Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[NHmitch]

It is not inverter type altho may meet your needs for very lo drain applications. I have bought 2 and returned both. They do not meet their specs. Measured figures
are:
1.5A ,,,,,,,,,110V ,,,,,,,,,165W
3A ,,,,,,,,,,,,109V ,,,,,,,,,327W
4A ,,,,,,,,,,,,110V ,,,,,,,,,440W
5A ,,,,,,,,,,,,104V ,,,,,,,,,520W
5.5A ,,,,,,,,,100V ,,,,,,,,,550W
6A ,,,,,,,,,,,,97V ,,,,,,,,,,,582W
6.5A ,,,,,,,,,96V ,,,,,,,,,,,624W
7A ,,,,,,,,,,,,95V ,,,,,,,,,,,665W
7.5A ,,,,,,,,,89V ,,,,,,,,,,,667W
8A ,,,,,,,,,,,,85V ,,,,,,,,,,,680W

In many situations this output charcteristic will be unusable above 500W
larry

That's too bad that you have had a bad experience with them.. I just finished breaking mine in for the 25 hour break in that they tell you to do. I didn't want to, but it said not to run the generator at full load until the break in period was complete. I just left mine running with low to medium loads for 25 hours over a week. It never stalled, and ran for about 10 hours on each tank. I seems to operate with more consistent power now, and I have exceeded the 900watt limit without an issue. I use mine around the farm while I work away from electrical outlets to power drills, lighting, and saws. My brother has the same generator, but the chicago power version with the blue tank. He uses his on his boat to charge his batteries, and run a water pump when underway on the ocean. What type of equipment were you using with the two generators? Very good chart and sorry to hear that yours didn't work out for you. I do have a 5700watt inverter for power outages, so this really is just my work around the house/ farm one.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Wow, that' great info. Larry, thanks for posting it.

Welcome.

double wow....those are pretty crummy specs. Try running a motor at 90V and see how long it takes to turn into a toaster.
I guess the 900 watt rating is double extra special peak voltage, whatever that means...
and shouldn't the low load voltage be closer to 115-120Volts?

to be fair this is a five amp gen at a very low cost, maybe just accept it for what it is and use it within those limitations.

I have a similar older 1000 watt rated Kubota gas gen, four cycle. Hardly gets used anymore, but now you've got me interested in doing the same test...maybe they all do this.
Larry, what did you use for a load bank?

Yes, but its is bordering a brown voltage source at its best. If you require nominal performance from a battery charger you are about 10% short on the charge voltage it will give. Small motors refrig/freezer conceal their unhappiness. ... Normally gens hold fast in the 115- 120 range all the way to their rating. Im sure you will find that your Kubota does. ... I used a variable auto-transformer [under]powering a 1500W hair drier as the load. -- The "variac" was plugged into the gen. The supplied V and current was measured there thru a plug in breakout loop that allows use of a clamp on Ammeter and voltmeter. I adjusted the Variac to require each of the input currents in the table, recorded that and the instant input V measured, and calculated the supplied W [current x V]. I noted that the numbers were a little better when cold. Warm numbers were recorded. It may be degradation of the capacitor used in the gen field circuit. I just didnt want to gamble replacing it at my risk, obviating return.

That's too bad that you have had a bad experience with them.. I just finished breaking mine in for the 25 hour break in that they tell you to do. I didn't want to, but it said not to run the generator at full load until the break in period was complete. I just left mine running with low to medium loads for 25 hours over a week. It never stalled, and ran for about 10 hours on each tank. I seems to operate with more consistent power now, and I have exceeded the 900watt limit without an issue. I use mine around the farm while I work away from electrical outlets to power drills, lighting, and saws. My brother has the same generator, but the chicago power version with the blue tank. He uses his on his boat to charge his batteries, and run a water pump when underway on the ocean. What type of equipment were you using with the two generators? Very good chart and sorry to hear that yours didn't work out for you. I do have a 5700watt inverter for power outages, so this really is just my work around the house/ farm one.

How did you determine that you were drawing above 900W from it? I had both the blue and the red versions. Performance was not distinguishable. [My test setup is described above.] I wanted to power a 600W battery charger to its nominal charge rating. I needed a reliable V source at 115 or above at 600W output
larry

 

[NHmitch]

I guess that I was not measuring the actual output, but I have been operating a wagner heat gun on hi, and it draws 1200watts. My drill uses about 750watts and works great. My little compressor uses abot 500watts while running, and I have used this with the drill running. It pushed the generator, but it powered both. I think that the break in period really did help and changing the spark plug, and using fresh fuel with Stihl 3 stroke oil has really helped it run smoothly. Thats too bad that it didn't work for what you needed. I ove this little generator for small stuff like I described, mainly for my drill and lighting, but I do wish at times that I had an in-between sized generator. My homelite with the Subaru engine is our emergency power outage generator, and I only use it to run it for the maintenance schedule that it calls for, but other than that, I try to keep it in waiting. I wonder if this generator could somehow be used with the small inverter that they sell? I did watch a video the other day of a guy who bought the 79cc predator engine, and ran a belt to an alternator from a car to charge batteries, and act as an emergency power source, and it worked great. Interesting set up.

 

[Scotty Dive]

I have the red four and a half inch grinder. I noticed today doing some heavy grinding of lawn mower blades, that the case gets extremely hot. Anybody else experienced this or have a fix for it?

 

[California]

Make sure there is grease in the gearbox. Some owners have reported they found none.

Beyond that - its an inexpensive tool. Maybe go a little easier on it than you would a $125 grinder.

I have several of their angle grinders. Haven't burned one up.

 

[Midniteoyl]

I was afraid the 3" electric cutoff would burn up as it got very hot, but after about an hour of straight usage it did just fine..

 

[sixdogs]

I was afraid the 3" electric cutoff would burn up as it got very hot, but after about an hour of straight usage it did just fine..

I have heard of things like this and experienced it with my two stage HF heat gun. For the first usage it smokes and smells like an electrical fire. Beats me but it worked fine afterwards.

 

[chopped]

I just got one also.I ran it the first cut and it stopped dead, I did the red reset button and got it back working.I like having it handy ..So far so good with it..A big bigger and bulky that i expected but Ive used it to cut some pvc pipe in tight spots. with good luck.

 

[sixdogs]

This is a 25% off coupon for July 4th only.
Don't know why it's labeled "false".




False

 

[California]

Same 25% off coupon, different customer #. They might let you use both on the same day.

25% off coupon VALID JULY 4 ONLY.

Note after you have this up on your screen you can plug in whatever customer-num to make it unique. (In the destination field at the top of your screen). Then print the revised version.