On Sun, 7 Oct 2018 07:34:39 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 10/7/2018 12:35 AM, Bill wrote:
wrote:
On Sat, 6 Oct 2018 15:50:51 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 10/6/2018 1:27 PM, wrote:

I agree, inverters are a far more elegant design but for the once a
decade use I am looking at, I am not sure I want to pay for a 5.5kw
inverter generator. If I didn't have a deal I could not refuse, I
wouldn't even have this one ($300 new in the box)
I did play with the engine speed and I could get the voltage up a
little but the frequency seemed to increase faster than the voltage so
I went back to getting a steady 60 hz. There are a bunch of holes in
the bracket that the governor spring hangs on so you have a lot of
options. I ended up being the next hole up from the one it was shipped
at, adjusting speed/frequency to a full load and that is a minor
change. (~59.8hz - 60)



I've noticed that there are now several manufacturers offering inverter
types. Back when I bought mine I think Honda was the only game in town
and they only had three sizes in terms of power ... 1kw, 2kw and 3kw,
all with 120 volt outputs only.

Now you can get them much bigger in capacity and they offer 240v outputs
in addition to the 120v. I was just looking at a 5kw (6.5Kw peak) made
by Briggs and Stratton that costs about what a Honda eu2200i goes for.


Since the stuff I am worried about is mostly 240v, (pumping water)
those little Hondas had little attraction for me. I understand that
later you could get two and make a 240 with the right kit but that
gave me two gas engines to keep running.
Maybe if I actually thought I needed a better generator I would look
at a bigger 240v inverter but since mine seemed to be running hard
just to keep up with the load, I was not sure how much I would save.
I did consider metering the generator output, since I have a couple of
utility meters on the shelf but I wasn't sure how much I really needed
to know. I did put this into the system so I can hook up a clamp
easily.
http://gfretwell.com/electrical/Gene...connection.jpg

I have some CTs in my pile of junk and a few panel meters that would
be fairly easy to hook up but again, I may not have another outage
that lasts long enough to care. Right after the storm I was ready to
go with a box, the meters the CTs and the necessary connectors but I
quickly lost interest.
I am not even sure where I would put it. In the garage where it is
easy to install, is not convenient to read. I guess I do have enough
wire in pipe around here to put the meters themselves just about
anywhere.
Never dig a hole without dropping a lot of pipe in it, that's my motto
;-)

When I put in the service feeder from the garage to the house, I
dropped in 2 extra raceways.



I think the two generator connector kit just gave more amps, not more
voltage. You could run your RV with a 30 amp plug.



That's true. All the interconnect cable does is synchronize each
generator's output so they are in phase.


I thought they could also be phased in series but I may be wrong. It
never interested me enough to pursue.