Good information I’m a DuroMax generator dealer and I get this question all the time so I will be linking your videos and it breaks it down to where the average person can understand it.
Thanks so much for the kind words and for sharing my content. I haven't tried a duromax yet but I have heard good things and have plans to pick one up in the next year or so to do some in depth reviews on.
Excellent info! I have the harbor freight inverter generator you show on top. Bought it for a hurricane here in Florida 2 years ago. Super quiet and starts on first pull every time so far. Just got it out this past weekend for Hurricane Debby 2024 after one year of storage, started on first pull!
Great explanation. Had been trying to figure this out and this was by far and away the most clear and concise out of a dozen articles and a handful of videos I checked first. Thanks!
Thanks Sir I do my best to take this "complicated" topics and make them understandable for myself, and then turn around and try to share them with you all.
Great video Tim. I would like to add if you are going to be a long time using it. Like When hurricane Maria hits PR. We were 4 months without electric power and I spent a lot of money on gasoline. Like $300 or $400 monthly. If money isn't a problem for you another thing you need to think about is that probably isn't going to be gasoline available at least at the beggining of the emergency. I have both types of generators, but if you need to choose one go with the inverter you will spend less $ on gasoline and survived with less fuel.
That's awesome and a great way to explain difference, I'm a supervisor AT HFT and you made it so much easier for me to explain difference between the inverted and regular generator!
Fantastic video and so informative. I am an electrical engineer, and I say this is great educational video. Keep in mind duel fuels with propane is much better than gas, but it produce less W.
Keep in mind they do make Low THD open frame regular generators. My ridged tested at 3-5% THD. My dad’s old stormguard vanguard powered 5500 watt generator tested almost the same. I have triple redundant power. Solar and a eco flow delta pro ultra. A small inverter that will charge the eco flow at 1800 watts. And a large inverter that will rapidly charge the batteries and keep the house running. I have about 10k invested in this set up. But for me I like clean power and silence when possible.
You need to test the fireman generator because they also put out cleaner power then the older generators. I've ran my 52" smart tv about 200 hrs on the regular newer generators. Since 2017 through FL hurricane seasons no problems on of my electronics.
The limited testing I’ve done so far all electronics have ran fine according to firman the Total harmonic distortion is 11-14% which is high but hasn’t caused any problems yet.
Some inverter generators are open frame. They are open frame because they need the room for a larger motor to produce higher power at 240A. That way they can be used as a whole house electrical supply. Champion and Duracell both make open frame inverter generators with >6000 watt output. Also some new appliances, stoves, fridges, have circuit boards that can be damaged by a standard generator.
Thanks for the video - this is helpful. Question about running generators parallel - can I run two different wattage inverter generators parallel or do they need to be the same wattage?
Hi Tim, I love your video to tell the different. How do I know which generator I should buy to run the whole house (5 ton central AC + some lights and basic Eletronic stuff)?
Maybe you help me: I'm researching for a generator for backup on an off grid solar system in the future. If I want to charge batteries from this generator (or better yet pair of generators!) what equipment do I need? Are there inverter generators that let you pull off the DC directly?
Generators with UPS battery backups will clean up the power really nice. Inverters also sip fuel. FWIW - city power stinks it’s more of a modified sine-wave very blockie you can spend big$ for power filters / modulators to clean things up. Some household appliances (washers, dryers and microwaves) they eat electricity - heck even a toaster noms energy
what about if you want it for house backup energy? You basically will run it through main breaker? would that be somewhat cleaner when you connect from the wall? Or if not, what about if you put a UPS in front of the wall and the computer for example?
Which would be best for a home when electric power goes out. We got a inverter and it has some limits on power tools and only one is plugged in outlet.
Thank you very much. These are my absolute favorite comment. I work hard on these videos to make them top quality and I appreciate you taking the time to stop and say something.
The grand question is if these will be used for after hurricane and power is out for DAYS .... Do i really need an inverter gen or just a basic generator for a few days or a week? Do i pick quality of power which will be less and more $$ or a bigger 13Kw reg generator thats slight dirty ??
You can now get big generators with low THD which puts more power than inverters. More expensive though like inverters. Plus and minus but like its quiet and portable followed by the ability to be paired
I'm no expert, but I've ran across some people online that seem to know what they are talking about. These people are of the opinion that the newer, modern, NON-inverter generators aren't as bad for electronics as the old school ones.
Yeah, I also read that a modern generator with a good voltage regulator is not that bad for electronics. I still got an inverter generator for fuel efficiency and the noise suppression.
I would rather pay the extra amount for a Honda inverter generator tha is clearly the best and not risk damage to my equipment. I have a Honda generator that is 20 years old still guns when needed.
I’m hoping that one day they can make generators run off water. They have buses that run off water they should make generators run off water it would be amazing if they could do that
Really good content. I already have an open frame generator. Can I get an inverter to run the power through to clean it up? Do you already have a video on this?
Great explanation. Earned a subscriber. Answered all my questions. In your opinion, open frame generator ok to run welder? Or would the dirty electricity mess it up?
