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mattd
Member
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2013 17:21 - Edited by: mattd
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the no name generator i inherited crapped out so i have to get replacement. i have no idea what is a quality one and which isnt. can you guys give me any name brands?
still building so need power to run a saw or compressor. would like to keep it under $500 if possible. after building it will really only be used to power ac window unit on cabin, and for power outages at home.
thanks,
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VTweekender
Member
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2013 17:31
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I would say honda or yamaha, but not for under 500........Probably a Generac in that price range would be best....
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2680
Member
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2013 19:16 - Edited by: 2680
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i know we all have our price points, but the honda 2000 is worth every penny and more. quiet, easy on gas and can run anything you can plug in at your house, it was over my budget as well, but very glad i splurged!
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mattd
Member
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2013 20:17
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Is 2000w gonna be enough to get a saw started or run a 3hp air compressor?
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PA_Bound
Member
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2013 20:19
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As noted... Honda or Yamaha... but not for under $500. If it must be less than that... look at the Generac GP3250. It only has 14A breakers, but the one I had was reliable, not nearly as loud as some of the other behemouths on the market, and could be lifted on and off of a truck tail-gate by one (healthy) person.
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2013 20:33 - Edited by: toyota_mdt_tech
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Honda, Honda or a Honda, and if you cant find one, then look for a Honda.
Yamaha is another nice unit, almost as good as the Honda. About $20 cheaper in price for $40 of cheaper and it will show when you have to turn off the fuel and engine, while Honda, its all done in a single stroke/switch. OK, Yamaha has a fuel gauge, but I dont need mine, fill it in the AM, runs all day. But its not real hard to unscrew a fuel cap and look.
Mine ran my 6 gallon pancake compressor (diaphragm type compressor, stay away from piston types) with ease, shop vac, table saw, drill motors, sawzall, roto-zip, router...
The only thing that made it labor was my Skil Worm drive M77 saw. I just needed to hold down the trigger and wait about 2 seconds before I tore into the wood. Once spooled up after the momentary 2 seconds, it ate right into the wood. A std non worm drive saw, wont even see the load.
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groingo
Member
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2013 21:19
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When you said Air Conditioner that changed everything, because of that you will need at least 3000 watt to provide enough cushion and that chucks the whole $500.00 price point regardless.
If you want something that will endure, work when you need it too and have good resale value then Honda and Yamaha, but if you want something to just get buy (kinda like a crap shoot) then close your eyes and pick, but remember, you were warned.
Have you considered renting one?
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GomerPile
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2013 22:01
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As noted a pancake compressor runs fine on the EU2000, as does a chop saw, table saw, and 5000 BTU AC unit. Larger AC units may or may not work.....there are options to change the start capacitor or add a soft start module if you need to power one.
Spend the 1000 bucks and get the Honda. If you ever need cash in a pinch you can get 700-800 bucks instantly on eBay. The $500 generator isn't gonna sell for much.
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mjmmessina
Member
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2013 23:19 - Edited by: mjmmessina
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I have a small cabin and used this to build it and power the cabin which now includes a refrigerator, tv, lights, and a window AC. Has worked great for 3 yrs. Just change the oil at the recommended intervals.
URL
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ackray
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jul 2013 07:35
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Wen
I have a 3500 watt and put around a thousand hours on it within the first year. under $400 and you can get it at amazon.
I'll probably make a long post someday about my generator experiences but if you are running your generator heavy, around ten hours a day, then get two. one with a large motor and one with a smaller motor.
To run the battery charger I use an All Power America 2000w with a 98cc engine. The difference in fuel use between the two means that the APA pays for itself in a little over a month. This Generator has a 98cc motor and I wouldn't expect it to push over 900 watts.
Changing the oil is key. under heavy use a weekly oil change is a good idea.
I looked at Hondas but I decided to try the Wen first since the difference in price meant that I could buy a new wen every year for ten years before breaking even on the cost of a new honda.
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mattd
Member
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# Posted: 10 Jul 2013 10:41
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man, that Wen looks appealing, and has great reviews. overstock.com has a new customer discount. have it in my cart for $305 shipped. will check is Lowes will do a price match so that i can have it this weekend.
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jul 2013 00:54
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There is some decent knock off inverter generators, Kipor is one, Honeywell makes one too. Hyundai makes one too.
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evrmc1
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jul 2013 05:22
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You might look at a Hyundai 2200 watt
http://www.amazon.com/Hyundai-HY2000si-2200-Watt-Portable-Generator/dp/B004919NEK/ref =sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1373534375&sr=8-27&keywords=generator
you can get them ay walmart for free shipping
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evrmc1
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jul 2013 05:23
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they are alittlt over $500
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Josh8880
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jul 2013 07:19
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I just got a champion 4000w for $319 at cabelas. It runs much quieter than I thought it would, and powers 2 saws (circular and a chop) at the same time no problem. Couldn't afford a Honda either...but I figured this could die 3 times for the price of 1 Honda 2000.
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Tobit
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jul 2013 07:35
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ackray, thanks for letting us know about the Wens. I hadn't heard of them before. Amazon has them with free shipping, I may grab the 3500 or 4000 model before my next trip down to my land in October so I can start building.
