For hour after how 600 watt is about the most we can get without tripping at some point but it will surge to 800 but not hold it over 30 minutes but I am sure they all vary a bit.
Harbor Freight 800 Watt gen
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Originally Posted By: dlundblad
I was always under the impression you get more longevity with a 4 stroke engine.. One you have to change the oil in. How true is this?
In general, it's true. Many 2 stroke engines have a short lifespan. I can't predict how long this little Chinese generator will live at 3,600RPM. However, there is at least one guy with thousands of hours on his, at 3000RPM.
There are, however, exceptions. Echo 2 stroke engines are well made and will easily outlast a conventional Briggs of similar HP (around 3HP) And, the EPA emission compliance ratings show this. With the Briggs rated at 125 hours and the Echo at 300 hours.
At $89, you could purchase 10 of these things for each Honda EU1000. Since we know most of them will make 300-400 hours, I'd say it's a "toss up".
I was always under the impression you get more longevity with a 4 stroke engine.. One you have to change the oil in. How true is this?
In general, it's true. Many 2 stroke engines have a short lifespan. I can't predict how long this little Chinese generator will live at 3,600RPM. However, there is at least one guy with thousands of hours on his, at 3000RPM.
There are, however, exceptions. Echo 2 stroke engines are well made and will easily outlast a conventional Briggs of similar HP (around 3HP) And, the EPA emission compliance ratings show this. With the Briggs rated at 125 hours and the Echo at 300 hours.
At $89, you could purchase 10 of these things for each Honda EU1000. Since we know most of them will make 300-400 hours, I'd say it's a "toss up".
Originally Posted By: edwardh1
wonder what the price would be if china tried to make good gen using cheaper chinese labor but using better parts and design,and then sell it thru harbor freight which must have a lower profit margin than a honda small engine dealer??
Not sold at HF, but Champion Power Equipment is what you describe. Their generators have a good reputation. They make a 2kw inverter unit that sells for about 60% of what the Honda equivalent sells for.
wonder what the price would be if china tried to make good gen using cheaper chinese labor but using better parts and design,and then sell it thru harbor freight which must have a lower profit margin than a honda small engine dealer??
Not sold at HF, but Champion Power Equipment is what you describe. Their generators have a good reputation. They make a 2kw inverter unit that sells for about 60% of what the Honda equivalent sells for.
I have one of the blue ones and it runs great. I have the ngk plug in it, i run 50:1 arctic blue gas and oil mix with 87 octane. It seamed to run a bit lean and surge with a load so i put tape on one of the intake holes to richen it up a tiny but and had no problems with it so far. It runs more smoothly now. It will run my fridge and small chest freezer with no problems in the summer time.
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My HF generator has about 20 hours off ocassional use on it now. It cranks up better than it ever has (5-10 pulls) but now has stopped generating any power. Anything I can check or should I just buy another?
Originally Posted By: Maximus1966
My HF generator has about 20 hours off ocassional use on it now. It cranks up better than it ever has (5-10 pulls) but now has stopped generating any power. Anything I can check or should I just buy another?
Check the external wiring. Mine was quite poor in quality and nearly fell off. Also, put an ohm meter on the outlet (not while running) and check for an open or short to ground. After that, let it run with no load for a while. It may be that the field has lost magnetism.
If everything looks intact, try hooking an electric drill to it. Then pull the trigger on the drill and rotate the drill motor. This can sometimes induce a small current and allow the generator to self excite.
My HF generator has about 20 hours off ocassional use on it now. It cranks up better than it ever has (5-10 pulls) but now has stopped generating any power. Anything I can check or should I just buy another?
Check the external wiring. Mine was quite poor in quality and nearly fell off. Also, put an ohm meter on the outlet (not while running) and check for an open or short to ground. After that, let it run with no load for a while. It may be that the field has lost magnetism.
If everything looks intact, try hooking an electric drill to it. Then pull the trigger on the drill and rotate the drill motor. This can sometimes induce a small current and allow the generator to self excite.
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Team_FAST
The fact that it is a small two stroke has me wondering:
Wil this thing respond to typical two stroke tuning practices....carb mixture tuning, exhaust port/muffler modding to improve flow?
Therefore, capable of a lot more than 800W? (at a penalty for fuel consumption)
I want to get one just to hot rod!
I suspect it'll be hard because they are already tuned to run 3600 RPM. 2-stroke muffler/ expansion chamber designs IIRC are to tune/move power to a (new) rev point. I wouldn't want to disturb carb gaskets etc that are all shellac'd in place. But give it a shot, particularly if you want to run stuff that doesn't need 60 Hz AC like a bunch of lights etc.
