Cheap and Cheerful Aldi Genny - Best use? (1 Viewer)

[garfield]

So it would seem no-one has had a single issue using a cheap and cheerful genny with their motorhome then??

All the doom and gloom merchants sit up and take notice

Yes it COULD happen and yes if the circumstances are just right you MIGHT damage something, MAYBE.oh:

Personally ive been using cheap genny for years for both work and play. Ive ran all sorts off them from TVs to laptops to power tools and everything in between. Never, NOT ONCE in all that time have i ever had a problem even when the things run out of fuel and all the rough running and coughing and farting they do just before they die has there ever been a problem.:thumb:

The choice is yours but the simple fact is not a single person reading this has ever personally had a problem with damage caused by a cheapo genny.:Blush:

The noise is another issue however

I bought a cheap genny from macro years ago and have never had any bother with it, it was a bit noisy so I bought one on, ebay all singing and dancing inverter type. Nice and quiet but after a few use's plugged in to ehu and smoke pouring out of the TV and the charger burnt out. When I checked the voltage of the genny found it to be 400v. So back to cheap genny. and fingers crossed all OK

 

[gazz]

here's my expoeriances.....

first genny i ever had i built my self, i got an electric start lawnmower engine, a 70 amp car alternator, welded up a frame with rubber mounts to the engine, and the engine drove a pulley welded to a cars disc brake (for a flywheel) which via a belt ran the alternator.

i had to modify the alternator to enable me to switch the field on and off at will, as the engine wouldent come upto speed before the alternator asked fo full current and stalled the engine, i also ran the genny on lpg.... so to start i turned the gas valve on, turned the key switch to the first position to energise the gas solenoid, then turned it past the 2nd position to the third position where the starter motor span, when it fired i released it to the 2nd position, which held the fiel coil off, let the engine warm up for 20 seconds, then released the key to it's running position, where by it ran and charged the batteries directly at upto 55 amps (you cant get the full output from an alternator for very long, it soon heats up and the current output drops, as viewed on the ammeter i put in the system)

this worked fine, but was a bit noisey, quieter than some american RV's gennies but noisy enough to ensure i only used it in unpopulated areas, or on aires/stellplatz's when others were doing the same.

that lasted about 3 years before the engine began to die, the lawnmower i bought for a fiver to get the engine was at least 20 years oldm and i dated the engine when i took it out and found it to be a 1983 model, so i got my moneys worth out of it.

i replaced it with one of those 850 watt 2 stroke gennies, again i put it in the genny locker i had made, i had to remove the carry handle to get it to go in, and i had to remove the fuel tank to re-fuel it, i did try rinning it on a remote tank, but it didnt like it as i couldent get the tank high enough, and i didnt feel like messing about with fuel pumps, and being a 2 stroke using petroil mix for the lube, i couldent run it on gas.

i welded a scooters exhaust end piece to that gennies silencer, and that quietened it down even more, it was already pretty quiet, not honda eu quiet, but deffo not offensive (except to those people who hate gennies)

that lasted about 2 years, before it finaly threw the big end bearing and the con rod came through the case, this was up in scotland at the begining of a 2 month tour, when we had the least sunshine ever... it rained every single day whilst we were there, so the solar panels couldent keep up with the 12 volt compressor fridges demands on the batteries, hence the genny use.

i had to run that genny a long time to get the battery charger to top the batteries up, but never thought much of it, it could just about run a hairdrier on low setting, no chance of running the microwave (900 watt input, 550 watt cooking power) so it was just used to run the charger, and i did notice that the chargers fans were always coming on when on genny power, so the charger was running hotter than on proper mains,

i never attempted to run the washer off it, as they are very very sensative to power fluctuations, only reason i have a pure sine wave inverter is because the washer needs it, the thyristors smoke if fed with a modified square wave (theres no such thing as a modified sine wave as most inverter makers say, you dont make a pure sine wave then modify it to a rough and dirty wave, you make a square wave and modify it to add steps in it, the more steps the less sensative equipment complains, but it'll never be a pure ramped sine wave)

the 12 volt output was very rough and i never used it, it was nearer 16 volts, but at 5 amps, and on my battery bank that was useless (700 ah)

i replaced that genny with one from machine mart, one of their own brand ones sold off cheap as it had been knocked around in transit, but never used, this was a suitcase type, but not an inverter model, but it was a 4 stroke, so quieter than the 2 stroek it replaced.

BUT, that thing was a pain in the bum, the voltage output was really bad, and the sterling charger shut down to protect it's self against the bad power the genny put out,
i did the trick of adding a lightbulb to load the genny a bit, this stabalized it a little bit, but my 20 amp charger put out 5 amps max, it just didnt like the power it was getting so went into safe mode.... a cheaper charger would have just let the magic smoke out.

