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Forum Index : Electronics : Cheap gen+Sola power conditioner
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| domwild Guru  Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Hi, Am dreaming of buying a generator as the power fails frequently for a few hours in the bush and I need power, at least for lights, in the adjoining shed. 1000 VA or more for $300-$400. The outside of the carton states the waveform is not suitable for "sensitive equipment", does this mean it is a simple square wave and it will make fridge motors hum and heat up? As a cheap and nasty solution I intend to hook a Sola power conditioner (free!) to it. It consists of a ferroresonant (?) transformer and a huge cap. Will this improve the wave form? With or without conditioner will I at least have lights via CFCs or can I also have a fridge running if the gen. is powerful enough to overcome the start amps? Will my fan in the toilet start smoking? I have taken a previous forum warning on board, that these cheap gens may even have sand from casting in the carbi! Why not, I like fixing things! And I know not to kill linesmen should I concoct a setup to unhook my house from the mains and hook it up to the gen like my neighbours. Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
If the generator is a inverter type and pumps out a square wave then connecting the Sola power conditioner may be bad, for the generator that is. The conditioner is expecting a sine wave, and will load up the square wave severely. Chances are the generator is pumping out a sine wave, but with poor regulation, thus the warning. Do you have a model number? Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| domwild Guru Joined: 16/12/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 873 |
Thanks Glenn for the answer. Have forgotten to tick the "notification via email" box and therefore not noticed your reply; sorry! The cheaper ones are definitely not inverter types. Are the non-inverters still good enough to power CFCs and drive a drill or even a fridge if big enough without frying the motors?? And would a non-inverter benefit from a conditioner? By "poor regulation" do you mean variations in voltage, which a power conditioner would smooth out anyway? I cannot give you a model number, but every time I see a gennie for $300-$400 I just lust after it. So many questions, so little time! Taxation as a means of achieving prosperity is like a man standing inside a bucket trying to lift himself up. Winston Churchill |
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yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
I have had a similar experience trying to run a plasma cutter from a generator/welder. The electronics in the cutter would not let the machine start up. After many experiments with capacitors and voltage regulators I still could not get it to run. In the end I thought that the plasma cutter was not seeing a zero volt crossover point on every cycle so the 50/60 hz detection was playing up. An oscilloscope would have been handy. I hit on the idea of running a bench grinder at the same time so that the electric motor in the grinder would smooth the wave out. IT WORKED 
in the end the generator didn't have the grunt to make a decent cut so we scrapped it. I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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