generator start under load

One thing I learned from these large utility size generators. The control systems start and stop them unloaded and for good reason. It doesn't matter if it is a single generator or one of multiple generators bussed together. These same reasons can be translated to your little 2 kva generator. Everything except incandescent lights and electric heaters (with no electronic controls) will not be happy if you start and stop your generator under load. That brief moment of feeding your expensive electronics less then 60hz and less than 110 volts (brownout) is eventually going to cause something to fail.

Well said!

RJFishing,
No you didn't, and you admitted it. "Not in my vocab........
Did you mean "Brat" ? Yeah, sometimes". You looked it up just like I did. I rolled on the floor laughing while your blood probably boiled.
Call me a wannabe if you want but I have started generators thousands of times. Anywhere from 700 watts to 20 MW. Ever seen a 5 MW generator shutdown while the breaker contacts were welded closed so it stopped under load? If on the buss, your expensive generator now becomes a huge electric motor and some very bad and expensive things happen to your generator and gas turbine.

One thing I learned from these large utility size generators. The control systems start and stop them unloaded and for good reason. It doesn't matter if it is a single generator or one of multiple generators bussed together. These same reasons can be translated to your little 2 kva generator. Everything except incandescent lights and electric heaters (with no electronic controls) will not be happy if you start and stop your generator under load. That brief moment of feeding your expensive electronics less then 60hz and less than 110 volts (brownout) is eventually going to cause something to fail.

Prat or Pratt (English Origin)

It is an actual quite definitive word although I (strongly) suggest you not look it up.

Chum lee wrote:
Common sense (which is no longer common) and good engineering practice says to treat any engine the same, especially a very cold one. Give it a few seconds/minutes depending on the ambient temperature to find itself, let the fuel mixture/cooling stabilize, and then, load it up. Just the reverse for shutting it down. If the genny stumbles and stalls on start up, that should tell you something. (hint: I'm not ready to run yet!) If the genny runs on, backfires, or pings on shutdown, that should tell you something too! (hint: I'm still too hot and need some unloading time to cool off before shutting down)

When is the last time you saw a pilot jump into an aircraft, start it and catapult into the sky? Even on WWII aircraft carriers they ALWAYS give the engines time to warm up. Remember the space shuttle Challenger? What destroyed that and killed all the crew? (hint: temperature differential in the solid rocket booster shells)

Everything works fine, until it doesn't!

Chum lee

/\ Well stated... This is how I choose to run my Honda EU series generators. Warm it up, let it then be loaded up while making electricity, disconnect the electrical load, and then let it cool down just loafing in eco mode for a few minutes. Common sense.

Yes, but the delay can be only seconds, depending on the make of generator, and the engine and fuel system might not be ready for the huge surge from the load

MrWizard wrote:
Try to start your Honda with the a/c turned on
My 100 amp Boondocker converter..measured putting out 111 amps
Will flat out stall a 3000w generator if the shore cord is plugged in while starting
Procedure is
Start generator , let it run for a minute, then plug in cord, (econ off)
And be ready to unplug if it lugs down to hard

If you never stalled your Honda, you never had a large enough load online
Hope you keep having such good luck

thanks mr wizard for reading the question this is what i thought.

again inverter generators start different, they power up, check their power, then output it, there is no power during the start

Man I know one English teacher that must have slashed her wrists after half a semester.

My 1,250 watt Honda, with belt drive FAILED the voltage regulator when a neighbor borrowed the generator in 1987. I saw him yanking the recoil starter, and ran toward his campsite yelling for him to STOP! When I got there the generator had started, no power and the breaker was switched on. He understood when he borrowed it to leave the breaker OFF until the motor started and had run for half a minute. He was a "know-it-all" who ignored common sense. So he went ahead and block-headed "his way". Voltage Regulators cost 116 dollars and I had a spare. "Pieceajunk must have been already blown up when I borrowed it" was the only words to escape his lips. Oh he was suuuuch a nice guy when he came to borrow it. This was on a beach 630 miles south of the border, and they had gne without lights for three days. The same afternoon, they packed up and left. Never Again. Wotta freakin' arrogant idiot.

RJsfishin wrote:
A lot of knowitallwannabees here, but Id bet not a one of them knows of even one generator that ever had a problem from starting stopping under loads.
But then again, I'm talking Honda, not some wannabee generator.

Not unreasonably, often these threads are approached from very different points of view:

What I got away with.

Best practices.

Therefore answers can vary based on which is being addressed.

Try to start your Honda with the a/c turned on
My 100 amp Boondocker converter..measured putting out 111 amps
Will flat out stall a 3000w generator if the shore cord is plugged in while starting
Procedure is
Start generator , let it run for a minute, then plug in cord, (econ off)
And be ready to unplug if it lugs down to hard

If you never stalled your Honda, you never had a large enough load online
Hope you keep having such good luck

Common sense (which is no longer common) and good engineering practice says to treat any engine the same, especially a very cold one. Give it a few seconds/minutes depending on the ambient temperature to find itself, let the fuel mixture/cooling stabilize, and then, load it up. Just the reverse for shutting it down. If the genny stumbles and stalls on start up, that should tell you something. (hint: I'm not ready to run yet!) If the genny runs on, backfires, or pings on shutdown, that should tell you something too! (hint: I'm still too hot and need some unloading time to cool off before shutting down)

When is the last time you saw a pilot jump into an aircraft, start it and catapult into the sky? Even on WWII aircraft carriers they ALWAYS give the engines time to warm up. Remember the space shuttle Challenger? What destroyed that and killed all the crew? (hint: temperature differential in the solid rocket booster shells)

Everything works fine, until it doesn't!

Chum lee