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Harbor Freight Robin Subaru Generator ?

Yeah, these days you have to under rate the cheapos by a factor of 3 to 3.5 for induction motor starting; otherwise, the term, "instantaneous field collapse" takes on a meaning they don't teach in electrical engineering school -- you ain't seen nothing until you've seen a cheapo decelerate from 3600 rpm to zero in three revolutions. Just make sure you are not standing inline with the engine when the crankshaft exits the crankcase or you might be shopping for a set of dentures. The cheapos are built for resistive loads only.

In the interests of reducing shipping costs for the mass market, they've reduced rotating mass on the cheapos to the point where it is nonexistant and advertise it as making the gen set more "portable." The surge current capacity on a cheapo is near zero.

When you are under rating a cheapo for induction motor starting, you are not doing so for the purpose of buying more resistive Watts. You are doing so for the purpose of buying more rotating mass for the purpose of getting enough surge current capacity to start an induction motor.

Reply to
Speechless
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That's very nice. I would probably last for quite a while!

I have a Onan DJE, perhaps 600 lbs (no idea), myself.

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Reply to
Ignoramus4723

The ES5000 Honda I had had 2 or 4 120v outlets, a 120v 30A twistlock outlet, and a 240v twistlock outlet.

Reply to
Clif Holland

From my post about my old Kohler Electric Plant: "It's a monster- Kohler K181 single cylinder cast iron engine and a Kohler generator section. The generator section has three windings- AC, starting, and a (IIRC) 200 amp 12/24 volt DC winding for jump-starting cars or trucks. The big DC circuit can, according to legend, be modified for use as a welder. The one in mine is tied off. The thing weighs about 300 pounds and the AC output is only 2200 wats, making less-than-portable. However, it has so much rotating mass it will pick up sudden loads smoothly (like the time I had it powering a fridge, halogen lamp. and a kerosene salamander and plugged in another fridge I thought was off. It wasn't and the entire genset jumped off the ground a couple of inches. The fridge started just fine.) The starter winding is neat- press the button and the engine quietly starts to spin up- no gear noise."

Just a note- all of the burned out portable gennys I've seen at the flea market or in a repair shop seem to have OK engines and roasted generator sections. The windings look like something from a washing machine motor. Oh, yeah- they're usually Colemans.

-Carl

Reply to
Carl Byrns

That's a nice unit- where did you get it?

-Carl

Reply to
Carl Byrns

From the military, it was sold as "scrap condition". After a few relatively minor repairs, it runs pretty good and passed a 7.5 kW load test.

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Reply to
Ignoramus5876

Nice work! I'll have to make some pictures of the Kohler one of these days.

-Carl

Reply to
Carl Byrns

This, too, is a symptom of reducing weight to reduce shipping costs.

An "expensive" gen set is designed to produce full rated output at

105 Deg. F./40 Deg. C. ambient temperature. The manufacturer is usually proud enough about this accomplishment to mention the temperature operating range in the sales literature.

A "cheap" gen set is designed to produce 50% of rated output to a resistive load at "room temperature" = 77 Deg. F./25 Deg. C. ambient temperature.

The unwritten secret is that if the operating temperature is not stated anywhere, not in the sales literature, nor in the owner's manual, it is assumed to be "room temperature." You are going to have a bit of a problem if you are trying to run an air conditioner with one of these when the ambient temperature is above "room temperature," no matter what the Watt rating of the generator set is.

You have to read carefully -- the engine might have an operating temperature specified for it but, this does not mean that the alternator attached to the engine has the same operating temperature range.

Reply to
Speechless

"Speechless" wrote: (clip) the engine might have an operating temperature specified for it but, this does not mean that the alternator attached to the engine has the same operating temperature range. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ How about plugging in an electric fan next to the generator? On a hot day, that might be the equivalent of a couple of hundred bucks spent on a better gen-set.

Reply to
Leo Lichtman

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