Author Topic: generators (Read 15522 times)

Darcy7 · « **Reply #25 on:** September 21, 2011, 11:30:52 PM »

Quote from: D4D on August 21, 2011, 04:42:34 PM

Let me know how it goes. I have seen factory seconds at the Gasmate factory sale so I assume Gasmate bring them in.

Finally fired up the gene I bought from supacheap. While it's not the quietest gene I've heard, it's acceptable and runs very well. Tried charging the camper batteries using a 15amp ctek and it worked fine. Also tried running a few powertools up to about 700 watt and they ran perfectly. No overload lights or straining from the motor. So the verdict....I'm very happy. For $300, it's a bargain and well worth the money...!

Followme1 · « **Reply #26 on:** September 22, 2011, 07:46:08 AM »

A mate of mine bought a cheap genie had it for a little while, getting ready for a trip filled up the tank and the tank leaks NOT so cheap anymore as he has to fix it

George

BigJules · « **Reply #27 on:** September 22, 2011, 11:02:05 AM »

I grabbed a cheapie from Aldi this morning, $349. Will see how it goes Obviously I don't expect it to be a Honda/Yamaha equivalent.

D4D · « **Reply #28 on:** September 22, 2011, 11:38:24 AM »

Quote from: bigjules on September 22, 2011, 11:02:05 AM

I grabbed a cheapie from Aldi this morning, $349. Will see how it goes Obviously I don't expect it to be a Honda/Yamaha equivalent.

Bugger I forgot about that

Let us know how it goes.

BigJules · « **Reply #29 on:** September 22, 2011, 01:29:58 PM »

There was about 8 or 10 of them, and a huge queue of elderly people, but I was the only one after a genset. There was heaps of other camping gear; chairs, tents, foam mats, sleeping bags, air mattresses etc. They were in high demand.

mystq · « **Reply #30 on:** September 22, 2011, 02:25:05 PM »

I have a kipor 700W pure sine-wave, great piece of kit.

rescue1 · « **Reply #31 on:** September 24, 2011, 11:35:38 PM »

I have a 2KVA that SWMBO bought from Aldi last year and left at work. She only remembered when I arrived home the other day with the 1KVA that Aldi had on special. As it turns out the big one is too big to fit on the new CT so if anybody is after an unused larger generator cheap its up for sale

itchvet · « **Reply #32 on:** September 25, 2011, 05:40:49 PM »

Quote from: Manjimike on August 23, 2011, 07:21:13 PM

I bought this one -
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/INVERTER-GENERATOR-3-7kVa-SILENT-Caravan-Camping-SINE-/250877475842?pt=AU_Hardware&hash=item3a69767c02

bought it 18th posted 19th arrived 23rd in Manji (300km S of Perth} so good service.

I ran my 16" Makita dropsaw thru some 2" pipe and fairly loaded it up and not a whimper or complaint from it.
I have yet to try the welder on it

Happy so far

Cheers Mike

G'day Mike, when running in my recently purchased Hond gennie, I connected two home fan heaters with their elements turned,(4 elements all up) poor gennie called it quits and shut down.
Eventually found a balance with three elements activated and both fans flat out put nice load on the gennie
Plan on using it to recharge the camper deep cycle and run the bread maker on trips.

chunk · « **Reply #33 on:** September 25, 2011, 07:41:21 PM »

Quote from: bigjules on September 22, 2011, 11:02:05 AM

I grabbed a cheapie from Aldi this morning, $349. Will see how it goes Obviously I don't expect it to be a Honda/Yamaha equivalent.

I picked up an Aldi generator on Thursday took it back on Saturday I found it hard to start, and actually got blisters trying to start it. When it did start it only ran for a couple of minutes before cutting out, I persisted with it for a couple of hours before giving up. For $349 it was worth a shot I have bought a lot of stuff for Aldi's and the quality is usually good plus knowing that you can take it back if it doesn't work is a bonus.

morgue · « **Reply #34 on:** September 25, 2011, 07:50:41 PM »

Quote from: Combo on August 20, 2011, 09:40:11 AM

We have a Honda EU10i Fantastic.

