Small Generator

[StagLefty]

There's a small generator on sale at Harbor Freight for $79.99 with a coupon that's in your NRA magazine American Rifleman on pg. 71. I don't really know if this size is worth getting but I thought I'd pass the info on. If any of you are generator knowledgeable I'd appreciate feedback on this. Thanks-[Beer]

[Marlin]

HF quality can be spotty at best.. I have got things there that have work well.. and other things that don't.. Never really came out of there after looking at the "mechincal" stuff with much confidence... Just my 2 cents..

[gnihcraes]

I stay away from HF electrical items, they all seem to crap out pretty quickly... best to put the $80 towards another used brand off craigslist... coleman, honda etc...

[StagLefty]

HF quality can be spotty at best.. I have got things there that have work well.. and other things that don't.. Never really came out of there after looking at the "mechincal" stuff with much confidence... Just my 2 cents..
Agreed-I only buy what I consider expendable tools there from time to time. I pretty much felt the same way you guys do I was just hoping for an economical generator I guess[Help].

[gnihcraes]

i have an older model of this unit and several of them in the family, all have always worked good... 70lbs weight and runs for hours on 1 gallon.

great prices too: $175 and 225...

http://denver.craigslist.org/rvs/1636931876.html

http://denver.craigslist.org/spo/1629214354.html

[stenz]

With this recent weather it makes realize that I need to get a pack together.

[68Charger]

I'd be more inclined to get a 1000W inverter than a genny that small..

you can wire it into a vehicle, run it off batteries, and most alternators can keep up with 1000W (about 70A at 14v) and you could expand on the DC side with solar & wind generators...

inverters will usually handle a larger surge than a generator that small... it's only 900w surge

[gnihcraes]

those I listed should be 1850 surge, 1500 running watts.

and my previous furnace would hit that surge @1850 and nearly kill this poor thing, but it always comes out of it in a few seconds as the furnace winds up. Haven't tried it with my newer furnace, sure it's less watts than the old monster was. I'll test tomorrow if not sooner, we keep getting power blips here now due to snow...

I doubt the 1000 watt inverter would take the 1850 watt hit and not shut down to run the furnace. I personally don't like the idea of having to run my vehicle all the time to power the inverter either. Nothing like having people take your car while it sits idle in the driveway burning fuel at 2mpg or whatever. The little generator ran for nearly 3 days straight a few years ago on a few gallons of gas. I can chain it down to the house or another object and not worry about it walking off while in use too.

Also, my house is on a Transfer Switch - plug in the generator, start it, flip some breakers on the transfer switch and fire up whichever device I need in the house. One circuit is Kitchen, One is Furnace, One is living room outlets. Warm the house up, switch to kitchen to keep the fridge cold, switch to living room if needed to watch or listen to news casts etc.

I have a small inverter, but it won't power much... think it's a 400 watt or so.

[theGinsue]

Something to think about:
The biggest problem with many of the cheaper generators is that they don't usually put out "clean" power. Most items can handle the dirty power, but many newer items, those with sensitive circuit boards, can be destroyed by the dirty power.

[jerrymrc]

Something to think about:
The biggest problem with many of the cheaper generators is that they don't usually put out "clean" power. Most items can handle the dirty power, but many newer items, those with sensitive circuit boards, can be destroyed by the dirty power.

That's why ya want to run it through a quality UPS. It is not the end all but it does help.

[gnihcraes]

True the power might not be clean, but nor are all inverters.

Most UPS's i've tried to run off a generator won't work, they shut down with the square wave ac coming into them... they know something isn't right.

[offgrid]

If the SHTF, I would not want to be relying on a $80 generator.

Been living off-grid for several years. Seen plenty of my neighbors buy entry level stuff that is sure to fail when it is needed most.

I know it's a big chunk more money, the inverter based Honda would be my small generator of choice.

If a UPS system is kicking out when a generator is hooked up to it, my guess would be the generators frequency/voltage is not within high/low spec of what the UPS wants to see. "Dirty Power" is generally a problem with too high/low frequency/voltage. More inclined to show up when the AC source is loaded, not at idle.

[gnihcraes]

I'll upgrade some day to the honda brand generators... but for now my coleman for $399 seems to do the job. I wouldn't trust the $80 ones either...