Saw these in the sunday ads. I have a Honda 1500, but I am gonna go grab one of these for 299.

They're avail at Shucks, Checker and Kragen auto parts stores.


www.partsamerica.com/PartDetails.asp?mfrcode=AMS&mfrpartnumber=03800

I wonder if there is an advantage to smaller generators in noise and fuel consumption if you are only using them for light needs such as fans in the house after a hurricane?

Any one know?

M4-AK

Quoted: I wonder if there is an advantage to smaller generators in noise and fuel consumption if you are only using them for light needs such as fans in the house after a hurricane? Any one know? M4-AK

Fans?! Fans?!  Get your priorities straight man!  You would use it to get back on arfcom!

Just picked one up.

Last one at the store.

Took me about 10 minutes to put the wheels, gas and oil in it.

Enough juice to keep a fridge running or to get back on the net when the TEOTWAWKI comes.

Quoted: Quoted: I wonder if there is an advantage to smaller generators in noise and fuel consumption if you are only using them for light needs such as fans in the house after a hurricane? Any one know? M4-AK Fans?! Fans?!  Get your priorities straight man!  You would use it to get back on arfcom!

Damn right!  Ya don't need lights when the 'puter is running...

Tactical_Jew: Check out the ARFCOM Generator FAQs in the survival forum. And do a search on generators in the survival forum, we had a couple threads relating to generators.

Consumer Reports also did a piece on generators, look'em up at your local library. CU found that some of the generators put out dirty electricity, ie the power was not in exactly a perfect sine wave and were noisey, which could potentially affect computers.

Quoted: Tactical_Jew: Check out the Generator FAQs in the survival forum. And do a search on generators in the survival forum, we had a couple threads relating to generators. Consumer Reports also did a piece on generators, look'em up at your local library. CU found that some of the generators put out dirty electricity, ie the power was not in exactly a perfect sine wave and were noisey, which could potentially affect computers.

On my way.

Saw some pretty good deals on Coleman gennys in the Home Depot catalog recently.

Hmm, "Powerwise"... Doesn't seem to have a website, 3 month warranty, no mention of the engine or alternator manufacturer (any replacement or maintenance parts available?).

Personally, I'm betting that the market will be flooded with slightly-used (Name-Brand!) generators after hurricane season ends. They tend to congregrate in front of Home Depot stores, as well as on ebay –

Wait, I'm confused about this post? You want a generator so you can throw shit at a fan?

The Honda has an inverter built in to give you a nice constant supply of power.  The cheaper models put out really dirty power good for some applications like tools but not for electronics.

Check Harbor Freight. www.harborfreight.com

I would be real leery of any overly inexpensive generators.  Most are theoretically designed for job site where power doesn' have to be all that clean.  If you have to run your computer  or anything that needs clean power run it through a UPS.

Quality Control in cheap chinese factories and their supply chains is not all that it could be.  In other words you may be the final adjustment, test and burn-out , err ahem, BURN-IN  steps of the manufacturing process and you can safely assume that they are trying to make quick buckaroos off the now huge demand.

I'ld fire the sucker and run for a few hours evry month or two just so you know how to get it to work if you really need to.  That and take a few bad ones back until you get one that works.

Having one in addition to a good one like a Honda seems like a real good idea, The Honda gets the important stuff and the other the nice to have stuff.

I have a Generac 7000 watt model.  It burns 7 gallons in 10 hours at full load.  Kinda piggy, but I have a well that needs 20 amps, so I need a big'un.

It also has idle down when there isn't a draw, as well as a voltage regulator so it works with sensitive electronics.

Make sure you break it in according to the manual *Manual? Who needs this %*#&*$! thing?* That way you dont run into any problems when you need it.

Tactical_Jew, thanks the heads up.

As stated earlier use a UPS inline to your PC (should anyway). This will clean up your power enough to be safe. As mentioned above, I'd be a little shy of these off brand generators.

For those of you with a Coleman and similar type of generators, watch the plastic end bell. The bearing at the end of your rotor is supported by this end bell. After some use, the bearing heats up and damages the end bell. There goes your support of the outboard side of your rotor.

FWIW, I wouldn't take much of anything reported in Consumer Reports to heart. Working in a industry (20 years) that has had products tested by them, I can tell you that they have missed the mark on almost all of their tests.