My travel trailer included a cheap chinese portable generator. The only identifier on it is xg-sf3000. It appears that these are all made by the same chinese company and sold under different brand names. Anyways I have read that they have very dirty inconsistent power and that that can be bad for charging laptop computers or using 3 stage smart battery chargers. Bad enough that it can burn up battery chargers. Is this true? I am trying to decide if it is worth using this generator or if I should try and craigslist it with the intent to buy a smaller wattage but more reliable and quality generator?

There must be some doohickey that cleans up the "dirty power" before it gets to delicate equipment. Buy that and keep the genny, assuming of course it puts out enough power to fit your "camping" needs.

I don't have one and don't know much about them but, I have been told a Line Conditioner will clean up dirty electricity from generators.

Get rid of it and buy AMERICAN.

Use the cheap generator to charge your batteries and use a pure sine wave inverter to operate sensitive electronics. That way your electronics will also work from battery when the generator is off.

tandkj wrote:Get rid of it and buy AMERICAN.What generators are made in the USA?

Cheap chinese generator safe for electronics?

18 Replies

83President
Explorer
Dec 15, 2013
Toss the cheep generator...
as far as Chinese made products.... everything is manufactured overseas.
in fact companies like Warn winches, bad lands "harbor freight tools" version of a winch are the same product except the high price name tags...
I could buy a truckload of crappy generators slap a name on it as my own and its the same generators oriellys, AutoZone, Kmart, Walmart, and home depot sells.

I think you would be safe with a surge protection circuit.
Jonnygsx
Explorer
Dec 14, 2013
mlts22 wrote:
Which Chinese generator?

Jonnygsx wrote:
My travel trailer included a cheap chinese portable generator. The only identifier on it is xg-sf3000. It appears that these are all made by the same chinese company and sold under different brand names.
hugemoth
Explorer
Dec 13, 2013
I don't know about your battery charger but I wouldn't hesitate to power a laptop with any generator. The power brick generally says input power 50 or 60 cycles, 110 to 240 volts. So it's unlikely any generator will be able to fry it.
mlts22
Explorer II
Dec 13, 2013
Which Chinese generator? The Yamaha ET800 design that the $100 Harbor Freight two strokes use was made in the early 1970s. It is not designed to power electronics (as silicon wasn't really mainstream for a decade after it hit shelves.) In fact, there are YouTube videos showing surges and spikes when loads go on and off.

Chinese open-framed models might have some voltage regulation circuitry. However, it will take work as described above to see if it is safe for electronics.

Were it me, I'd at least buy a Champion open-framed model at the cheapest. They come from China, but Champion at least has good customer support.
free_radical
Explorer
Dec 12, 2013
beemerphile1 wrote:
tandkj wrote:
Get rid of it and buy AMERICAN.

What generators are made in the USA?

Generac,Brigs &Straton,Kohler,Cumins,Onan??
SaltiDawg
Explorer
Dec 12, 2013
Most portable generators do not have a high voltage protection feature.

I have added that function to my home residence portable generator and have used the generator to power refrigerators, fans, etc, and to operate my high end audio/video equipment without any problems.

(I have no RV experience.)
rustycopperball
Explorer
Dec 12, 2013
It's red, must be good!!! Honda's' made in China too
Jonnygsx
Explorer
Dec 12, 2013
Wow Line conditioners are surprisingly expensive. This generator is near 3000 watts. Something like 2400 I think. A line conditioner for that wattage is going to be over $200. For that money i'd rather buy another solar panel and sell the generator and just run off solar.
MEXICOWANDERER
Explorer
Dec 12, 2013
I would check power with a voltmeter, then a frequency meter, first unloaded then with a good load on it for at least twenty minutes. Power should not be above 127 Volts, 62Hz nor below 108 volts 56Hz.

If the generator surges even once during the test, strike one, it's out.

Do not run inductive loads while electronics are plugged in.

A laptop brick is rugged as hell. 80-240 volts, 52 - 68 Hz. A brick's output is not influenced by the value of the power put into it. Until the point it shuts down.

Harmonic distortion is I believe what you are referring to. Not a big issue when the generator is lightly loaded and voltage and frequency are within design specs.

It's when the generator is loaded to a battery charger or other inductive load that waveform resembles the path of a sailor in Po City on a Saturday night.
bikendan
Explorer
Dec 12, 2013
beemerphile1 wrote:
tandkj wrote:
Get rid of it and buy AMERICAN.

What generators are made in the USA?

Exactly!