Harbor Freight tools thread.

Sounds good as being without water is way worse than being without electric imo. That size would run my whole house as the stove and water heater here are gas.

A question for the electrical wizards here.. is it safe to use a generator like this on modern electronics? I've always heard that non-inverter generators create electricity that's too variable/dirty for computers, routers, etc. Is this a myth?

 

What you can do is put them on a Double Conversion ("online") battery backup. It takes AC, converts it to DC, and back to clean AC power.

 

What's the added cost for that solution? The Predator Inverter generator at the size you're talking is $2199 for 9500w compared to $799 for the 9000w non-inverter generator.

 

Couple hundred bucks for a smaller one. Can be a couple grand for a large one, but that's more for like server rooms.

 

Perhaps you're talking about the typical UPS like the many versions APC makes.. they're a couple hundred bucks for just 1500w. These days large power hungry appliances have sensitive electronics. I'm curious of peoples experiences running new high-end appliances off of these non-inverter generators.

 

Laptops and phones, no worries. They can handle dirty power. They have inverters already.

That $2500 gaming PC, id think twice.

Routers have wall inverters, so I don't worry about them, either.

 

PCs are DC too. Their power supplies can take anything. Almost every modern device is DC now, not really any issue even on a less than sign wave power source. A battery backup for PCs is a good idea if power is going on and off so you don't have any issues with the OS getting nuked in the process.

 

The issue people dont think about is that the bigger the generator, the more fuel you need. A buddy "upgraded" to a 9.5kw generator so he could run his central AC. Great.... But during Helene in less than 2 days, he burned 25 gallons of gas. And, he had to use ethanol free in it, because the carb will clog with anything else (chinese generator). If he had to do that for a week, his gasoline bill would be nearly $800.

It makes way more sense to buy a portable AC and use a smaller generator. I have a double hose GE unit it that has wheels, cost about $300. Hell, buy 2....

For a whole house gen you either need natural gas, diesel, or a buried propane tank. Doing it with gasoline isn't practical. I converted my generator to propane years ago. I keep three 100lb tanks in the shed.

There is also no need to run a generator all night long, either.

 

I do that with all my electronics. We have a lot of power "flickers" and the resulting burst blew a router once and messed up a windows update badly, although the lights never went out. I have two of those things.

 

I have a Honda 2000i. It's small but can handle emergencies for lights, radio, TV, run refrigerator and freezer. It's kind of a pain switching cords around and I wish I had something a bit bigger. But it has been great when needed. I also generally have up to 25 gallons of corn free gas around.

 

I have the next size up, the 3000. It’s a heavy beast but runs 2 fridges and all the countertop kitchen appliance stuff. It is frugal on gas, it only uses about a tank a day. I keep delaying getting a transfer switch installed, really need to get that done. Cause managing cords is a major PITA.

 

Those are basically big inverters too, power output might go a bit lower but everything inside is being changed to LV DC, 12V and 5V at the PSU level and lower at the motherboard level (but that has its own voltage regulators)

 

Used this generator this past weekend due to a power outage. Worked like a charm for 12 hours, didnt use that much fuel, super quiet. I ran my whole house except for the AC. I had the ceiling fans on the whole time. very happy with the purchase last year.

 

After having my cheap, Pittsburgh side cutters go missing while working on my son's Eagle Scout project I bought these yesterday when I saw the coupon. Between the coupon and some HF rewards I had, I got these and the Icon slip joint pliers for $11 out the door.

 

Tempted to get the titanium welder tomorrow for $100

 

Which one?

 

I've never used the flux core version, but if you step up a version that can use cover gas, you have more options.

A welder that uses cover gas can run flux core wire, but a flux core machine can't run cover gas.

I do like the Titanium line. I tried out a buddy of mines. It welded great.

 

This is tempting.

 

Yeah, agree with getting a gas one but it’s a $400 difference. Figure I can get this one and play around with it then upgrade down the road.