figure. It did come with a card for a 10 buck Amazing gift card if I post a review.
They do have a 50 Amp Inverter plasma cutter for $269 which I may consider based on this one. The bracket has some slots for holding the stinger but not sure it was made to hold the welder although there were two positions where I could hang the welder on it if I screwed the bracket into the wall.
Ran a series of tests but the pics are on my phone so I will upload those in a post underneath. All tests were on 110 volt. I had 3/32" rod in 6011 and 7018 and the same rods in 1/8". Tested on the bench inside on some 1" plate and some 1/4" plate. All bench tests were plugged into a 50' long 12 awg extension cord. Turned it up to 200 amp with 1/8" 6011 on AC and tried cutting through the 1/4" plate and it basically all melted back in. Ran a bead and it kicked the 30 amp breaker which also had lights and a stock tank heater on it. Dropped it down to around 104 amps and tried different rods. It welded OK but kept kicking the breaker getting up around 150 amps. Unplugged the stock tank heater and then plugged the welder into a power strip. Then it would kick the power strip breaker. I don't claim to be an expert welder who can make good beads but it welded just fine around 104 amps on the bench with 3/32" rod. You can change the twist lock leads to reverse the polarity. Not sure I noticed much difference in splatter between AC and DC polarity.
Next day I took it outside with a 25' 12 gauge extension cord in 4 degree weather and this time I was plugged into a different 30 amp breaker and unplugged the stock tank heater on it so nothing else was on the breaker. I have my blade that is still rusted tight. So I began running beads up and down the swivel area using 1/8" rod at 104 amps, 125 amps, and 150 amps on DC polarity. Got plenty of penetration on all welds. Thought there was more splatter than I remember from my big welder but it didn't really show. I had to remember to keep pushing the rod to maintain the right distance or it would quit. It has the hot strike ability and always started up welding as long as I had the amps cranked up. It used a higher amp setting than what I would use on the big 220v welder for 1/8" rod. I had a 4 ton comealong pulling on that blade on one side and chain and boomer pulling on the other side. With all those beads and heat it never broke free. Guess I'll have to do some cutting on it.
Tried a vertical weld on the other swivel part and it did allright even though I haven't tried vertical welding in years. Last test was 1/8" rod at 197 amps and it cut a slot in a bracket about the width of the rod. Did all this and it never kicked the breaker. I did go in a couple times to warm my fingers otherwise it was all done in about a half hour.
At some point I will take it to the garage and plug it into a 220volt plug with 50 amp breaker and see what it will do.
So can I take it out on a 50' 12 gauge extension cord and weld with 1/8" rod on a 30 amp breaker? Yes. I give it an A. Pics to follow.
Executive summary of the review is that it gets an A grade.
S7 was the store it sold from but I found that name only in one place and that was a sticker on the stinger holder bracket. The model is MMA/ARC200 in 120v/220volt Power Mosfet/IGBT controlled, DC welding power source. Came in a generic box that said made in China. The 7 half page manual came in the typical pigeon English that a lot of chinese manuals come with but I could manage to translate to regular English. Example: "6. Suitable for job of high-altitude and outdoor and fitment of inside or outside" and "3. Measure voltage volume if it is in waved arrange by AVOmeter".
Weight with cords and leads was 12.4 lbs so very light. The main power cord with a 220 volt Nema 6-50 plug was 64" long and labeled " UL SJT 3/G 12awg 3.31mm2 - 105 degree C UV-1 300V". The 3.31mm squared is the same as 12 gauge. The adapter with a Nema 6-50 plug to regular 120v 3 prong was 19" long so a total of 83" of plug in. The adapter is better than what I've seen on trailers. The Nema 6-50 plug is the standard 50 amp welding plug with a round ground on top with a taller and shorter vertical blades.
The main lead is 62" long labeled 1 x 16mm2 plus an 8" stinger. 16 mm squared is 5 awg. The ground is 39" long labeled the same plus a 7" clamp. Quality of the stinger and clamp is decent and I've seen worse. I burnt a couple rods down to the stinger and it is still ok. The angle grooves for holding rods aren't the deepest but I may file those and add another one for the angle I like. The plugs on the leads were the twist lock type.
Description said it came with the above cables, a bracket, 2 extra lead plugs, and a strap. Everything was there except the strap which doesn't matter to me. Ordered it on Saturday and said I would get it on Tuesday. Monday I see it says arrived at post office in Windsor, CT and coming by USPS so I figure it will be late. Tuesday I get a notice from Amazing that it was misslabeled and may be lost and they would issue me a refund if it doesn't arrive in a day or two. I got it on Wednesday and it arrived by UPS second day air from Denver. Amazing still says it may be lost and I can get a refund. Just looked and it says it is out of stock and they don't know when one will come in. Go figure. It did come with a card for a 10 buck Amazing gift card if I post a review.
They do have a 50 Amp Inverter plasma cutter for $269 which I may consider based on this one. The bracket has some slots for holding the stinger but not sure it was made to hold the welder although there were two positions where I could hang the welder on it if I screwed the bracket into the wall.
Ran a series of tests but the pics are on my phone so I will upload those in a post underneath. All tests were on 110 volt. I had 3/32" rod in 6011 and 7018 and the same rods in 1/8". Tested on the bench inside on some 1" plate and some 1/4" plate. All bench tests were plugged into a 50' long 12 awg extension cord. Turned it up to 200 amp with 1/8" 6011 on AC and tried cutting through the 1/4" plate and it basically all melted back in. Ran a bead and it kicked the 30 amp breaker which also had lights and a stock tank heater on it. Dropped it down to around 104 amps and tried different rods. It welded OK but kept kicking the breaker getting up around 150 amps. Unplugged the stock tank heater and then plugged the welder into a power strip. Then it would kick the power strip breaker. I don't claim to be an expert welder who can make good beads but it welded just fine around 104 amps on the bench with 3/32" rod. You can change the twist lock leads to reverse the polarity. Not sure I noticed much difference in splatter between AC and DC polarity.
Next day I took it outside with a 25' 12 gauge extension cord in 4 degree weather and this time I was plugged into a different 30 amp breaker and unplugged the stock tank heater on it so nothing else was on the breaker. I have my blade that is still rusted tight. So I began running beads up and down the swivel area using 1/8" rod at 104 amps, 125 amps, and 150 amps on DC polarity. Got plenty of penetration on all welds. Thought there was more splatter than I remember from my big welder but it didn't really show. I had to remember to keep pushing the rod to maintain the right distance or it would quit. It has the hot strike ability and always started up welding as long as I had the amps cranked up. It used a higher amp setting than what I would use on the big 220v welder for 1/8" rod. I had a 4 ton comealong pulling on that blade on one side and chain and boomer pulling on the other side. With all those beads and heat it never broke free. Guess I'll have to do some cutting on it.
Tried a vertical weld on the other swivel part and it did allright even though I haven't tried vertical welding in years. Last test was 1/8" rod at 197 amps and it cut a slot in a bracket about the width of the rod. Did all this and it never kicked the breaker. I did go in a couple times to warm my fingers otherwise it was all done in about a half hour.
At some point I will take it to the garage and plug it into a 220volt plug with 50 amp breaker and see what it will do.
So can I take it out on a 50' 12 gauge extension cord and weld with 1/8" rod on a 30 amp breaker? Yes. I give it an A. Pics to follow.