Generator Damage to electronics

[Dick Adair]

A year ago I purchased a Generac GP6500 generator. Recently someone said I could have problems with some electronic devices like a computer. Do I need to replace it or is that not necessary. I'm sure we have some electrical engineers on here.

Thank you.

[Dan Hintz]

Get a scope and take a look at the quality of the power coming out of the generator... it's much nastier than the smooth stuff coming from the local plant. The easiest / cheapest solution is to get a power conditioner installed... if you have a small subset of circuits you'd like to power for electronic equipment, you can get away with a smaller conditioner (read, less expensive). Motors and such don't care too much about the line quality, so an old A/C unit might be just fine, but newer ones with heavy control electronics would have more issue. A good electronic piece will have some heavy conditioning on its own... some computer power supplies might be okay, cheaper units might not handle the nastier issues on the line.

YMMV...

[Matt Meiser]

We had problems with that with our old Generac portable. I had two UPS's fail shortly after using the generator and a microwave. It also made my alarm clock run fast--gaining about 5-10 minutes per hour. Most portable generators have a pretty bad waveform. If you want something clean, look to Honda's inverter generators ($,$$$) or a stationary standby unit ($,$$$-$$,$$$)

Our standby is working awesome. We haven't had a single utility failure lasting more than 10s since we put it in this spring :rolleyes: Last several years we had them regularly.

[David G Baker]

I bought the Honda 6500 watt portable inverter generator and love it. It puts out a clean waveform and it runs very quietly. It cost me a little over $3000. It is very heavy but I can take it with me if I move.