2-stroke mixture

I assume the chain saw oil is proper 2 stroke oil so that is what you should use.

Ermin laid this down on his screen :

Chain saw oil is the sticky oil, intended to stick to and lub the chain as it flies around, wrong stuff for a two stroke.

Car engine oil at a pinch is better than nothing.

'Chain Saw Oil' is, generally, oil for the *chain* not engine oil.

OK thanks, I will double check the oils tomorrow.

No. a lot of 'chain saw oil' is in fact oil for the chain, not the engine

you can get a tiny little capsule of 2 stroke oil to mix with 5 litres of petrol

Cheapskate! Besides there are rumblings that this sort of engine will be outlawed for pollution reasons pretty soon so I'd shift it before that happens!

Brian

I think that all of the cheap generators that I have seen have been four strokes (copied from a Honda engine). Just saying.

I have one of the smaller (600VA?) ones that seemed quite popular a while back that is definitely a two stroke.

The 3kW is a 4/ and Honda powered. ;-)

I also have a little 12V 2/ genny and whilst it 'ran' the last time I tried it, it wouldn't tick over (or even run a lowish revs) very well and that was probably down to crank seals. ;-(

I gave my other 3kW genny (Honda clone powered) to a mate and he keeps it in and runs it from his van.

Cheers, T i m

The cheap ones, around £100 or less, tend to be 2 stroke. There are a number which are 'badged'- typically 650-850W, with a petrol tank make of pressed steel. They often have a 'cup' under the petrol cap to measure the oil/petrol mix and the correct mix is marked on the tank (from memory 50:1).

A four stroke will have somewhere to fill the 'sump' and possibly a drain plug for same. The small Hondas don't have a drain, you tip the beast up and pour the oil out of the filler.

Chain saw oil is the last type I'd use. Engine oil perhaps but the proper stuff isn't expensive and why risk wrecking the engine?

Chances are the air filter has dried out. These are normally the foam type. Wash in soapy water, rinse, squeeze, let dry. Then add just enough engine oil to make dampish.

If it was left with petrol in the carb, chances are it will need cleaning out. You may be lucky or you could try one of those sprays and some 'carb cleaner' in the fuel.

Wasn't that because it's regulated to 3000 RPM?

I don't know, is it?

Cheers, T i m

Not really practical to ban them retro respectively, heaven knows how many there must be on chainsaws, lawnmowers, motorbikes, generators,...

They could stop the sale of new ones but trying to stop people using existing ones would be virtually impossible.

Even if they stopped the sale of 2 stroke oil, people would use something else - probably generating more pollution.

For running power tools etc the 2 stroke generators are fine. I have one I used to use charge batteries but I've now got a 4 stroke invertor one which runs off propane (or petrol). The 2 Stroke one was under £100 new, the 4 Stroke nearer £1000. You can see why people like the 2 stroke ones.

It might be if it's a simple alternator rather than using an inverter.

I'm pretty sure it's a very basic unit and so likely (then?) only a very simple alternator with some basic voltage regulation?

I get that (therefore) it wouldn't put out as much (electrical) power at low revs but I wasn't really interested in that at the time, just that it could tickover before being used to do something real (like charge a car battery as a form of boost charger).

Cheers, T i m

The cheap ones are just an alternator, I've never checked how close they run to 50 Hz.

The four stroke alternator ones are OK for power tools too. The speed dips a bit while an angle grinder is cranking up.

I don't know about small generators, but why would a simple generator have a tickover speed, even on low or no load? It needs to maintain a frequency of around 50Hz, so it needs to run at around 3000 rpm (for a simple two-pole generator).

SteveW

If it's a simple alternator it has to run at 3000 RPM to produce 50 Hz output - no reason for it to run at any other speed. It's not smart smart enough to idle until something starts drawing current, although there may be a manual switch to do that.

"I also have a little 12V 2/ genny and whilst it 'ran' the last time I tried it, it wouldn't tick over (or even run a lowish revs) very well and that was probably down to crank seals. ;-("

Cheers, T i m