Kipor

What Chris says here is 100% accurate.

About the only thing I can add is just because it says Inverter on the flash plastic case and in the advertisements doesn't mean it has a quality AC output.

Read the documentation very carefully.

One manufacturer mentions Inverter quite freely but hide very carefully the fact the output is actually square wave rather than sine wave.

The ability to get square wave out of a rotating AC machine is actually quite clever but of absolutely no value in this type of equipment. All it did was add to the cost. Still quite clever though.

They'd have been far better off leaving out the Inverter and fitting some form of cheap AVR.

Geoff

A quick question to Geoff and Chris, have you both owned or used one of these cheaper Chinese built inverter generators or is this just a hazardous guess that they do not work properly?

Hi Isuzumu. No, I have not owned a 'cheaper Chinese built inverter generator'. Boefore buying, I read lots of stuff on this site, and others, about the noise levels, and particularly the ability of units to deliver mains quality power (voltage stability, frequency control). On that basis, I was not willing to take the risk involved in cheaper units.
I didn't make any guesses, even hazardous - I just relied on the experience of others, plus the technical specs. There are plenty of experts in this stuff who have made their opinions known on this site about the actual performance of bargain alternatives to the over-priced Honda and Yamaha options. That was good enough for me. OK?

Bruce - I also went the Yamaha even after looking at those cheaper options. The specs as stated above tell the story, I would also say. Most interesting is the stated run time on a tank of fuel. The cheaper ones only state 1/2 the time the Yamaha and Honda's run! So if they are the same motor there is something amiss here.

Very hard to fork out the dollars though - but now I have it it has performed extremely well and they are fuel misers.

Cheers Tony

Hi Bruce,

A fair and reasonable question based on the information supplied.

For me personally I've got a hold of as many generators of as many brands as possible and connected the alleged AC output of all of them to a piece of electrical test equipment called an oscilloscope.

I'm not sure if you know what an oscilloscope is, in case you don't here's a Wikipedia definition of one: Oscilloscope

The unit I used has the ability to capture waveforms to removable media for offline analysis and lists for about US$45,000 (The perks of working for the manufacturer in electrical engineering)

Now for what I learnt.

The quality of the output is generally (with one exception) proportional to the price of the unit.

The cheaper units, read GMC, Diesel Brand and those cheaper chinese Bunnings units have very poor voltage and frequency control. Chris's statements actually mirrored my testing.

They can output anything from about 180 Volts to about 300 Volts in the ones I tested. The frequency can be anything from about 40Hz through to about 60Hz.

A very, very loose definition of 240V AC at 50Hz to say the least.

The inverter units were quite a deal better with the top end being Honda and Yamaha in alphabetical order only.

The worst of the inverter generators was one that starts with E and is a green colour. It actually outputs a square wave signal. That for me makes it not worth the money.

I've even had a play with a heap of "Pure" Sine Wave inverters. Some of them are about as "Pure" as the girls on the corner in Kings Cross!

I do hope that has answered where I'm coming from.

Geoff

Hi Bruce,

I just went looking for a rather lengthy reply of mine from a few months back that may go some way further to answering your question.

Post 63325, See Reply 3 of 5

After looking at it I noticed you actually have a Followup in that very Reply, it's from around the time of your generator purchase.

Regards,

Geoff

Hi Geoff, since post 63325 I have done more testing and have found no problems running all the gear I have. It may seem I am biased about this generator but I think I have the best value for money, so far time will tell. I now do not think I need a 2 kva and am thinking of getting a 1 kva, a friend brought a 1 kva from the same place as I did for $220.

Geoff,

Have you run the oscilloscope across the Kipor?

The data suggests that is as clean as the Honda, but independent test results would be good to know.

Cheers,

Jim.

Hi Bruce,

You very probably have a great buy in the unit. As time goes on the Chinese manufacturers will get smarter.

The quality will most likely come up but with their wage, OH&S and other industrial structures their costs should remain fairly constant.

The gist of what I said in Post 63325 is whatever the user is happy with is fine by me!

I'm just trying to share some results of real tests I've done with random machines not specifically supplied by the manufacturer.

As I said before, in my electrical testing with one exception you get what you pay for.

Geoff

Hi Jim,
I have tested one 1kva Kipor and the output was all over the place.

BUT, the engine was running very poorly when you could get it to start.

That was back when there where about half a dozen importers of the brand. The importers seemed to appear daily and lasted about as long.

I believe the importer of that individual machine is now gone (his premises in the Hunter Valley have been empty for years) and the chances of claiming warranty were nil at best.

So the only tested Kipor in fairness to the brand was struck from the results.

I'd be open to a crack at another one if I could get access to it.

Pity your in Melbourne and I'm in Newcastle.

Geoff

Terra ,the Aus distributor is Primus i think.
I too have what you have but it has let me down when i most needed it for a/c in the motor home when we had it not too happy about that when you want to relax & keep cool to sleep at night(summer) in the sub tropics. Lucky i had two small 12v fans that came in handy for backup.
Cheers Bob.

What make?

Hi Shaker, I got it on E-Bay from Princess Trade it a SF 2000, but I don't think there is any difference in any of them really, just was the best price I got at the time.

My brother bought one those, is yours blue?
He has had no problems either, so I bought a I KVa one from them.

Yep thats the one shaker mate got a 1 kva for $220 plus freight

If you read above, you'll see I'm not a Kipor devotee, but

1. Kipor and Honda 2000 have the same dba rating. Also they sound the same to me.

2. Kipor and Honda have same dimensions and weight.

3. Can't comment, but according to specs they are the same.

4. Valid point.

5. Kipor claim the same. I've run switchmode gear, lcd tv and laptops from mine with no problem.

Still, ask me in three or four years if I'm still happy with it. After the first one died I am not supremely confident.

Cheers,

Jim.

Firstly I do not say that Kipor is as good or better than Honda or yahama.

However I can only comment on my own personal experience and have had a Kipor 2000 for about 3-4 years and use it regularly in in the cooler months which is our travelling time and daily for 10 days at a time about 4 times a year and it hasn't missed a beat.

Despite what some say on these forums the statistics and componentry are very similar and identical in some cases to the honda. It depends on how much you use it and how much you want to pay for something you don't use much. I paid less than half what the Honda was asking when I bought mine.

If I needed another generator I would have no hesitation in buying another Kipor. I know there are plenty of other happy Kipor owners who will not comment because they are tired of commenting on this particular topic. It is like Holden V Ford and Toyota V Nissan etc.

Brian DJ

With you Brian on all points. We only use ours at Easter though.