Generator electricity….how ‘clean’ is it ?

Just wondering if there’s anybody on the forum who has experience in this ? How true is the sine wave created by a generator, or how much distortion and “noise” is also present ?

a while back I was advised by someone not to run my furnace off a generator because it could damage the electronics in the circuit board…he was not an electronics specialist though. At work, laptops and other electronic gear is regularly powered by generators and I never hear of any issues.

I realize that inverter generators are intended make clean power and are better in many ways, but you have to spend much more to get an inverter that makes 240V,

just wondered,

I believe it depends a lot on the generator, and the loads applied. Our job trailers are usually run off the big diesel rentals and guys charge everything with them. If you have a small horse power gas unit and run intermittent loads on it the voltage and frequency can fluctuate a huge amount and from what I understand, that's what will create problems with electronics. I did see a video where a guy ran his high efficiency furnace from a battery and inverter for a couple of days.

I did a lot of research on this and there was no conclusive answer on that. Some articles claimed it would ruin electronic equipment and others claimed it would not. I have a older Coleman generator 5500 and have run my computers on it (3), Plasma TV, satellite, Refrigerator, Freezer, sump pump etc. without a problem.

Also to test what happens if I run out of gas I shut the gas off to see how my computer ran and it was fine. Considering the number of brownouts I get each year my generator is unlikely to do any harm.

My best friend is planning to buy one like mine just so he can run his electronics workshop and is not worried about his electronics including his 10,000 computer or his other computers.

Not Scientific but seems fine to me.

There's a difference between inverter (clean) and construction (dirty) units. Inverter units keep their frequency very close to the desired 60hz required for electronics, the others tend to fluctuate more depending on load and are not good for electronics or motors.
As for running furnaces on inverters, there's only one problem, they need to have the ground and neutral bonded for the system to work, a simple fix is to take a common 120 male plug and shunt the neutral and ground connectors and plug it into the receptacle. No damage comes to the genny or furnace.

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Originally Posted by Fisherman

There's a difference between inverter (clean) and construction (dirty) units. Inverter units keep their frequency very close to the desired 60hz required for electronics, the others tend to fluctuate more depending on load and are not good for electronics or motors.

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Yep, the difference is between what is considered clean power and what is considered dirty power. The easiest way to see the difference is to watch the sine wave they create on an oscilloscope. An inverter will produce a waveform that is uniform, with not much deviation between highs and lows. Regular generators will produce random spikes and the waveform will not be as uniform. The general rule, as explained to me by an electrical engineer, is to only use inverters to power any device that is controlled by a circuit board. Although regular generators are sometimes used with circuit boards, cumulative damage may be happening without knowing it, and the possibility exists of damaging the circuit board with an unexpected power spike (dirty power).

Here is an interesting comparison between sine wave and square wave: https://pssdistributors.com.au/what-...ave-inverters/

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Originally Posted by TroutSlayer

Here is an interesting comparison between sine wave and square wave: https://pssdistributors.com.au/what-...ave-inverters/

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That's a pretty good explanation.

It’s a bit surprising that there don’t seem to be smaller (homeowner type) inverters that provide a 240V connection. I guess most consumers just don’t need it and feed their RV trailers with 120V

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Originally Posted by 73hunter

Just wondering if there’s anybody on the forum who has experience in this ? How true is the sine wave created by a generator, or how much distortion and “noise” is also present ?

a while back I was advised by someone not to run my furnace off a generator because it could damage the electronics in the circuit board…he was not an electronics specialist though. At work, laptops and other electronic gear is regularly powered by generators and I never hear of any issues.

I realize that inverter generators are intended make clean power and are better in many ways, but you have to spend much more to get an inverter that makes 240V,

just wondered,

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I had an old Coleman genny that was about 5,000 watts, a real noisy beast and it eventually killed its own circuit board. I got a Honda 6,200 watt Invertor and that has been the cats meow, the well pump operates on 120v on its own circuit. I run computers and i phones never a problem with this unit, but it was not cheap.

Last month our village experienced a form of a “brown-out” where we lost a power phase, and many were recommending turning off the house’s main breaker to isolate sensitive electronics (I did this too), but I also got the sense that many people stuck it out and endured the lower power levels. And I did not hear about a bunch of people having damaged electrical equipment…

so what I am wondering is if the electronics are a lot more robust and able to withstand current/frequency/voltage variations than we give them credit for ?

