I recently picked up a Coleman 3700 (3000w) generator because I got sick of the power outages that seem to happen here on a regular basis. It seems to be outputting low voltage, however. It measured between 100 and 110 volts when I had it running yesterday. Is this within acceptable range for portable generators? I'm wondering if I may have gotten a defective unit. Thanks for any info.
Bill
It is ok for most uses. Some devices should not be run on consumer grade generators because of the poor wave pattern they use.
How are you measuring the voltage? Many small generators will not put out their rated voltage until under load and will fall off at the upper end of their rating.
does it have electronic voltage control , what are you going to run, it is low and can be adjusted, but if its new and depending on what you are going to power, a new or better unit should be looked at
Now that you've actually bought a generator you can rest assured knowing that the power supply in your area will not go out for years to come. Your neighbors should thank you profusely.
candeh
Why would they thank you? Your power is not going to their houses, unless they take turns borrowing your generator.
Bill, usualy at no load a generator puts out 130 to 135, , 120 at full load , your unit has no electronic voltage control. If you run equipment with chips , tv, radio, microwave, many furnaces, etc you will have problems,you can burn equipment out. You are better off with a more advanced unit. Units with voltage control usualy start 124 v. no load,
120 full load. Generac units have a higher surge rating, and seem to be of better quality, HD sells a 4000 w Generac with elec start, voltage control, motor oil filter, idle control. If you have elec outages even once a year, a cheap unit can cost you more headaches and blown equipment than it was worth.
Yeah, thats the way my luck usually works. As far as neighbor issues go, I live in a rural area so they are pretty far away. Not to mention, as far as noise level goes, the large diesel generator powering the cell phone tower near here is a lot louder than my generator is. You can hear it a mile away.
In alt.home.repair on Sun, 20 Jul 2003 10:56:58 -0400 Gary Tait posted:
Because now that he has the generator, they won't have power failures either. :)
Meirman
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i bought a small one first then returned it, the salespeople knew 0, I called generac to learn. I would bet there are sound level codes that the mile away cell is tower is voilating
If they borrow it though. It is impossible to install the genrator in one place, an power several homes, either safely, or with enough capacity.
Perhaps you're not seeing that this is a case similar to "taking your umbrella along _causes_ it not to rain".
-- Jack Gavin
Yes, but only so many people can fit under an umbrella, so if you want more people dry, get a bigger umbrella, or pass it around, to at least ease the wetness among a number of people.
Are you truly missing the point? If it doesn't rain (because the mere presence of the umbrella has _magically prevented_ the rain), then there is _no_ wetness to ease, there is _no_ passing around, and the size of the umbrella is _inconsequential_.
(BTW, I had my umbrella today, and it still rained lightly while I was out, so this is *not* a reliable charm.)
-- Jack Gavin
In alt.home.repair on Mon, 21 Jul 2003 22:28:29 -0400 "Jack Gavin" posted:
Darn, that's a shame. I'm pretty sure generators work better. Something about magnetism and spinning.
Meirman
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Change domain to erols.com, if necessary.
On to a generator, because one owns one, does not mean that the power will not fail (it inevitably will), and if one does own one, and power does fail, other than taking turns using it at each home, there is no safe or legal way to make any one generator serve a neighbourhood, let alone from a 3000W unit.
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