Hi Tim, great video. You may be able to help where others have failed. I have an RV with a Onan 4000 generator. Trouble I am having the Xantrex inverter does not like the Onan, and will not charge the house batteries. It works fine on shore power. I hooked up my Honda eu2000i to the Xantrex and it is working fine, charging the batteries as it should. Is it possible to "clean up" the power coming from the Onan - thanks so much.
Great info Tim. Wanted to let you know that at least at Harbor Freight, they have Open Frame, “Inverter” Generators. They run about 35% less than the closed frame ones. Clean power, cheaper, but lots more noise!
Great video. I currently have an open frame generator - super loud for my neighbors when using as power our townhouse during outages. My take from your video is that with the inverter generator, I can still connect it to my transfer switch just as I do with the open frame, but it will be much quieter - correct?
Great video, I want a generator that is light, but can power my house, ac with soft start, small freezer, 2 refrigerators and some lights. I hardly ever have black outs. The weight and being able to use for camping. AC is not needed if weight is a factor. Does this one come with a 220 plug? I had a Generac 3500 watt generator power my old house with 2 freezers and 2 frig’s wiyh no problem.
Great information, thanks for sharing - have not heard the best of reviews from Harbor Freight stuff, but, if you think its ok, I'll give it another look.
So I just recently picked up my first hf gnerator the 3500 watt inverter and my initial thoughts are really good especially for the features you get at a much lower price point. A lot of my friends inside prepping circles speak rather highly of them.
So if it outputs DC then it will not run electronics. They all use AC and convert it to low voltage DC via onboard PSU or a power brick. What am I missing?
@@talesofafrika well no. Apostrophe is for possessive tense and that's definitely wrong. In addition, no it's not RPMs. Do you say feets? I don't think so. We don't add s to something that is already plural.
Question: does the BATTERY charge on the Predator 3500 inverter when operating??? I can’t find answers anywhere!? Or does the battery have so many cranks and have to replace???
Good video, but I still. have a question. If I use my open frame generator and have a surge protector in use for my electronics, is this OK or are my electronics still in danger of being ruined?
So no, all the surge protector does is protect a device from a quick high power surge. The problem with a non-inverter generator is that the power isn’t clean so instead of a smooth wave form, it looks more like lightning bolts to an extent and the powers up and down it’s the fluctuation in power that will rapidly shorten the life of electronics
Hi Tim, great generator review. We live in TX and just got our power back. Our home has natural gas and we are looking to purchase a generator. We have a 2 story home about 2800 sq. ft. however the high cost of a dedicated standby unit is out of our budget. Are there any portable natural gas generators that you could recommend? New subscriber!
I'm here in Houston with you. I think even if you can afford it, it is ridiculous to pay $20, 000 for a standby generator, rather than $450 for a 3500 watt trifuel natural gas generator. The only difference is when the electricity goes out, you have to get up out of your chair and switch to generator and pull the starter rope 3 times. There's also lots of upkeep on big standby generators. I got a few walmart $140 window ACs and I'm good to go. I did not get inverter generator. During hurricane , neighbors better not complain about noise. Tim has video on hooking up to gas; and if you want to, my friend says electric hook up to breaker panel is easy too. I got good quality surge protector power strip to feel safer about computers....
@@davidchristopher800Thank you Brother much appreciated. I opted for a 14.5kw generator. In natural gas mode it’s at 11,600 watts which I believe would be enough to run one 3 ton AC Unit, a fridge, TV and a few LED lights. It’s a beast but I think it should e enough to keep us cool, fed and entertained.
I know nothing about this stuff. So, my question is why can’t you hook up an inverter to a gas powered generator and then your electronics to the inverter?
Thank you for explanation of differences. Want to go with inverter. One qu, looked thru Playlist - do you have anything reviewing/recommending various brand, model options? Thanks again.
What if I get a open generator and buy a external inverter is that possible to set up of course won’t be quite but does it equal up to a inverter generator?
Love the shirt! And your videos. Just found ya trying to find the right generator for hurricane season. Tired of JEA’s crappy service. Been without power now for almost 12 hours. Definitely needed the help, thank you!
but which generator is most gas efficient? watt for watt... if I needed 2500 watts total... which one would run longer? one that has 5000 running watts where its using 50% of the load, 10,000 watts where its using 25%, or do i need to find one closer to the 2500 running watts?? which brand also? I ran my TV and router, internet off an old regular gen Briggs and Stratton 5500 running watts... led light was pulsating but tv and electronics ran ok... is an inverter really necessary ?
@TOOLMANTIMSWORKSHOP if using for a Whole Home Backup with a Inlet and Say a Smart Home Panel like a EcoFlow2 Panel, is the Cleaner Energy Needed over RaW Power?
There are something I’m actually working on at the moment but you can get UPS is an interruptable power supplies some of which will take the power charge the battery and then power the electronics. You need my little do that as opposed to one little pass-through electricity when it’s running