I exchanged that genny for one of the inverter gennies, the clarke ig1000, this is a pure sine wave 1000 watt genny, ith the eco throttle,

that was perfect, it ran the charger at full output, i could run the microwave off it, the eco throttle is very nice, keeps the engine revs down to the minimum needed for the load,
it sounds a bit odd when i run the washing machine on the genny on eco throttle, it sits a tick over, then revs up when the washers drum rotates, then back to idle, 20 times then it ramps up as the washer does a spin,

it is quiet, not quite honda quiet, but it does not have that annoying whistle from the exhaust some other inverter gennies have,
it's only a 50cc engine, so it sips fuel, i get about 6 hours from a tank of petrol.... holds 2.7 litres i think,
i want to convert it to run on lpg, but it seems no one does the carb mixer for it, so i may have to faff about with a spud fitting to get the gas into the engine.

again it's bolted down in my genny compartment, to refuel it i use a fuel can and a syphon pump (from pets at home, for emptying fish tanks)
i drop the suction end of the pipe into the fuel can, raise it above the genny (i rest it on the compartment door top) put the delivery end into the gennies fuel tank, which the filler is above the opening of the door, so it's done by feel, a few pumps gets the syphon going, and my finger dipped in the tanks filler lets me know when the tank is full, simples, but a faff, hence why i want to convert it to lpg)

the 12 volt output is still rough and unregulated, and cant be used when on eco throttle, but it outputs 8.5 amps at 15 volts, i havent used it for charging tho, as i have a 40 and a 20 amp 3 stage mains charger, and they charge the batteries properly.

So, after that long winded reply, yes i have had problems due to cheap generators rough outputs, luckily my charger then was a sterling one, which are very expensive but very well protected against bad supplies, they are sold for marine applications, if you think motorhome items are expensive, go to a yot chandlers one day, but take a seat to sit down when you look at the prices)

i now have a caravan and leisure 40 amp 3 stage charger as well as the sterling one, it cost me less than the 20 amp sterling charger did 8 years ago, BUT, it's no where near as good as the sterling charger, and i would not want to run it off a dirty gennies supply and expect it to survive.

 

[chatter]

all this cafuffle, 1 piece of copper pipe drilled with bolt through stuck it and knocked into ground with an earth wire attached to earthpoint on genny and to bolt on copper pipe - sorted.
In spain where we have a place there is no mains electric so its all gennys - the locals nor us go out and buy expensive gennys, cheaper the better none last any longer than the other when they are used for everything from working the water pump and filter in the cisterna to the tv. just use copper pipe and ground earth it.

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[zen navigator]

Phew got to the end of the post! I've read shorter novels

Interesting post, and clearly a bit nuts and bolts man.

Your post shows its all about fit for purpose, and as long as you think it through in terms of the spikes and unregulated dc then the cheap genny will serve a purpose.

Dave

here's my expoeriances.....

first genny i ever had i built my self, i got an electric start lawnmower engine, a 70 amp car alternator, welded up a frame with rubber mounts to the engine, and the engine drove a pulley welded to a cars disc brake (for a flywheel) which via a belt ran the alternator.

i had to modify the alternator to enable me to switch the field on and off at will, as the engine wouldent come upto speed before the alternator asked fo full current and stalled the engine, i also ran the genny on lpg.... so to start i turned the gas valve on, turned the key switch to the first position to energise the gas solenoid, then turned it past the 2nd position to the third position where the starter motor span, when it fired i released it to the 2nd position, which held the fiel coil off, let the engine warm up for 20 seconds, then released the key to it's running position, where by it ran and charged the batteries directly at upto 55 amps (you cant get the full output from an alternator for very long, it soon heats up and the current output drops, as viewed on the ammeter i put in the system)

this worked fine, but was a bit noisey, quieter than some american RV's gennies but noisy enough to ensure i only used it in unpopulated areas, or on aires/stellplatz's when others were doing the same.

that lasted about 3 years before the engine began to die, the lawnmower i bought for a fiver to get the engine was at least 20 years oldm and i dated the engine when i took it out and found it to be a 1983 model, so i got my moneys worth out of it.

i replaced it with one of those 850 watt 2 stroke gennies, again i put it in the genny locker i had made, i had to remove the carry handle to get it to go in, and i had to remove the fuel tank to re-fuel it, i did try rinning it on a remote tank, but it didnt like it as i couldent get the tank high enough, and i didnt feel like messing about with fuel pumps, and being a 2 stroke using petroil mix for the lube, i couldent run it on gas.

