S7 Arc 250 - $80 Stick Welder That Runs 6010? Gem or Junk? 

😂60 bucks can get u another on

That's looks like a nice unit but at the current price of 320$ the value is not so great. The key to the Chinese units is to get one with 4 IGBTs rather than only 2. A lot of the chinese models had 4 igbt's when they were introduced, only to be later cheapened up to only 2 igbt's and a much smaller torroid transformer. Those can only top out at approx 120A. I have the 220V version of the one reviewed here and it has 4 igbts and a suitably chunky transformer. It's a rare configuration, and since apparently everyone wants 110v capability, the 220v model has been discounted to 59 bucks now. It's a steal at that price and quite capable, especially after replacing the sh!te shorty aluminum cables it ships with.

I have a Hitbox Arc200D Mini that was $62. The leads were garbage. 2' cheap ground clamp and a stinger that I didn't trust. I bought Ssmider leads for $29 and thing is great. I have not put an amp clamp on it to see what it actually does. But I set the amps per the chart and rod and it just runs great. I grew up welding with Lincoln and Century A/C machines. 6011 and 7014 run buttery smooth. 7018 runs if it's good dry rod. I obviously don't use an oven with a $60 welder

@@GannDolph Do you know of any cheap current models with 4 igbts?

If you keep the output amperage low, it would probably work okay on a 20 amp circuit. But if you run the welder maxed out it will trip a 20 amp breaker pretty quick.

Other than a few negative standouts, most of them are pretty similar. The Kicking Horse A220 was unique in that it could provide the full claimed output, despite the tiny size. Overall that one wasn't bad. It was a bit more expensive and 240V only though. The Deko 160 amps welder was decent for the money. Even the Yeswelder ARC205 DS worked okay, it just doesn't have the 200 amps claimed. It is 160 amps max. The Juba ZX7 works well for the money, though it's 240V only. I don't have long term use data for any of them. I can't say how well each will hold up or which are more likely to fail. But I think when you are dealing with stuff like this, you have to be willing to accept the chance that any of them could fail and warranty may be questionable.

@@bigtb1717 thanks im on 240v uk anyway, ive got a cheap mig but its heavy

These types of welders almost all include copper clad aluminum cables. No special need for them, they are just cheaper. You can stick with the aluminum or upgrade to copper. It should work either way. Could you mean the TL-135S (with an S, not a 5 at the end)? I only ask because my guess is that you have a fairly standard arc welder. A welder is either an arc welder or an induction welder, not both. Induction welders are fairly specialized pieces of equipment that heat metal by surrounding it in high frequency, changing magnetic fields. They are VERY different from standard welders.

@@bigtb1717 Thank you, I think I will upgrade the cables then, and yes, it's probably the TL-135S. Cheap stick only welder off Amazon.

Happy to help. I've ordered welding cables right off Amazon before. You probably don't have to swap out the cables, but it is nice to have longer cables. Plus, good cables can be used with another machine down the line if you ever upgrade.

@@bigtb1717 Thanks! I just have a small sheet metal repair to do, and I'm trying to get the best results out of 110v@15amp only. I will be able to get 220v@30amp later once I install an outlet in the right place, but I just figured anything I could do to help facilitate good conductivity in the meantime would probably help.

@@SkyForgeVideos how are you finding it at lower settings?

I get rid of a lot of these machines, so I don't think I still have this machine to double-check. However, a lot of machines do use the heatsink as one of the sides of the output circuit (usually negative, but I can't say that's always the case). But I don't know that I've ever seen the heatsink "grounded," as in, grounded to the case and therefore to the plug ground.

Are you looking for a recommendation for a cheap TIG welder? What is your budget? What features you want will play a big part in determining how much you need to spend. Proper lift start, high-frequency start, remote amperage adjust capability, built-in gas solenoid, pulse, etc.

It's possible there was something wrong with mine. Unfortunately the majority of the time my reviews are based on a sample size of one.

@@bigtb1717 That's what I am thinking , lemon machine. Thanks for the fast reply & Good Luck from Canada.

The open circuit voltage is the same, but it's definitely struggling to keep something up when starting an arc at lower amperages.

