OK,as promised. To remind-I picked up a Buffalo Tools Sporstman 1000/800w inverter generator,from home depot,on a screaming day after black friday sale. Weighs about 24 lbs,about the size of 2 2 slice toasters, and is an inverter.Probably the smallest one made. China made,of course.It calls for a 5 hour "break in" running.Well,that ain't gonna happen!.I broke it in for about 1.5 hrs,changing the load,easy to do,as it has an economy switch,like a big genny, and sped comes down when no load/light load is detected. First,it is CARB rated, and is not rated to use above 3k ft,or something like that.i am at 6500ft. Well, it does "skip" a little bit,but not important,as it is an inverter.Does not smoke.Extremely quiet.Checked output with one of my good Fluke meters,124 volts,and clean. 15 volts, on the DC side. So,after seeing this,was not afraid to plug in the Harman. Well, it runs the Harman just fine,even better than my new APC 1500 UPS, because the UPS actually makes the motor's slow a bit,when power goes out. It would run the stove even in power save mode(economy mode?), until the room blower would kick to high, then RPM's would rise. Next test, starting the stove. Yep,started it up just fine, it did "burble" for a split second, when igniter first came on,then was fine. But,as it has to be running rich,this high up,was to be expected. Did I mention it is quiet? Only grabbed a short extension cord,so genny was just outside the porch sliding door,door cracked for cord to come in,and i did not even have to turn up the tv.About 3 ft from the door.Oh,gas cap seals,has an off position. So,after tests,filled it up (ethanol free,as recommended) and stuck it in the corner of the downstairs. Oh,the 12v side is wimpy,only a few amps. Anyway,I also think I will be taking this camping,instead of the older bigger generator I have, as it might be powerful enough to run my camper inverter,120v, which will charge the batteries at 30-50 amps.A test for this spring.Oh,did I mention it is also light?(LOL, it is tiny,for what it does). Anyway, I hope it lasts,but then again, I bet I only use it 2-6 hours a year, we shall see. OK I promised a report, here it is! Bob
Really? Read your statement and think about it. If you put it in a frame, and it held 3 gallons, it would no longer be a "suitcase" generator.
When you get tired of dribbling a little fuel at a time I found this to be worth the cost. Grenny running out at a bad time when you depend on it is no bueno.
Even most of the big inverter generators have crappy fuel capacity. I get 9 hours from my 2800 champion at low output. Less when running the rv air conditioner. Oh well, trade offs.
Harbor Freight 3500/3000 inverter. Electric start, 2.6 Gal, 11 hrs at 25%. I have 2 of them linked w/ parallel cords (7000/6000w), very quiet, and have a 5 Gal. marine tank hooked to both. I can run one, or both. $800/each, and when they go on sale, usually $699. Highly rated.
ouch, 3+ gallons per day running just the “awake” hours 7-10. Better than the old style 3600 rpm loud ones that were an easy 10 gallons per day. I’m thinking of supplementing my 2800 inverter with a Predator 2000 watt for those long all day runs needed for refrigeration, lights, computers, entertainment. The 2000 should burn less than 2 gpd but could bonk out if the microwave is running when a refer turns on. A second genset on hand gives redundancy, very high portability, help a neighbor, less fuel use for longer independence. Hmmm.
LOL. I give a review about a possible emergency generator,that some might have a use for, then "Warner " comes in and compares it to a standard, or full use generator.I gave an option to safely run a pellet stove,PC or other electronics, for short term. "Warner" needs to grow up.
I traded my honda putt putt 2.5K gen when I bought the 10K gen to run the whole shack. Shoulda kept it for the over night. Ran the pellet eater for 10 hrs on a tank of gas. IIRC it was like 2.5 gallons.
Ya,well thanks for the support,guys and gals. This was to be a thread about a small inverter generator, not running a whole house, or other. It was to be about a "safe" generator, to run electronics. i have 2 other generators,the newest one I carried for years on the front "hitch" of my 1 ton camper truck,that would run the A/C in my camper,so i am pretty familiar with usage and loads. Please do not consider my posts and relate it to supplying a house.
I have plans on getting something like this(see pic) for my next mini or portable backup gen/power. I may make my own out of surplus parts and possibly try to incorporate something similar to my back up UPS.
Depends on what you hope to accomplish? This has nothing to do with why I started this thread. I personally do not like solar, because of the huge amount of air,water and ground pollution created by the manufacturer of the solar panels.But,as i said, not why i started this thread. Still luv ya, jtakeman,been buds for a long time.