We use it to run our cappacino machine when out bush, gotta have good coffee

Have you seen the gas powered gennys? Spotted them in a fourby mag. I don't know much about them but if you own a diesel It's one type of fuel you don't have to carry and store.

Dave

You gilding the lilly...right....just pulling the leg....taking a geni out to power a coffee machine in the bush...damn...when you thought you have heard it all before...

Paulp · « **Reply #35 on:** September 25, 2011, 09:23:38 PM »

Bought the Aldi 1000w generator works like a charm
Ran it 4 hrs with a ctek 7000 charger no problem
Tried several times on weekend and starts 1st time all the time

So far so good no complaints

itchvet · « **Reply #36 on:** November 05, 2011, 12:07:39 AM »

Just a heads up update on the issue of 240 volt generators used for charging batteries in our camper trailers.
As posted on this board earlier, we purchased a 2 KVA Honda generator earlier this year for the purpose of running a bread maker on our extended trips.
I thought I could leave the solar panel at home and recharge the battery whilst the gennie was running for the bread maker.
The charger I use is a Ctek 7000 adequate I thought, however in practice things did not work out as I expected.
The charger takes far too long to recover voltage lost during the evening and previous day,(even on power mode going thru the solar controler) requiring running the gennie for at least FOUR HOURS. IMHO, this is far too long for me.
We also tried the direct 12 volt charging facility from the gennie, and despite the claimed output from this source rated as 8 amps, the indication on the controler showed only 2.4 Amps via that source.
So, to sum up, IMHO the 240 volt gennie is a poor substitute for battery charging over the solar panel.
We have a 60 watt Unisolar panel on a folding stand or fixed to trailer, this panel replaces and tops up the battery everyday without any dramas what ever, and I will be sticking to this system for some time yet.
I suspect the only real battery recharging generator, is the small Honda unit that recharges 12 volts and up to 80 amps, now that's serious charging power.

Captain · « **Reply #37 on:** November 05, 2011, 10:22:45 AM »

Quote from: itchvet on November 05, 2011, 12:07:39 AM

... issues of 240 volt generators used for charging batteries in our camper trailers...
...The charger I use is a Ctek 7000 adequate I thought, however in practice things did not work out as I expected...
The charger takes far too long to recover ...running the gennie for at least FOUR HOURS. ...We also tried the direct 12 volt charging facility from the gennie, and despite the claimed output from this source rated as 8 amps, the indication on the controler showed only 2.4 Amps via that source.
...We have a 60 watt Unisolar panel on a folding stand or fixed to trailer, this panel replaces and tops up the battery everyday without any dramas what ever, and I will be sticking to this system for some time yet.
I suspect the only real battery recharging generator, is the small Honda unit that recharges 12 volts and up to 80 amps, now that's serious charging power.

Umm... I think the real problem may be your setup, not the 240V generator

A wet cell battery will take a maximum ~20A per hour, an AGM maybe ~30A per hour and only a spiral wound AGM (like an Optima) is capable of 100+ A per hour for charging. Many caveats on the charging numbers, but you get the idea. Having a big charger is not necessarily the answer. But if you have multiple batteries then it certainly helps as the max charge amps is cumulative.

Making the assumption of you needing 40 amp/hours per 24 hours (say running a fridge), a Ctek7000 can only supply a maximum of 7 amps so willl need a minimum of 6 hours running (actually longer as the less amps go in when nearly charged). A Ctek25000 (25A) will be much quicker, but again its amps drop off as you approach 100% SoC, so still likely to need 3+ hours of running for 100% SoC.

The beauty of solar is that while it doesn't put in a huge amount of amps, it does so all day (if its sunny!). But your 60W would likely put in an average 3A per hour, so you would need 13 hours of daylight - or my assumption of 40 Amps per day is way off - or you are not fully charging your battery.

