Some info on generators

[lamanated]

I talked to someone who repairs generators, regarding the cheap ones,they only have the wires that produce the 110V, wound on half the housing,(banana wound) vs all the way around.(basket wound) and when plugged into only one of the 110V outlets, wear the side of the armatures , plastic bearing it rides in, out (egg shaped), I guess if you use both outlets, that will keep the load neutral.
the best lower priced one is made by Generac, he said.

 

[EddieWalker]

When looking for one to use around my land to power hand tools that was easy to carry and start, I found that every brand compared themselves to Honda. After awhile I sort of got the idea that there was a reason for that and it would make a lot of sense to go with the best brand with the best reputation, even if it was the most expensive.

Eddie

 

[oosik]

All of my stand alone equipment - generator, trash pump, high pressure washer, lawn mower - are Honda powered. The Honda engine will start & run year after year - long after other brands have died.

 

[Jstpssng]

All of my stand alone equipment - generator, trash pump, high pressure washer, lawn mower - are Honda powered. The Honda engine will start & run year after year - long after other brands have died.

There was a time when USA made motors (B&S, Tecumseh, and especially Kohler) set the standard... before they "dumbed down" to compete with foreign manufacturers. The only area where we didn't set the bar for quality was in chainsaws...

 

[Jstpssng]

All of my stand alone equipment - generator, trash pump, high pressure washer, lawn mower - are Honda powered. The Honda engine will start & run year after year - long after other brands have died.

There was a time when USA made motors (B&S, Tecumseh, and especially Kohler) set the standard... before they "dumbed down" to compete with foreign manufacturers. The only area where we didn't set the bar for quality was in chainsaws...

 

[Pete Judd]

The 2000 watt Honda inverter generator is hard to beat at about 1000 bucks. Quiet, light under 50 pounds, will power the circ saw in the yard, and in an outage, the pellet stove. Sips the fuel as well. Great unit to have around the place. Use it all the time.

 

[Fi-Q]

Yup, I guess honda is hard to beat for quality. They are quiet, reliable, etc... But they are pricey as well. Depending on what you want to use it for it can break the bank !!

I would definetly love a honda, but I went with the famous Champion 3000 / 4000 watt that was close to 10x less expensive than what a 3000w inverter honda would have cost. For the price, a lot of people agree that the champion is hard to beat.

One of my frien live Off-the grid sith a generator / battery bank set up ( no solar or wind) for over 2 years, running the generator for 3 to 5 hours a day! So far is 300$ champion have done the job ! Only asking for gas and oil change. On the conservative side, this is over 3000 hours!! Can't beat that !

 

[Garandman]

We have two EU 2000's and the cable setup and an EU3000is. Inverter generators use a lot of fuel.

Problem for me is the NH place has a 220V well pump and the inverters are 110. Have to see what we can do, a lot of people in the area have propane fueled whole house generators so that may be an option.

 

[buickanddeere]

I talked to someone who repairs generators, regarding the cheap ones,they only have the wires that produce the 110V, wound on half the housing,(banana wound) vs all the way around.(basket wound) and when plugged into only one of the 110V outlets, wear the side of the armatures , plastic bearing it rides in, out (egg shaped), I guess if you use both outlets, that will keep the load neutral.
the best lower priced one is made by Generac, he said.

Never heard tell of such a story.
For portable units, the Champion is the highest quality Honda clone on the market.
The largest error bar non that generator purchasers make is undersizing the gen set. If all the loads total up to 3900W and you think a 4000W generator is enough, sorry dude, it ain't. The max continuous load a portable generator should carry is 80% of the name plate continuous rating. Watch out for that surge rating in large print and the continuous rating in fine print when looking at gen set ratings.

 

[aczlan]

I talked to someone who repairs generators, regarding the cheap ones,they only have the wires that produce the 110V, wound on half the housing,(banana wound) vs all the way around.(basket wound) and when plugged into only one of the 110V outlets, wear the side of the armatures , plastic bearing it rides in, out (egg shaped), I guess if you use both outlets, that will keep the load neutral.
the best lower priced one is made by Generac, he said.

Can you have him get some documentation on this or at least some models that are setup this way? It is entirely possible to have a "basket wound" generator that only provides 120v but a "banana wound" generator would not be balanced under load, so I doubt anyone in their right mind would design such a thing.

Aaron Z