i welded a scooters exhaust end piece to that gennies silencer, and that quietened it down even more, it was already pretty quiet, not honda eu quiet, but deffo not offensive (except to those people who hate gennies)

that lasted about 2 years, before it finaly threw the big end bearing and the con rod came through the case, this was up in scotland at the begining of a 2 month tour, when we had the least sunshine ever... it rained every single day whilst we were there, so the solar panels couldent keep up with the 12 volt compressor fridges demands on the batteries, hence the genny use.

i had to run that genny a long time to get the battery charger to top the batteries up, but never thought much of it, it could just about run a hairdrier on low setting, no chance of running the microwave (900 watt input, 550 watt cooking power) so it was just used to run the charger, and i did notice that the chargers fans were always coming on when on genny power, so the charger was running hotter than on proper mains,

i never attempted to run the washer off it, as they are very very sensative to power fluctuations, only reason i have a pure sine wave inverter is because the washer needs it, the thyristors smoke if fed with a modified square wave (theres no such thing as a modified sine wave as most inverter makers say, you dont make a pure sine wave then modify it to a rough and dirty wave, you make a square wave and modify it to add steps in it, the more steps the less sensative equipment complains, but it'll never be a pure ramped sine wave)

the 12 volt output was very rough and i never used it, it was nearer 16 volts, but at 5 amps, and on my battery bank that was useless (700 ah)

i replaced that genny with one from machine mart, one of their own brand ones sold off cheap as it had been knocked around in transit, but never used, this was a suitcase type, but not an inverter model, but it was a 4 stroke, so quieter than the 2 stroek it replaced.

BUT, that thing was a pain in the bum, the voltage output was really bad, and the sterling charger shut down to protect it's self against the bad power the genny put out,
i did the trick of adding a lightbulb to load the genny a bit, this stabalized it a little bit, but my 20 amp charger put out 5 amps max, it just didnt like the power it was getting so went into safe mode.... a cheaper charger would have just let the magic smoke out.

I exchanged that genny for one of the inverter gennies, the clarke ig1000, this is a pure sine wave 1000 watt genny, ith the eco throttle,

that was perfect, it ran the charger at full output, i could run the microwave off it, the eco throttle is very nice, keeps the engine revs down to the minimum needed for the load,
it sounds a bit odd when i run the washing machine on the genny on eco throttle, it sits a tick over, then revs up when the washers drum rotates, then back to idle, 20 times then it ramps up as the washer does a spin,

it is quiet, not quite honda quiet, but it does not have that annoying whistle from the exhaust some other inverter gennies have,
it's only a 50cc engine, so it sips fuel, i get about 6 hours from a tank of petrol.... holds 2.7 litres i think,
i want to convert it to run on lpg, but it seems no one does the carb mixer for it, so i may have to faff about with a spud fitting to get the gas into the engine.

again it's bolted down in my genny compartment, to refuel it i use a fuel can and a syphon pump (from pets at home, for emptying fish tanks)
i drop the suction end of the pipe into the fuel can, raise it above the genny (i rest it on the compartment door top) put the delivery end into the gennies fuel tank, which the filler is above the opening of the door, so it's done by feel, a few pumps gets the syphon going, and my finger dipped in the tanks filler lets me know when the tank is full, simples, but a faff, hence why i want to convert it to lpg)

the 12 volt output is still rough and unregulated, and cant be used when on eco throttle, but it outputs 8.5 amps at 15 volts, i havent used it for charging tho, as i have a 40 and a 20 amp 3 stage mains charger, and they charge the batteries properly.

So, after that long winded reply, yes i have had problems due to cheap generators rough outputs, luckily my charger then was a sterling one, which are very expensive but very well protected against bad supplies, they are sold for marine applications, if you think motorhome items are expensive, go to a yot chandlers one day, but take a seat to sit down when you look at the prices)

i now have a caravan and leisure 40 amp 3 stage charger as well as the sterling one, it cost me less than the 20 amp sterling charger did 8 years ago, BUT, it's no where near as good as the sterling charger, and i would not want to run it off a dirty gennies supply and expect it to survive.

 

[zen navigator]

You make a good point from a electrical safety point. I would recommend people earth the generator if any doubt.

Although, I dont think it will rectify the performance of a cheaply made\design which is producing spikes?

all this cafuffle, 1 piece of copper pipe drilled with bolt through stuck it and knocked into ground with an earth wire attached to earthpoint on genny and to bolt on copper pipe - sorted.
In spain where we have a place there is no mains electric so its all gennys - the locals nor us go out and buy expensive gennys, cheaper the better none last any longer than the other when they are used for everything from working the water pump and filter in the cisterna to the tv. just use copper pipe and ground earth it.

 

[scotjimland]

all this cafuffle, 1 piece of copper pipe drilled with bolt through stuck it and knocked into ground with an earth wire attached to earthpoint on genny and to bolt on copper pipe - sorted.

what is sorted ?

It won't prevent spikes from a cheap gennie.

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