Power meter, you measure power, apparent power and frequency. the alternator you have might only be running at 45Hz, so will make the motor not turn as fast, plus the start up surge is generally around 3 times the running current. You would first have to get the engine speed and frequency right, then put in an ammeter and see that as you add resistive loads, like 2 bar electric heaters, that the voltage and frequency do not drop below 49Hz and 210 volts, but are 50Hz and 230 V ( or more likely 240V) with no load. Then you see when it is delivering the rated 14A into the heaters that it is still running and not overheating, after 10 minutes of operation. Motor loads will mean more current draw, so while the motor can be rated for 3kW, the apparent power it draws is closer to 4000VA, overloading the power plant. These generator sets are almost all rated as if you were going to use a resistive load, any sort of motor loads will need you to derate them, often to around 70% of output, to get to a load they can support.
Ahh, I see just start plugging things in starting with low watts and see if it works and plug in things with more watts in increments until the thing you plug in doesn't work. Then you can average it out.
I've chipped far thicker stuff (up to about 1 1/2 inches) than what was shown through a far less fancy electric shredder and it handles it fine, only stuff it struggles with was wet stuff like leaves/ivy because it gummed up the blades
It doesn't take long to chop off the more sideways branches using extended long-handled loppers that let you stand up and chop the stuff on the floor. You can then feed things in much more uniformly for a good result. Always feed the fatter end in first and smaller side-branches get pulled through in the process. One inch is possible (at least in my Bosch electric chopper). Don't go much bigger though, 'cos I have burnt out the motor trying. Taking a little more time and care pays off. You can fit many more times the volume in your green bin or use it as a mulch for your beds.
It's not recommended for disposing of bodies. So I guess the chipped material goes to the goats' bedding and mulch for plants? Maybe at some point you might grow mushrooms?
50 tropical fruit tree's I've been thinking chipper. The air quality in Thailand the worlds worst some days so I was thinking electric. You just saved me a heap of money.
I have a Viking garden chipper from austria, same problem but at least it have a disque, and it's easier to clean when it jams the blade on it were bent from heating up, when the metal heat up it get dull and bend easily, i turn it off often while trying to collect the wood and cut it into manageable pieces i burn the bigger chunks instead and use them as biochar, better for soil
It would be interesting to know the voltage drop from the house to the chipper under load, your extension cord looks a bit undersized even for 220 volts. Yes I understand you run 220 volts at 50 cycles and we run 120 volts at 60 cycles... I would be surprised if that has much over a 2000 watt motor on it. Where many gas chippers here have 6 to 8 horsepower on them or 4500 to 7000 watts for power. Much over that you are getting into a more commercial grade chipper at least here.
@@ProfSimonHolland I think the thumbnail wire sized for different runs. Number 12 AWG is good up to 50 feet and 10 AWG to 100 feet at 20 amps load at 120 volts. It's better to have to large a wire than to small a wire because low voltage kills electric motors. As I remember for every 3% voltage drop you loose 15% of the motor torque I think is the rule. I use to know all of this 40 years ago when I was working with it. One of the drawbacks to an electric powered chipper is they don't have the rotational mass of an internal combustion engine and depending on motor design they lack the torque of the gas motor but they have the RPM... but the engineers with their formulas and calculations say it will work... and they don't understand when it doesn't and falls on it's face. Simon can you tell I've worked around engineer's screw-ups on the shop floor and in the field?
Good point about voltage drop; it can sneak up on you! I use electric stuff for my little yard, since we have mostly hydroelectric in my region. They have been fine unless the tool is overpriced junk. But, that one day I tried to run a little string trimmer on 300 feet of extension cord... didn't go quickly at all.
There's inductive loads and capacitive loads. The former, such as electric motors, can need up to 3 times their running power to start up, they are overwhelmed easily if the power source has to run an engine faster to catch up.... I use generators a lot, being off grid.
It's an issue of inertia. There's no flywheel, the opening is square, it should be a wider opening say 30cm/12 inches and AC motors don't have any torque. You'd be better off using a DC motor they have loads of torque, combined with a flywheel would probably make the best combo if you are looking for an electric solution.
The issue is not the drive source, but the size/design of the chipper (actually this one looks like a shredder). The gas-powered machines of this style and size are no better. If you want to chip anything beyond small, straight, dry sticks, you really need a big heavy flywheel to get some momentum behind the chipping blades and around 12hp minimum in my opinion. I too was disappointed in the smaller gas chippers and made a video on the solution that I found worked really well and has saved me a LOT of time and effort: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Q_nvi8vSdf0.html
The generator doesn't provide enough inrush current to start the induction motor. I bet if you started it with utilities power then switch it to the generator it might run the motor. You would need a resistive load bank or a couple electric heaters and an amp meter for full load capacity testing. As always very interesting and entertaining.
Sack the angry Pixies and fit that thing with a V twin Honda Chinese clone engine. Remember Safety Goat, pair of safety squints, and Mum on speed dial!
Hard to beat a good ole fashioned, tried and true, gas-powered chipper. Although, to be fair, that electric model seems way under powered for even minor yard jobs. Perhaps, a larger electric motor would give better results.
They also make these exsact chippers with a 196cc 6,5hp gas engine. To be honest i do not think you would have been satisfied by one of those either. The problem isnt neseceraly that it is lacking power. But most of the issues you have with this is because it does not have a hydrolic infeed system. Cause those branches you pulled out of it again it would have chipped like butter. Im not saing that an electric chipper can do the same jobs as a gas chipper or that electric chippers are as good. Im just saying that the things you are pointing out that you arent happy with has nothing to do with the chipper being gas powered or electric. So what you are really looking for is the right class of chipper, and not blaming a bunch of stuff on the chipper being electric, when it is really just a chipper that is lacking those functions.
Those are chippers, not mulchers, anything thinner than your thumb will just clog it up, a bit like feeding it with plastic string, burn those wee sticks and keep the ash for potash fertiliser.
It's not as convenient as a fossil-fuel powered machine, but it's better than an axe or saw. Young people need to get accustomed to working with this sort underpowered equipment, and more importantly using ecology to do the heavy lifting as much as possible. Our high-energy oil-based economy is not sustainable, thus by definition it must end. If natural scientists around the world know what they're talking about, we should have done it yesterday if we wanted any chance of continuing business as usual over the next 100 years and beyond. As we have seen with this year's El Niño, and the corresponding wildfires and flooding the effects are already significant. It'll peak in December so let's see what else happens...
