Ctek MXS 10

Olcoolone,

As best I could tell from googling, that genny has a straight square wave output, no modification at all to try and make it look like a sine wave.

I know motors and some other things don't like that - run hot or don't run at all, whatever. Are battery chargers ok with it?

Cheers

I have been running a 12amp two stage protech (i think)charger on that genny for many years now with no problems.

Sorry powertech charger

Olcoolone
A generator like that outputs a sine wave. May not be exactly 240vac or directly on 50Hz but it is not a square wave.
A commonly so called generator, which is really an alternator, can't put out a square wave simply because of the laws of electrical physics and the induction can't suddenly produce a voltage to go instantly from 0 to 240 with no time shift happening.

The inaccurate wave form and the frequency of some "generators" can however, destroy some sensitive switch mode power supplies and electronic gear.
Multi stage chargers can be among them. If they run, they nearly always run hotter than they should as they try to dissipate the spurious energy they can't handle.
This situation happens most when someone runs a bit of gear on a so called "modified sine wave inverter" which is really a modified square wave inverter. They just add the "sine" in the name to make them more saleable and attractive to buyers.

Ross, it was Frank who said it was square wave, not Olcoolone.
But you are right of course about the inherent sine wave output of an alternator.
To add further, an alternator has a magnet (either permanent or DC) rotating inside a set of coils. As the magnet approaches, passes, and departs each coil it essentially traces a sinusoidal path and hence produces a sine wave. It's elementary Watson. LOL

Guys,

If you look at the handbook for the 120V model, it has an alternator doing all the things you say, followed by an inverter. Discussion by owners indicate it is modified sine wave or modified square wave output (whatever floats your boat) and very square at that. I doubt that the 240V model would be any different, other than the voltage and frequency - but it could be. So I think caution is justified.

Cheers

Aha, I did not realise that the EX350 was an Inverter model. That changes things a bit.
The handbook shows an alternator followed by an inverter but does not indicate the type of inverter or the output waveform. However this document does identify the EX350 as having a modified square wave output from the inverter. But not "straight square wave", heaven forbid!
So yes Frank, caution is justified.

There is another issues as well with single cylinder motors and frequency variation...... some switch mode stuff don't like it.

Allan I think your right about the output of the EX being modified sine wave........ the EU range are pure sine wave.

The generator has two speeds so you can run it slower and quieter for a light load. The frequency is controlled by the inverter, not the engine speed, so frequency shifts would not be an issue.

Cheers