Point being, a 240V generator with multistage charger is actually the most reliable way to charge batteries, just takes longer run hours than most people think. I have 160W solar, a 25A Ctek charger, a 40A dc-dc charger and a 240C genny to charge my 240A/hr AGM batteries and have done plenty of comparisions on whats best for charging. There is no doubt IMHO that solar is my favorite, the 40A dc-dc is the fastest (if driving!) but the 240V genny is the most reliable

Cheers

Captain

Rowanb · « **Reply #38 on:** November 06, 2011, 09:52:40 AM »

Bought the supercheap Gennie when they were offering free freight over the Bathurst weekend, took it out over the Melb cup 4 Day weekend and I figured bugger it for 300 bucks ill thrash it and see what happens. Had Father in-laws camper van on it (2x fridges battery charger and god knows what else, and I dont want to know) my fridge 40l Engel and ran every light I could find at night. I ran the genny from 9 till 9 every day and she didnt over load once stumbled a few times, small lag on auto throttle. Didnt skip a beat, for the money I reckon good deal.
However in the real world ill only ever run the fridge and recharge a few LEDs.

Good Buy me thinks.

Symon · « **Reply #39 on:** November 06, 2011, 11:16:00 AM »

Quote from: itchvet on November 05, 2011, 12:07:39 AM

Just a heads up update on the issue of 240 volt generators used for charging batteries in our camper trailers.
As posted on this board earlier, we purchased a 2 KVA Honda generator earlier this year for the purpose of running a bread maker on our extended trips.
I thought I could leave the solar panel at home and recharge the battery whilst the gennie was running for the bread maker.
The charger I use is a Ctek 7000 adequate I thought, however in practice things did not work out as I expected.
The charger takes far too long to recover voltage lost during the evening and previous day,(even on power mode going thru the solar controler) requiring running the gennie for at least FOUR HOURS. IMHO, this is far too long for me.
We also tried the direct 12 volt charging facility from the gennie, and despite the claimed output from this source rated as 8 amps, the indication on the controler showed only 2.4 Amps via that source.
So, to sum up, IMHO the 240 volt gennie is a poor substitute for battery charging over the solar panel.
We have a 60 watt Unisolar panel on a folding stand or fixed to trailer, this panel replaces and tops up the battery everyday without any dramas what ever, and I will be sticking to this system for some time yet.
I suspect the only real battery recharging generator, is the small Honda unit that recharges 12 volts and up to 80 amps, now that's serious charging power.

You are hardly comparing apples with apples there. Run your solar panel for only 4 hours and I bet it won't top up the batteries as well as a generator powered charger would for the same amount of run time.

That goes for charging off the alternator as well.

golfster · « **Reply #40 on:** November 06, 2011, 11:25:14 AM »

Hi There, I've been looking at the Genquip 1kva generators that have been advertised a bit in Camper Trailer Aust magazine $799, done a little bit of research, sound good to me, has anyone had first hand experience with these.

Cheers

Mike

whitey · « **Reply #41 on:** November 06, 2011, 05:36:29 PM »

I recently bought a Honda eu20i , cash back deal and some goodies thrown in and gst saving as i have a business i can get something back, the purpose like a lot of folk is to use it for its capabilities 2kva should be able to run a lot of things around that rating ( a bit less really) but i did use it for the first time on Saturday to fire up an old compressor ... rated at 1300watt and it went into overload before it could get the belts really rolling... i'm not sure of the issue there as i can roll the belts over by hand and there is a bit of resistance but i would have thought it would piss it in... i will test it on a few things this monday and see what it can handle with added equipt plugged in that i know work well.. if it fails there i will be contacting my rep here and ask whats going on.

We bought ours to run some light power equipt and to use camping so i don't want issues like this with a good brand name item seemingly failing on the first run

qlddsl · « **Reply #42 on:** November 07, 2011, 05:35:57 AM »

Quote from: whitey on November 06, 2011, 05:36:29 PM

I recently bought a Honda eu20i , cash back deal and some goodies thrown in and gst saving as i have a business i can get something back, the purpose like a lot of folk is to use it for its capabilities 2kva should be able to run a lot of things around that rating ( a bit less really) but i did use it for the first time on Saturday to fire up an old compressor ... rated at 1300watt and it went into overload before it could get the belts really rolling... i'm not sure of the issue there as i can roll the belts over by hand and there is a bit of resistance but i would have thought it would piss it in... i will test it on a few things this monday and see what it can handle with added equipt plugged in that i know work well.. if it fails there i will be contacting my rep here and ask whats going on.

