Generac vs. Kohler

[RumRunner]

One has to take reviews with a grain of salt. For one thing, people are far more likely to write a bad review than a good one. Just human nature.

But really, most of the people writing the reviews are not technically competent to understand much about generators anyway so why would their comments matter any as far as the technical issues go. As far as their impressions of the installers and dealers of them, that is just normal business kind of thing and I take that more seriously......

I have been looking at either the $80 HF generator or a small sine wave inverter unit. The HF inverter version is 2kW and often sells for $400-450 and has a lot of supporters. The honda version is almost twice the price. But both are quite heavy by comparison with the smaller HF generator making it less desirable for camping purposes.

Reviewers/commenters often make off-the-cuff statements that are not really based on how the equipment performed in the real world. Most information or misinformation are passed on from one person to another. It is human nature to outdo the other. This is called mimeticism or in everyday philosophical speech, impression management complex.

The information given out didn't really improve the search for better understanding of the subject but rather his desire to showcase himself in the best light possible. It's as if a stage performer wearing flashy clothes with fancy lighting effects and yet his singing is just so-so.

Now back to generators:

I have two of these Hondas 2000i Inverter type generators that each one costs twice as much as Generac of the same output.They are considered the Cadillac of portable gennys.:happyyes:

These units can be parallel-connected to run my AC and microwave in the RV. The last time I used them was about six months ago while camping at the highest temperature recorded on the planet. . . in Death Valley CA.

In this part of town you won't survive without AC. It is like living in HELL and then when you die also ending in HELL. My wife tells me I'm a bad guy.

Regardless of the brand you choose, the most important part of keeping these machines in tiptop shape is maintenance. You can't leave stale fuel in the tank for extended period of time. The small orifices cannot tolerate gummy residue left by dried out gasoline. It is for this reason that dealers will not give warranty because of possible neglect by the consumer.

They will offer a two-year warranty if you sign up for tune up services at regular intervals to make sure everything is up to specs.
In my case I learned how to keep them in shape after all these years. You need to exercise them by running them for short period until it warms up regularly, and draining the tank before storage.
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[petersonra]

Reviewers/commenters often make off-the-cuff statements that are not really based on how the equipment performed in the real world. Most information or misinformation are passed on from one person to another. It is human nature to outdo the other. This is called mimeticism or in everyday philosophical speech, impression management complex.

The information given out didn't really improve the search for better understanding of the subject but rather his desire to showcase himself in the best light possible. It's as if a stage performer wearing flashy clothes with fancy lighting effects and yet his singing is just so-so.

Now back to generators:

I have two of these Hondas 2000i Inverter type generators that each one costs twice as much as Generac of the same output.They are considered the Cadillac of portable gennys.:happyyes:

These units can be parallel-connected to run my AC and microwave in the RV. The last time I used them was about six months ago while camping at the highest temperature recorded on the planet. . . in Death Valley CA.

In this part of town you won't survive without AC. It is like living in HELL and then when you die also ending in HELL. My wife tells me I'm a bad guy.

Regardless of the brand you choose, the most important part of keeping these machines in tiptop shape is maintenance. You can't leave stale fuel in the tank for extended period of time. The small orifices cannot tolerate gummy residue left by dried out gasoline. It is for this reason that dealers will not give warranty because of possible neglect by the consumer.

They will offer a two-year warranty if you sign up for tune up services at regular intervals to make sure everything is up to specs.
In my case I learned how to keep them in shape after all these years. You need to exercise them by running them for short period until it warms up regularly, and draining the tank before storage.
​

They are indeed considered the Cadillacs of portable generators. I don't know why. I don't have any personal experience with any of them. The people that I run across from time to time who have them have say they are great and seem really in love with them, but a complaint I have heard more than once is they can't get their microwave to work on just one of the 2 kW units. I hear the same complaint about the HF inverter unit. I think just about all inverter type generators these days come with the ability to parallel them to get more output. OTOH, I have not talked extensively with anyone that has any of these generators so who knows.