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mattd
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jul 2013 08:49
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I went with the wen 3500w. $305 shipped from overstock. The good reviews and customer service sold me.
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Tobit
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jul 2013 09:52
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Nice Matt, I'm already a customer so I can't use that deal at overstock so it's the same price at Amazon. With Amazon, I can get 6 mos. 0% financing so I can take a couple months to pay without having to take money I set aside to pay extra ea. month on my land payment. 
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groingo
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jul 2013 11:10
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Whatever you get, make sure that the service centers they claim will take care of you after purchase really exist, when I looked at an AllPower generator 6 of 6 service centers they said were authorized never heard of them!
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ackray
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jul 2013 21:27
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@Groingo
All Power America has the worst customer service ever. I've gone through about three of the 2000w units. Takes two or three calls to get any kind of resolution. Currently trying to get a refund or replacement on a unit that died. They agreed to the claim finally and said they would refund me last month. Still waiting.
WEN on the other hand had knowledgable people who were prompt with support.
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ICC
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# Posted: 12 Jul 2013 00:39
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Haven't seen anyone mention noise or quietness directly. Maybe it is taken for granted that the Honda i (for inverter) series are quieter than anything else. Yamaha's have some quiet models too. The run of the mill $300 - 500 beasts are uber-noisy, running at full speed even when no power id being used. And their so called mufflers.... well they don't muffle worth a darn.
Quiet is very important to be, probably the second most important thing after the power capacity of the machine.
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ackray
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jul 2013 08:16
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The generators I use are all kept outside. I actually built an oversized doghouse for the wen.
There are louvers low on the door and a 12v auto radiator fan in the back for air circulation.
I was going to get around to set up some kind of ducting for the exhaust but haven't done it yet. Not all that noisy to me.
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mattd
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jul 2013 09:00
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just go an email with tracking. Ordered Wed and it will be here today. not bad. was planning on going to the farm this weekend with a hand saw and a hammer. now it will be circular and nailer!
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jul 2013 10:30
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Matt, is it an inverter type?
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mattd
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jul 2013 10:39
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nope.
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mattd
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jul 2013 14:21
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Just got the Wen put together and started. Packaged well, easy assembly, clear and complete instructions.
Was a little quiter then i expected, maybe slightly less then my lawn mower. Used a phone app decibal meter and standing next to it w no load it was 90db, at 10 ft it was 80db and at 20 it was 75db.
Powered my 3hp air compressor, and my chop saw. The air compressor sitting next to it was louder.
So far so good.
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Tobit
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jul 2013 20:32
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Nice matt, thanks for the report.
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jul 2013 23:35
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Quoting: mattd w no load it was 90db, at 10 ft
FWIW; seems to fall on deaf ears a lot (not sure if that was intended as a pun...)
Depending on who's information you use hearing loss begins with exposure to noise at and above 85 dB. Some say 95 dB. ??? The Cat I ran for a few years was 85 dB at idle. No hearing protection was issued back then. That coupled with thousands of rounds of military ammo has resulted in a noticeable decline in my hearing accuity. Only upside is the VA pays for some real nice in the ear aids. Thanks for that folks. I would rather have my old natural hearing back though.
And just in case somebody out there does not know the permanent loss can take decades before it is apparent. No reversing it once it is gone. One reason I dislike most generators is the noise and the dangers many people don't have a clue about.
[soapbox off]
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silverwaterlady
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# Posted: 13 Jul 2013 07:19 - Edited by: silverwaterlady
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Our gene is a Honda. It is not the super quiet and we only paid about $400.00 for it at Costco in 2007. I cannot stand how loud that thing is. It was great when we were building the cabin because it ran all our power tools with no problem.
For everyday use I would love to have the quieter Honda gene with the remote control so I dont need to go outside to start it everytime I need to use a small appliance for only a few minutes. As it is I avoid using that darn noisy gene. Remember this it is going to sound a lot louder at the cabin because it is so quiet there.
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ackray
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jul 2013 11:42
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In case anyone is interested I just fried my Wen.
First off, this location is a shared responsibility site. So if I'm not around to check oil levels and do the maintenance it doesn't get done. So I know of at least three times the oil has been allowed to run out until the low oil cut off kicks in. We were probably changing the oil around every 200 hours or so. Even with this abuse the generator lasted almost 1500 hours.
Worth mentioning though is the fact that the RPM's were cycling, the voltage steady at around 119 and the Hz were between 180 and 220 or so. Yes, I checked the meter. Many times. Yes I did fry some electronics.
Moving froward with my new Wen, it should arrive Tuesday. A new maintenance schedule will be posted and I'll try to enforce it. But every 50 hours the oil really should be changed. I use 10w30 Synthetic and might change to 20w50.
I forget if it was Amazon or Ebay but I picked up some LED Hz meters. I had planned to put up some panels for each generator I run to show voltage and Hz. I think I should probably do this in the near future.
At this point my opinion of the Wen hasn't changed simply because I consider it died from improper maintenance. The guy at Wen was amazed at those readings and said he will get back to me if he finds out how it could have happened.
I am also going to redesign my generator shed to allow more airflow, and probably add another fan.
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