On Wed, 29 Sep 2004 00:10:17 GMT, "AKC Supreme Being"
wrote in
:


"Frank Gilliland" wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 23:16:11 GMT, "I am not george,
itoldyouiamnotiamnotgeorge are morons!"
wrote in :


"Frank Gilliland" wrote in message
news On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 11:43:37 -0400, (Twistedhed)
wrote in :

snip
.....I'm going
to buy a quieter (and larger) Honda model in the future, maybe a prtable
A/C unit, too. This Troy-Bilt is way too loud.


Just a suggestion: Shop around carefully for a generator. Most of the
'portables' and many of the commercial gensets on the market are junk.

Why is that Frank? Are they way overrated for continuous duty? Too much
heat? What? I've not maxed one out enough to have a failure, but was
wondering what to watch for.


Well, the worst I've seen are some of the Colemans with the plastic
end-bell, which is about as dumb as AMC's plastic valve cover, and
with more destructive results (got a B&S in the garage from a Coleman
with a shattered rod, bent crankshaft and the cam snapped in half).
Some brushless heads have problems due to less-than-robust rectifiers
in the rotors, which are a bitch to replace. Some seemingly high-end
generators are mated to motors that are not designed for such use.
Some have poor regulation, some have proprietary connectors, some have
limited voltage configurations, etc, etc, etc. What I'm saying is that
if you are going to buy a generator, do your homework first or you are
likely to have problems.




Suggestions on better models? I have a really old Pincor with almost no
regulation, and was thinking I may replace it with a better model so that I
can feel a bit more comfortable plugging electronics into it. I always check
this old thing with a voltmeter to make sure it's not overvolting.


There is a hard-drive full of generator FAQs on the net, as well as
thousands of posts telling of personal experiences with various makes
and models. So I won't even try to make a list. But there are a few
things I have learned over the years:


Electric start is nice, but make sure it has a backup starting method.

A 4-pole generator runs at 1800 rpm which effectivley quadruples the
engine life over 2-pole generators, which run at 3600 rpm.

If the rotor is a brush-type, make sure it uses 4 brushes. Many
generators only have 2 brushes which makes for lots of RFI.

Some generators (especially brushless generators) are regulated only
by the speed of the motor. That's fine if you only want to run power
tools and light bulbs.

Make sure the motor has a pressurized oil system w/filter. Otherwise
you will have to change the oil every 8-10 hours. It also increases
the life of the motor by at least 10 times.

This may not be easy, but try to find a generator head that has two
seperate 115VAC windings (4-wire) as opposed to a center-tapped single
230VAC winding (3-wires). Suppose the generator has two outputs for
20A @ 115VAC. If it's a 4-wire generator you can parallel the two
115VAC windings for a total of 40A from a single output. This is
important because it will provide more surge current for things like
electric motors in freezers, washing machines, etc, which need lots of
starting current or they will burn out from slow starts (leaving the
generator to run happily along as if it wasn't responsible). But if
it's a 3-wire generator, you're stuck with 20A and run the risk of
burning up your furnace blower motor (ask me how I know!).

Keep a stock of spare parts, especially the brushes, bearings, diodes,
capacitors and filters. That way you can fix it when you -need- to fix
it, not when the hardware store opens back up after power is restored.
If these parts aren't available when you buy the generator, don't buy
it.

One more thing: Run it once in a while! Too many people run their
generators once, put them in the garage for months or even years, then
pull them out to find that the battery has solidified into a beautiful
blue-green mass of crystals, or the motor is frozen, or the carb is
gummed up because they didn't drain the bowl.






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