 

[RumRunner]

They are indeed considered the Cadillacs of portable generators. I don't know why. I don't have any personal experience with any of them. The people that I run across from time to time who have them have say they are great and seem really in love with them, but a complaint I have heard more than once is they can't get their microwave to work on just one of the 2 kW units. I hear the same complaint about the HF inverter unit. I think just about all inverter type generators these days come with the ability to parallel them to get more output. OTOH, I have not talked extensively with anyone that has any of these generators so who knows.

With today's electronics you can't afford to run them with those cheap units. . .that is if you value them. I used to have the “go to” unit for RVs made by Onan (owned by Cummins).


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I hooked up my Scope to see what output it has with different loads and the result I got was not really what I expected. The technology used was old-school that prompted me to replace it with Honda. It would be quite expensive to replace a flat panel TV, closed- circuit video, audio amplifier, internet access peripherals and those Amazon gadgets that my wife can't live without. Someone will ask, " why would you ever want to leave home?" I'll leave that for my wife to answer. :roll:


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They (Generacs) are good for running small space heater, lighting, small toaster or charging batteries though. The most important feature to consider IMHO is how noisy those cheap units are. With the Honda, you can run it less than ten feet away and expect a good night's sleep.


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Of course with these Generacs, you can crank up your stereo to drown out the noise and hope you'll get away counting sheep, however, but not a good way to keep neighbors smiling either.


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Happy camping.!
​

 

[infinity]

One has to take reviews with a grain of salt. For one thing, people are far more likely to write a bad review than a good one. Just human nature.

But really, most of the people writing the reviews are not technically competent to understand much about generators anyway so why would their comments matter any as far as the technical issues go. As far as their impressions of the installers and dealers of them, that is just normal business kind of thing and I take that more seriously.

I would tend to agree that mad people tend to write reviews more than satisfied customers but it takes no technical knowledge to understand that when that same person had to pay more for repairs in the first few years than they paid for the actual generator that their reviews are valid. But to each his own, when some complains about their generator with 27 hours on it needed thousands of dollars in repairs I'll believe them.

 

[electrofelon]

With today's electronics you can't afford to run them with those cheap units. . .that is if you value them. I used to have the “go to” unit for RVs made by Onan (owned by Cummins).


​

I hooked up my Scope to see what output it has with different loads and the result I got was not really what I expected. The technology used was old-school that prompted me to replace it with Honda. It would be quite expensive to replace a flat panel TV, closed- circuit video, audio amplifier, internet access peripherals and those Amazon gadgets that my wife can't live without. Someone will ask, " why would you ever want to leave home?" I'll leave that for my wife to answer. :roll:


​

They (Generacs) are good for running small space heater, lighting, small toaster or charging batteries though. The most important feature to consider IMHO is how noisy those cheap units are. With the Honda, you can run it less than ten feet away and expect a good night's sleep.


​

Of course with these Generacs, you can crank up your stereo to drown out the noise and hope you'll get away counting sheep, however, but not a good way to keep neighbors smiling either.


​

Happy camping.!
​

I think this concern for "clean power" for electronics is way overblown. I lived off grid for a while, and I ran all sorts of stuff off modified sine inverters and crappy generators. Not once did i damage anything.

 

[ActionDave]

I think this concern for "clean power" for electronics is way overblown. I lived off grid for a while, and I ran all sorts of stuff off modified sine inverters and crappy generators. Not once did i damage anything.

Little 5kw Coleman jobsite generator blew up my boom box back in the 90s and I never got over it.

 

[RumRunner]

Little 5kw Coleman jobsite generator blew up my boom box back in the 90s and I never got over it.

That must be a loud boom was it not?

In the aftermath of the big Northridge Earthquake we had no power for almost a week and I hooked up my home fridge to the RV Onan Generator and it blew the fridge circuit board.

