Howard, W3CQH, asked about 'generators' for AC power. His posting is
at the bottom of this message.
Howard:
You must be VERY careful when purchasing a generator. They are all as
different as bicycles, tools, and ham radios. You may purchase
very good to excellent ones, and then you may purchase junk as well.
In the case of generators, for example:
1. The output voltage and current waveforms can be anything from
a square wave to a sine wave, and sometimes come with a DC offset
as well. Oftentimes they have big time voltage spikes or waveform
notches as well. Asymmetrical waveforms, ac/rf noise, etc. are
a major problem.
2. Electronic equipment will react differently to different voltage
wave forms. The 'best' generators are of course more expensive,
and come from the better manufacturers. Onan and Generac tend
to have very good reputations. Kohler is in there too. If you
are considering a 'cheap' unit, be extra careful !!
3. Voltage regulation is an important issue to consider too. Most of
the cheap generators are not very good at voltage regulation.
4. Frequency regulation w.r.t. motor speed and separately w.r.t.
output load is also an important consideration. Radio equipment
generally wants to see 60 Hz in this country.....and the cheap
generators are marginal at best in this important area.
5. You ought to consider getting a generator that operates on Propane
or natural gas, rather than gasoline. You can use bottled gas, just
like your outdoor Bar-B-Q uses, or just plug your fuel line into
your home natural gas line at home. MUCH better solution for
backing up your home AC power, runs cleaner, etc.
6. I think you live in the Bell Atlantic telephone area. There is a
group at each phone company that has done some thorough evaluations
of many generators, and you may be able to get a copy of their
summaries. It's a perspective worth looking at, even though they
tend to purchase very high end equipment. I would be cautious
about asking Cable TV companies for an opinion on generators,
because they often base their decisions on COST rather than
performance.
I don't know if the WWW has any summary information in this stuff, but
both Onan and Generac have some very good applications note. They've
probably got a web page too.
(Note: I have NOTHING to do with phone companies, Onan, Generac, Kohler
or any generator manufacturer)
Good Luck, 73
Dale K5MM
At 12:44 PM 1/12/98 EST, you wrote:
>Hi Folks,
>
>I am interested in purchasing a portable AC generator for mostly HAM use in
>the field, and I have a couple of questions.
>
>1] are all the generators that I see advertised by the large hardware
>companies the same except for the power rating?
>
>2] are there any specifics that I should be aware of that I don't want in a
>generator?
>
>TIA,
>
>Howard W3CQH
>
>
>--
>CQ-Contest on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
>Administrative requests: cq-contest-REQUEST@contesting.com
>
>
--
CQ-Contest on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/_cq-contest/
Administrative requests: cq-contest-REQUEST@contesting.com
|