small gen with and without voltage regulator

[ron]

I will be specifying a 5kW, 120/240V gasoline generator for a construction office trailer. I will be specifying a gen mounted automatic voltage regulator and TVSS to account for some power quality serving the office computers.
There is a significant cost savings if the generator of this size does not have an automatic voltage regulator.
Has anyone performed tests on small generators with and without an AVR. Does the voltage swing dramatically during loading and unloading? The upcharge is about $800 for a model with an AVR. I think it is worth it, but I've been asked to find out how bad the non-AVR model is, and the manufacturers do not have quantifiable data that they are willing to share.

 

[bennie]

Re: small gen with and without voltage regulator

What brands are you looking at? I can get the specs on most types.

Without looking at the specs, I can feel comfortable with advising you to get the AVR unit.

 

[ron]

Re: small gen with and without voltage regulator

For example, Honda has a unit with AVR and Generac has one without. Mitsubishi has AVR and porter cable doesn't.
I wanted to try to give examples of poor power measurements of units without AVR vs units with.
I agree AVR is appropriate, but the client wants more info.

 

[bennie]

Re: small gen with and without voltage regulator

Ron: Do a search with key words "Power Generators"

 

[dereckbc]

Re: small gen with and without voltage regulator

Ron a couple of questions and comments.

Does the gen manufacture w/o AVR specify swell and sag?

Is the gen being used as standby or primary?

Is there an ATS with a utility connection?

I am sure you know the TVSS does not offer any voltage regulation, and cannot protect against overvoltage, only impulse type overvoltages.

What I am dancing around is if the gen is being used as primary and no utility interconnect, the possibility of transient voltage activity is extremely remote since 95% of it comes from outside the facility. And this being a construction trailer I would doubt TVS is a real threat.

What if you were to drop the TVSS and use the savings for a gen with AVR?

 

[ron]

Re: small gen with and without voltage regulator

It will be used as a standby, with a manual xfer switch.
The gen manufacturers at this small size don't advertise any voltage specs. other than it's somewhere in the neighborhood of nominal.
The TVSS is for the utility as well as the gen, since the gen manufacturer infers that there may be transients in the output of the small gens output.

 

[photon]

Re: small gen with and without voltage regulator

Folks: Lets get back to the basics. Any 5kW 120/240v portable gasoline generator that doesn't have +/-5% voltage regulation is not worth an additional $800.00 add-on cost, when the generator itself WITH the regulation shouldn't cost $800.00 . I own a Campbell-Hausfeld 5kW purchased from Grainger (+/-$400.00 on sale) w/ voltage regulation that I use for emergency back up at home (lights, computer, TV's, etc). At work we have an unregulated 2kW (which has read as high as 158v 1ph, no-load) which works for drills and lights, but toasts battery chargers. My question: Who's selling you this "equipment"?