So, I was hit with a double whammy. No fridge, no TV and worst no internet. I used the RV "house" battery for light and a DVD player.

Needless to say it did BLOW my circuit board so it was
not an OVERBLOWN statement as the felon surmised.:angel:

 

[electrofelon]

Little 5kw Coleman jobsite generator blew up my boom box back in the 90s and I never got over it.

Were you serious? (about the first part). I had a Milwaukee boom box that I blew up, but that was because I hacked into it so I could run it off 12volts and I give it wrong polarity :slaphead: IT did take me a while to get over it.

 

[gar]

180315-0806 EDT

Define dirty power. Why would your kind of dirty power destroy your boom box? What failed in the boom box? Did the boom box have an input power transformer? Did the power transformer fail? Does your AC generator have a DC output component?

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[FionaZuppa]

I think this concern for "clean power" for electronics is way overblown. I lived off grid for a while, and I ran all sorts of stuff off modified sine inverters and crappy generators. Not once did i damage anything.

Cyberpower makes UPS using special output stage that is compatible with newer auto/active PFC power supplies found in newer more expensive gear.
see https://www.cyberpowersystems.com/products/ups/pfc-sinewave/

going fwd one needs to do better assessment of the stuff that a gen or batt UPS will be supplying.

 

[electrofelon]

I just looked at a fairly new TV. The data plate said 100-250 volts, 50 or 60hz. I dont think it is very picky about its power input

 

[ActionDave]

I just looked at a fairly new TV. The data plate said 100-250 volts, 50 or 60hz. I dont think it is very picky about its power input

Well my boom box didn't get hit with 250V and it still went pffffft.

I think modern electronics are more robust, especially with SMPS being installed in everything now. I have heard that furnace control boards can be blown by little generators, although that may be anecdotal since furnace control board go out all the time anyway.

 

[petersonra]

I have also been looking at some of the lithium ion battery power stations. They are kind of pricey but for a short-term power outage they might make some sense. They also make no noise. They can be recharged off of solar panels if you have some. They make some sense for camping cuz of the quietness. Did I mention they are kind of pricey? That's pretty much the primary flaw with using them.

 

[JFletcher]

Most battery types have a finite life, a maximum number of charge and discharge Cycles. Lithium ion can also catch fire if damaged.

As for the Generac versus Kohler topic, Kohler generators must be more than just a little bit more expensive than Generac, because Generac is all you see here. I bet they outnumber Kohler 100 to one here in the residential market. As for Generac reliability issues, we have had few problems with the units we've installed. Long term, I don't know how they will fare, haven't seen too many units over 10 years old

As to gars question, I would define dirty power as anything does not have a true sine wave output at a stable frequency. Some inverters have a square wave output, some generators deviate too much from 60 hertz

 

[FionaZuppa]

I just looked at a fairly new TV. The data plate said 100-250 volts, 50 or 60hz. I dont think it is very picky about its power input

hmmm, ok, so when you get the new TV try feeding it "120v" 60Hz sawtooth.

 

[electrofelon]

hmmm, ok, so when you get the new TV try feeding it "120v" 60Hz sawtooth.

I dobut it would matter. It's just going to rectified, filtered, and switched at high speeds.

 

[JFletcher]

Were you serious? (about the first part). I had a Milwaukee boom box that I blew up, but that was because I hacked into it so I could run it off 12volts and I give it wrong polarity :slaphead: IT did take me a while to get over it.

I blew up a UPS like that one time. Strip the ends off of it to hook it up to a riding lawn mower battery, forgot which was which, 50 50 90, you know what happened.... a rather unceremonious pop, didn't work anymore.

The second UPS....

 

[FionaZuppa]

I dobut it would matter. It's just going to rectified, filtered, and switched at high speeds.

I think it does matter. But dont listen to me, call up Cyberpower folks and ask them why their PFC output stage is important.

 

[michaelc7a]

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[Little Bill]

This thread is over a year old.