Cheap Gensets

Buy cheap ya get cheap....GO HONDA.

Yeah you never know with the cheep stuff.

I have a Robin generator 450W Job. It’s a hand me down and 18 years old it’s quite as, compact and starts first time every time.

You pay money for the good stuff simply because it is better and will last.

I have a toolbox full of just crap cheep tools that I take when I go away, but when at home and I need to do work on the car I use my work gear, Sidchrome and Kinchrome stuff and it makes things so much easer and quicker.

Cheers.

If I owned that caravan I'd be more concerned that the circuit breaker or fuse didn't do it's job before the transformer burned out!? Also if the gen really was producing 350V (and I'd want a bit more confirmation of that first) I would insist the seller of the gen carried the consequential loss - goods must be fit for the purpose sold etc.

There is no doubt the Honda is a better gen set - Gawd... we've done this 100 times before - BUT it also costs 15 or 20 times as much and for those of us who have a very low gen usage (2 hours for battery charging on my last one week trip) it makes no sense at all buy one and my little $98 GMC is still working fine after two years or so.

Keep in mind a _lot_ of the cheap two stroke gens have been sold, I'll wager many more than Honda have sold, but we don't hear many horror stories of this type most issues relate to the longevity of them, which is understandable for $98. I wonder if a Honda gen has every fried something plugged into it?

Horses for courses.

However it is a good idea for _ALL_ gen owners to check the voltage and frequency of their sets at low load (50W) and maximum load. To do this accurately, without the correct equipment, is not trivial but if you measure your house mains with your meter and get a result around 240V it’s a fair bet that if you get a similar result from the gen all is well. Without an appropriate frequency counter or oscilloscope I cannot think, offhand, how you could measure the frequency of 240V – in any event 240V has the potential to kill so exercise care.

Mike Harding

mike_harding@fastmail.fm

It can happen with expensive ones as well.
I recall a "well known brand" 3kva genset we had with work where the voltmeter was grossly inaccurate, and the set was putting out 340v for an indicated 240v (the output voltage could be adjusted to suit). Blew up some expensive test equipment along the way before we discovered the problem.
Pays to carry a multimeter with you and frequently check, regardless of the brand.
Gerry

Those cheap gensets can't really put out a square wave , and voltage of 350v usually means its reving way to fast.

A very easy and practical rough test is to just plug in a cheap 100w 240v light bulb
, if voltage is anywhere near that it will pop real fast.

A further indication of health of genset is that engine rev's will drop a bit but not a real lot with bulb in/out .

Some have a better speed control , and give a short rev drop , then come back.

Noting how yours reacts is good test to.

Robin Miller

Has anyone looked into fitting a 12V alternator to one of these cheap gensets?

Just something I've been thinking of doing as I've a spare Bosch alternator in the shed, and 12volt charging is all I'd need. I am aware if the Christie option.

"higher the voltage supplied to a load the lesser amount of current is used (ie something that operates on 110V-240V will use say 10A at 110V and 4A at 240V). "

- this is a very dangerous assumption. Only switchmode power supplies that are designed to work from 100 to 240 volt will reduce current when voltage is increased.

If you connect 350 volts to a switchmode power supply designed to work on 100 to 240 volts you will most probably cause the input capacitors to explode.

If you connect 350 volts to a transformer-input device designed for 240 volts, it will draw excess current which should blow the fuse.

There is just no need and no justification for anyone to take a generator camping. I couldn't believe it when I rwad one post that said he took a generator to use for 2 hours to charge batteries!!!!!!

Gentlemen,

A couple of trolls have entered the discussion. Don't bother feeding them.