Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: FXjohn
wouldn't 4 stroke be better?
OTOH I got a cheap 4 stroke "1500/2000 watt" for $130 or so for a third generator. It gets awful reviews but at least sips fuel and is pretty quiet. Only makes around 1100-1200 watts at full bore. It's the green one that everyone hates.
this guy
I have one of these. Like most of the cheap Chinese generators I have tested, the 1500/2000 watt output is WAY over rated!
After running it through a couple tanks of gas at various loads to break it in, and adjusting the engine to hold a steady 3600 RPMs at various loads, I hooked up a tachometer, a Kill-A-Watt, and several different appliances to it to test it. The MAX sustained output that I could get out of it without falling below 109 volts and 56 cycles was 1100 watts. It would only do just under 1000 watts and still hold a steady 60 cycles. NO WAY would it ever approach anywhere near 2000 surge watts either, maybe 1300 watts MAX surge output for under a second or so. I wouldn't want to run any AC induction motor off of it that pulled more than about 400 running watts because most induction motors (like those used in refrigerators/freezers) will pull 3 times their running watts to start up and you will risk burning up one of these motors if the generator won't supply not only the needed watts, but at least 109 volts and very close to 60 cycles of AC. At between 58 to 62 cycles you should be OK, but anything outside of this can destroy one of these motors. When you overload a standard generator not only does the voltage drop, but as a heavy load pulls the engine RPMs down, the AC cycles drop. The engine needs to run at a steady 3600 rpms to output a steady 60 cycles of AC current.
FYI, self defrosting refrigerators will pull about 3 times their normal running watts when they enter a defrost cycle. They are timed to go through a defrost cycle about every 8 to 16 hours of compressor run time. I have wired up a switch to my refrigerator so I can stop the defrost cycle timer when I am running it off of the generator.
BTW, I don't hate this generator, I just know it's limitations and work within them.