We bought ours to run some light power equipt and to use camping so i don't want issues like this with a good brand name item seemingly failing on the first run
the compressor might run at 1300watts, but the start up on average would be double. thats 2600 watts, some 600 watts over the output of your generator, there is info on the american yamaha site regarding average consumption and start up of elec equipment. hopoe this helps you, cheers wayne

whitey · « **Reply #43 on:** November 10, 2011, 07:11:35 PM »

Thanks Wayne, figured it may be the initial drag when starting the compressor, i did put two items on at the same time 1600 w hair drier and a 6" angle grinder .... no problems so i swapped the locations of the compressors and all is sweet again.

itchvet · « **Reply #44 on:** December 01, 2011, 04:26:23 PM »

Quote from: Captain on November 05, 2011, 10:22:45 AM

Umm... I think the real problem may be your setup, not the 240V generator

A wet cell battery will take a maximum ~20A per hour, an AGM maybe ~30A per hour and only a spiral wound AGM (like an Optima) is capable of 100+ A per hour for charging. Many caveats on the charging numbers, but you get the idea. Having a big charger is not necessarily the answer. But if you have multiple batteries then it certainly helps as the max charge amps is cumulative.

Making the assumption of you needing 40 amp/hours per 24 hours (say running a fridge), a Ctek7000 can only supply a maximum of 7 amps so willl need a minimum of 6 hours running (actually longer as the less amps go in when nearly charged). A Ctek25000 (25A) will be much quicker, but again its amps drop off as you approach 100% SoC, so still likely to need 3+ hours of running for 100% SoC.

The beauty of solar is that while it doesn't put in a huge amount of amps, it does so all day (if its sunny!). But your 60W would likely put in an average 3A per hour, so you would need 13 hours of daylight - or my assumption of 40 Amps per day is way off - or you are not fully charging your battery.

Point being, a 240V generator with multistage charger is actually the most reliable way to charge batteries, just takes longer run hours than most people think. I have 160W solar, a 25A Ctek charger, a 40A dc-dc charger and a 240C genny to charge my 240A/hr AGM batteries and have done plenty of comparisions on whats best for charging. There is no doubt IMHO that solar is my favorite, the 40A dc-dc is the fastest (if driving!) but the 240V genny is the most reliable

Cheers

Captain

Captain, thanks for your post, clears up a few misunderstandings for me.
Regards the solar panel charging, it's not up to me, to control the charging, it's left to the solar regulator, which indicates when the battery is fully charged by activating an LED. Pressing a button will give battery voltage.
Never had a problem with flat battery using this system, until trying out the gennie.
My solar panel varies with it's output, times it gives 4 amps other times less. Does the job for us over the last 5 years amyway.
Cheers.

Ray-C · « **Reply #45 on:** December 04, 2011, 09:47:50 AM »

Quote from: Bobcar on August 20, 2011, 08:49:08 PM

My Honda 1 kva runs the Ctek easily on full charge on economy mode.

As for welding we use a 1 kva and a 2 kva coupled together and it runs an inverter welder great.

Some say it can't be don't hooking up different kva's but we have not had a problem just make sure you connect the welder into the 2 kva.

We power Camps out in the pilbara and have 250kva and 500 kvas running together. I'm no sparky so I could be corrected .

Ray

Blinky Bill · « **Reply #46 on:** December 07, 2011, 10:22:25 AM »

I have a Honda 20i and because I hate problems I got it based on reputation and price, and it's been superb. Actually the next door neighbour & I did a deal for 2.

It was meant to act as a back-up for camping but because we are LED fans (and despite noise) the solar panels & early nights meant it wasn't needed for that.

However it's always on standby at home for when the power is down, which is quite often. They're a great unit and highly dependable. They're not light though.

Good luck with your decision - Wayne

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Author Topic: generators (Read 15522 times)