The breaker on our HF 800 will trip if we load in over 600 watts for very long. The engine is not the weak link in our case. I would not plan to get more than 400 watts out of it running it full time but that is the same for most 'marketing' ratings especially if starting electric motors.
Originally Posted By: Team_FAST
The fact that it is a small two stroke has me wondering:
Wil this thing respond to typical two stroke tuning practices....carb mixture tuning, exhaust port/muffler modding to improve flow?
Therefore, capable of a lot more than 800W? (at a penalty for fuel consumption)
I want to get one just to hot rod!
I suspect it'll be hard because they are already tuned to run 3600 RPM. 2-stroke muffler/ expansion chamber designs IIRC are to tune/move power to a (new) rev point. I wouldn't want to disturb carb gaskets etc that are all shellac'd in place. But give it a shot, particularly if you want to run stuff that doesn't need 60 Hz AC like a bunch of lights etc.
The breaker on our HF 800 will trip if we load in over 600 watts for very long. The engine is not the weak link in our case. I would not plan to get more than 400 watts out of it running it full time but that is the same for most 'marketing' ratings especially if starting electric motors.
My experience is they seem to under rate these Harbor freight units. Other companies are selling the same unit with a 1000w running 1200w surge.
Mine has no trouble running 800w continuous.
Mine has no trouble running 800w continuous.
Originally Posted By: cronk
My experience is they seem to under rate these Harbor freight units. Other companies are selling the same unit with a 1000w running 1200w surge.
Mine has no trouble running 800w continuous.
Ditto, but 900 watts is about maxxed out while in spec (about 915 watts on mine). This is the older blue colored unit.
Anyways, I have been cycling through my gensets, just checking them out, and while testing them throwing my scope on them to record the sine and how decent the wave is. Got around to the HF 2 stroke first. No load, 900 Watt, and overload (~1200 watts).....
My experience is they seem to under rate these Harbor freight units. Other companies are selling the same unit with a 1000w running 1200w surge.
Mine has no trouble running 800w continuous.
Ditto, but 900 watts is about maxxed out while in spec (about 915 watts on mine). This is the older blue colored unit.
Anyways, I have been cycling through my gensets, just checking them out, and while testing them throwing my scope on them to record the sine and how decent the wave is. Got around to the HF 2 stroke first. No load, 900 Watt, and overload (~1200 watts).....
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Not terrible looking waves for a $89 generator!
Interesting sine wave. I will have to check mine with various types of loads. I'll bet a dollar the wave form is different with an inductive load (motor) vs a resistive load (heater)
I still love this little generator!
I still love this little generator!
I tried the electric drill trick and it worked! She's chugging away now and running everything I hook to it. Amazing how much juice a common hair dryer uses. I hooked up the wife's 1800W dryer just to see what would happen...shut down immediately.
Originally Posted By: Maximus1966
I tried the electric drill trick and it worked! She's chugging away now and running everything I hook to it. Amazing how much juice a common hair dryer uses. I hooked up the wife's 1800W dryer just to see what would happen...shut down immediately.
How cool !!
Keep in mind that all electrical loads must be removed before shutting down the engine of any conventional generator. Failure to remove electrical loads first "can" kill residual magnetism. This can result in failure to self excite, leading to zero voltage.
I tried the electric drill trick and it worked! She's chugging away now and running everything I hook to it. Amazing how much juice a common hair dryer uses. I hooked up the wife's 1800W dryer just to see what would happen...shut down immediately.
How cool !!
Keep in mind that all electrical loads must be removed before shutting down the engine of any conventional generator. Failure to remove electrical loads first "can" kill residual magnetism. This can result in failure to self excite, leading to zero voltage.
Originally Posted By: Cujet
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
I was always under the impression you get more longevity with a 4 stroke engine.. One you have to change the oil in. How true is this?
In general, it's true. Many 2 stroke engines have a short lifespan. I can't predict how long this little Chinese generator will live at 3,600RPM. However, there is at least one guy with thousands of hours on his, at 3000RPM.
There are, however, exceptions. Echo 2 stroke engines are well made and will easily outlast a conventional Briggs of similar HP (around 3HP) And, the EPA emission compliance ratings show this. With the Briggs rated at 125 hours and the Echo at 300 hours.
