Can you explain to a plain ol' country boy what "a step inductive load is"?
1) Mostly just semi-tired geekspeak :cowboy: ..... I should have said
stepped, as in sudden load transition.
Technically (good question, BTW), upon reflection, it is not that easy to connect a household item to a genny that does
not present as a stepped (as in sudden transition) load. I know incandescent bulbs have a higher starting current (filament warmup) than running, and expect the same current pattern with a resistance element on an electric heater. Quartz tubes heaters; not sure.
2) What I should have expressed more clearly is that an electric motor (common household example of an inductive load) gives you a lot of bang for your buck as a test load. If you look at charts (typically found in a decent generators owners manual) that show
Starting Watts vs. Running Watts for motors, you get a pretty good idea of how much more current a good sized electric motor draws at startup. We've all been around a shop when a heavy elec. compressor starts, you'll often get a dip in the lighting, even with the shop wiring in reasonable shape.
As a contrast, think of testing a 5kw genny, by plugging in a few lights. Common (except for work flloods) lights around home don't draw much more than 100w today, most not even close. Space heaters are good, but household ones max out about 1.5kw, and may not be that common where you live. By slowly adding smaller loads, you can work up to loading a gen to 50% or more of max load - a valuable test on it's own.
A sizable load, with a
fast transition (ie. stepped
)
may highlight the early stages of a problem with a generator, where a slowly-added-equivalent-load may not. A poor electrical connection, or even a just-starting-to-seize-up mechanical regulator may be readily found once you fire up a good sized electrical motor (circular saw, etc).
I'm often too verbose (aka Ramble on Too Much :laughing
, but in this case, perhaps not !
Naahhh, let's be honest, it's probably just my ancestral Scottish blood kicking in...... I want to put my generator to work even as a Maintenance Run task, so vacuuming a vehicle seemed like a good use of gasoline - that, and I can't afford the daytime electricity rates so I'm getting tired of vacuuming in the dark ! :laughing:
Rgds, D.