I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the 410cc Generac single cylinder engine.
We will be running a unit on propane for 7 hours per day, 3 days per week (Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday).
What kind of life can we expect?
What problems have you seen?
Thanks Phil
How many weeks?
Unless they are a commercial grade item with a good engine, don't expect too much if you are running them week in and out.
"How many weeks? "
We run 3 days EVERY week.
That is my question - Do you have experience or other data on the life expectancy of the Generac 410cc running LP?
The small air-cooled engines in generators are only going to last between
1500-2500 hours. The one you are talking about is not one of the "premium" engines so you'll probably be on the lower end of that scale. So at 1500 hours, you're talking 71 weeks. Remember, this is a very rough estimate. Of course, you can rebuild the engine or even replace it every year or two and keep a well-running generator. Just build that into your cost.The main thing in getting the most hours is in doing regular oil changes, and be sure to use synthetic.
Well that is Generacs premium engine , pressure oiled with oil filter, many hondas have no oil filter. Manufacturers have different lines of quality. But use-how heavy the load, and oil are key, They do run to
3500+hrs but I dont know what loads were used. At heavy load maybe 1000-1500. Ive heard of many people getting 10000-14000 on little Honda 2000w EU run conservativly, those are load dependant RPM, and run from 900 - 3600 rpm producing power. Use is key, load dependant-controling rpm and conservativly run are best. in regular 3600 rpm units. Take a 3000 EU and use 1-500 watts running it at 900- 1200 rpm and it will outlast anything, theoreticly 20000 - 40000+How does Honda get a clean sine wave (per their site) from an inverter?
I have an EU3000 and its a wonderful machine. I do think the claim that it is a sine wave is BS though. If it were it wouldn't generate crap that completely wipes out AM radio reception on even battery radios within 20ft of the gen. AM/Shortwave radio running from the gen is almost impossible except for very strong local stations.
Actually it really doesn't make sense to generate a sine in a unit such as this. A clean and well regulated modified square is more efficient and less costly. And this Honda produces excellent power... it's just not a true sine in my opinion.
OK, next time I run mine I'll put the Oscope on it and see what it looks like.
Fred
With more sophisticated electronics.
Yes, maybe their modified sine has more steps than is typical of inverters but unless Ohm's Law is repealed the voltage drop across partially on / partially off transistors necessary to do a real sine wave makes it unlikely.
According to Fred Wesner :
Rotational gensets generate sinusoidal waveforms by definition. Power stations are just bigger gensets.
The issue about square wave is with DC -> AC inverters (ie: UPSes), car lighter plug in inverters etc. Trying to produce true sine wave in those is quite expensive, and seldom worthwhile. So, they simulate it to a degree determined by how much they're willing to pay to have it do that.
The issue with consumer-grade gensets is _not_ that it's square wave (it isn't), it's that the frequency and voltage isn't very well regulated. Sensitive electronics may get upset with things being far enough out of whack (ie: power demand spike from water pump downrevs and browns out the PC also hooked in before the generator has chance to throttle up in response to demand).
The Honda in question is not a standard genset. The flywheel of the engine generates three phase power into a potted "black box". I assume the black box rectifies it and uses the DC to drive the modified square wave inverter. The advantage here being the output frequency is independent of engine RPM.
Exactly. The Honda uses an inverter of this design.
The Honda is not a "conventional" consumer-grade genset. The inverter, being crystal controlled, can generate a consistent AC waveform regardless of engine RPM and load. As you noted, many standard gensets, and especially the cheaper ones, have poor regulation and significant waveform distortion.
Fred
I can't wait to see the oscilloscope pictures posted.
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