At $89, you could purchase 10 of these things for each Honda EU1000. Since we know most of them will make 300-400 hours, I'd say it's a "toss up".
My chainsaw engines run as much or more output (3-7HP depending on the saw) and are expected to last 2-2500hrs of production use before a rebuild at 13-14,000RPM. Provided this motor is halfway decent it should last a long time at 3000.
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
I was always under the impression you get more longevity with a 4 stroke engine.. One you have to change the oil in. How true is this?
In general, it's true. Many 2 stroke engines have a short lifespan. I can't predict how long this little Chinese generator will live at 3,600RPM. However, there is at least one guy with thousands of hours on his, at 3000RPM.
There are, however, exceptions. Echo 2 stroke engines are well made and will easily outlast a conventional Briggs of similar HP (around 3HP) And, the EPA emission compliance ratings show this. With the Briggs rated at 125 hours and the Echo at 300 hours.
At $89, you could purchase 10 of these things for each Honda EU1000. Since we know most of them will make 300-400 hours, I'd say it's a "toss up".
My chainsaw engines run as much or more output (3-7HP depending on the saw) and are expected to last 2-2500hrs of production use before a rebuild at 13-14,000RPM. Provided this motor is halfway decent it should last a long time at 3000.
Originally Posted By: ironman_gq
My chainsaw engines run as much or more output (3-7HP depending on the saw) and are expected to last 2-2500hrs of production use before a rebuild at 13-14,000RPM. Provided this motor is halfway decent it should last a long time at 3000.
It would be interesting to take one of these HF generator engines apart and really determine quality.
They do have iron cylinders, which, on 2 strokes, do have a shorter lifespan than the Nikasil cylinders of a chainsaw engine. Even the quality of the cast iron affects cylinder life on a 2 stroke.
I speculate that the piston rings are "probably" just cast iron, without a chrome face. But I don't know that for a fact. If this is the case, I would expect engine lifespan to be shorter, due to eventual piston ring sealing issues and blowby.
The good news is that "if" you get a good one and treat it well, you can expect many hours of service.
My chainsaw engines run as much or more output (3-7HP depending on the saw) and are expected to last 2-2500hrs of production use before a rebuild at 13-14,000RPM. Provided this motor is halfway decent it should last a long time at 3000.
It would be interesting to take one of these HF generator engines apart and really determine quality.
They do have iron cylinders, which, on 2 strokes, do have a shorter lifespan than the Nikasil cylinders of a chainsaw engine. Even the quality of the cast iron affects cylinder life on a 2 stroke.
I speculate that the piston rings are "probably" just cast iron, without a chrome face. But I don't know that for a fact. If this is the case, I would expect engine lifespan to be shorter, due to eventual piston ring sealing issues and blowby.
The good news is that "if" you get a good one and treat it well, you can expect many hours of service.
Some low cost stuff definitely have more lemons. And those lemons often show in early use. So, if you find a good one that works, they can be great with fairly long life.
Good for hobbyists like me that don't rely on them for a living. If I miss a few hours of hobby woodworking because of the gen set, I wouldn't cry. But if I was a professional, charging by the hour, I would run honda, makita, huskies, and all the pro stuff just to avoid any downtime as much as possible. Going back and forth to the store or shop for repairs or warranty is more expensive than buying the best tools (for the pro, that is)
You know, total probablility of downtime with 10 machines with 10% or 1% chance of failure: 74% risk resp 10% risk of a failure that day or week. Really good stuff "always" work, like 0,1% risk which is 1% total risk of failure in your machine park of 10 machines.
Hobbyists look for value, professionals look for uptime and easy service.
Good for hobbyists like me that don't rely on them for a living. If I miss a few hours of hobby woodworking because of the gen set, I wouldn't cry. But if I was a professional, charging by the hour, I would run honda, makita, huskies, and all the pro stuff just to avoid any downtime as much as possible. Going back and forth to the store or shop for repairs or warranty is more expensive than buying the best tools (for the pro, that is)
You know, total probablility of downtime with 10 machines with 10% or 1% chance of failure: 74% risk resp 10% risk of a failure that day or week. Really good stuff "always" work, like 0,1% risk which is 1% total risk of failure in your machine park of 10 machines.
Hobbyists look for value, professionals look for uptime and easy service.
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It looks like the fuel line on mine is about to go.
Who makes a good quality replacement fuel line the same size?
Who makes a good quality replacement fuel line the same size?
I've used silicone aquarium tubing. I've not been able to find some small OPE fuel/breather/primer hose locally.
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