I believe they are, I hooked my computer up to mine and played with the power by cutting off the gas then powering up and shutting down. I have run electronics like TV's and computers. You could hook each device like a computer to a power bar for surges. I have protection bars on most some devices.

in emergency situations i run my 5500watt Honda into my panel and shut the main power off and isolate only certain circuits. we have high ground water so in the spring the sump pump runs a lot and the generator is needed in power loss situations. we might use it for a coffee machine or lights but keep it very simplistic to avoid any electronic damages "if they occur"
best to be prepared than to be scrambling

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Originally Posted by DanE

in emergency situations i run my 5500watt Honda into my panel and shut the main power off and isolate only certain circuits. we have high ground water so in the spring the sump pump runs a lot and the generator is needed in power loss situations. we might use it for a coffee machine or lights but keep it very simplistic to avoid any electronic damages "if they occur"
best to be prepared than to be scrambling

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How do you like that model? I run the 6500 watt invertor and its been real good over the past 10 years, mind you I have only 400 hours on it.

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Originally Posted by Gilroy

How do you like that model? I run the 6500 watt invertor and its been real good over the past 10 years, mind you I have only 400 hours on it.

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I got it for such an amazing deal I couldn't pass it up
story goes two elderly brothers bought 2 of them to power their hunt camp. unfortunately they got too old to continue the camp and sold it, one of the generators was brand new and I bought it for $1200 and it's ran perfect for the 5 years I've had it

Well for the mini ice storm I had to run my generator for about 30 hours. I have a 1990's Coleman generator 5000 watt generator.
I powered at my place 1 sump, 2 freezers, 1 fridge, network, 2 computers and one large screen TV and a few lights . I also powered my neighbours 1 sump, 1 computer, network, fridge and a light).

Not the slightest bit worried of harming my electronics.

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Originally Posted by greatwhite

Well for the mini ice storm I had to run my generator for about 30 hours. I have a 1990's Coleman generator 5000 watt generator.
I powered at my place 1 sump, 2 freezers, 1 fridge, network, 2 computers and one large screen TV and a few lights . I also powered my neighbours 1 sump, 1 computer, network, fridge and a light).

Not the slightest bit worried of harming my electronics.

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That was my last generator at the camp and about the same age, I ran it for about eight years. Found it pretty reliable buy very noisy. At the end it gave me trouble, started surging and spiking in power output. The repair guy in town got it going again but within a week back to problems. After the second so called repair he said I needed a new circuit board which he could not find and I just scrapped the thing. The housing around the pull cord would also crack under vibration, not the best unit but for the price it was OK.

I would be careful with the electronics when that unit starts to go.

Actually I have powered a lot of electronics with this generator this was just the latest.

I am surprised your friend couldn't find parts around here they are a dime a dozen which is why I bought this one.

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Originally Posted by Gilroy

That was my last generator at the camp and about the same age, I ran it for about eight years. Found it pretty reliable buy very noisy. At the end it gave me trouble, started surging and spiking in power output. The repair guy in town got it going again but within a week back to problems. After the second so called repair he said I needed a new circuit board which he could not find and I just scrapped the thing. The housing around the pull cord would also crack under vibration, not the best unit but for the price it was OK.

I would be careful with the electronics when that unit starts to go.

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Originally Posted by greatwhite

Actually I have powered a lot of electronics with this generator this was just the latest.

I am surprised your friend couldn't find parts around here they are a dime a dozen which is why I bought this one.

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This was a local repair guy and not real customer friendly, his business is up for sale and has been for about 3 years...

Actually my genny needs some carb work, which I plan to pay someone who's better then I am, but I will buy a carb kit to keep on hand as well. I do know how to repair small engines but I have a short attention span (according to Dr's and my parents and my wife I am ADD or AHDD or some other BS) My attention span seems to get much shorter these days. Few years ago I took apart a carb and then got distracted, left the parts on the motor for about two weeks then shoved the snowblower out of the way and the parts went flying but I found them all.

It seems harder to do as much in a day then it use to many years ago. But this weekend I did mange to cut up some of the large branches finally in my yard and did three neighbours yards last week and that almost killed me, weird at one time I could have gone 24 hours non stop.

Got the chicken coop and run cleaned out this weekend as well.

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Originally Posted by Gilroy

This was a local repair guy and not real customer friendly, his business is up for sale and has been for about 3 years...

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Originally Posted by greatwhite

Actually my genny needs some carb work, which I plan to pay someone who's better then I am, but I will buy a carb kit to keep on hand as well. I do know how to repair small engines but I have a short attention span (according to Dr's and my parents and my wife I am ADD or AHDD or some other BS) My attention span seems to get much shorter these days. Few years ago I took apart a carb and then got distracted, left the parts on the motor for about two weeks then shoved the snowblower out of the way and the parts went flying but I found them all.

It seems harder to do as much in a day then it use to many years ago. But this weekend I did mange to cut up some of the large branches finally in my yard and did three neighbours yards last week and that almost killed me, weird at one time I could have gone 24 hours non stop.

Got the chicken coop and run cleaned out this weekend as well.

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My son is the exact same way, but like you pretty handy at figuring out things.