@@bigtb1717 Oh I'm sorry, I meant working or short-circuit voltage. Have you tried connecting a volt meter and watching voltage sag? A cheap power source with under sized inductors and conductors would have horrible voltage drop. Why the 99 amps plus or minus makes a difference gets me. Maybe it switches between sections of the board, like a high and a low range. Anyway neither here nor there. Thanks for the response and the great videos!

No, don't be sorry. I got what you meant. I was just pointing out that I tested open circuit voltage, but not running voltage, so I can't say. You could be right. It very likely has an issue with voltage drop.

Does this unit really have much poorer control at low current for thin welds? Would like to know what others think of that, and at what input

I've seen that brand but haven't tried one. How do you like it?

"brand"

@@bigtb1717 just unboxed it Friday. It’s still in the house. Haven’t tried it yet. Seems good quality.

@@BRENT3143945 it’s a toolium

I think his implication is that it's probably the same as many other welders on Amazon/Ebay, but with a different name on it.

Maybe mine was just defective, but this welder performed worse than a lot the cheap stick welders I've tried. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it even just for home use. It's possible others have better luck with it, but this was my experience.

I didn't try TIG welding with it. It doesn't have a TIG mode. In theory, it would probably work for scratch start TIG if you hooked up a torch to it. But since it doesn't have a TIG mode it might not be ideal. Considering all the trouble I had with stick, I didn't bother trying TIG.

How do you find the unit at lower settings?

Yes, I know it has DC output. I didn't try it with 6011. I probably should have, but my main interest was to see if it would run 6010, because many people seem to want a cheap welder capable of 6010. Some welders struggle with 6011 too, but many will run 6011 just fine, despite not running 6010. I'm glad yours is working for you.

If you already have it, I'd say just practice and get a feel for what amperage settings work for whatever project you are working on. If you haven't purchased something yet, there are better options for a similar price that don't have some of the issues this unit had.

Yeah, some of them are simple and cheap, but built robust enough. Others just seem to have issues. I don't know if you noticed just how puny the toroidal transformer was in this S7 unit and just how little copper there was on it, but I wonder if that had anything to do with the poor arc starts. Just not enough oomph in that transformer to keep the output voltage up during arc starts. Either way, I hope you have better luck with yours.

@@bigtb1717 I finally got round to using it a few days ago, and it's got guts. I ran it at 208v as i don't have 240v without setting up a boost transformer which i didn't feel like doing. I easily welded with 6010, i think was 3/32. I'll hook it up and do an amp clamp on short circuit. But with its quad IGBT's i expect it will be closer to its rating than we normally see. Out of interest i also tried a 69 dollar S7 110v "200A" unit that was the much smaller size of basic inverter units. It worked fine but seemed to loose steam during a bead and short circuit amps were 123A when it's dial was maxed and displaying "203". It had only 2 igbt's and a much smaller transformer torroid. I returned it for reason of false advertising. The upshot is that for the same price of 69 dollars , this 220v version of the s7 is the almost certainly the best performing cheap welder on amazon presently. It could actually be modified to also run on 110v since it uses dual split/series 250v capacitors, so a neutral wire could be soldered to the capacitor midpoint and then connect the 110v hot to either L1 or L2 inputs (or better yet feed both combined, to share the load across all the bridges rect's 4 diodes) I will definitely make this mod, and will add another 1000uF /250V cap in parallel to each of the two existing caps to give it proper capacitance needed for the voltage doubler topology of 110v welders. There's plenty of room to fit the extra caps in the case, next to the circuit board with short jumper wires. The extra capacitance won't hurt running at 220v, and for my 208v usage, probably will hep a bit.

@@GannDolph did you find the sub 100 amp settings as erratic as in the video?

@@louisbaiani6262 Fortunately I did not observe any of that strange behavior. (I'm using the 220v only model, versus the 110/220 dual voltage model used in the review.)

@@GannDolph do you have a link to that unit? Thanks

The plug built into the machine is a 240V plug. It comes with a 120V adapter so you can plug it into a 120V receptacle.

@@bigtb1717 thank you so much