Remote/Built in Genny Question
When you have a 5th or trailer with a built in genny, is there a very short delay between start up and when you actually get power or does the converter not "kick in" until it gets the full 120V AC. ...
Forum Discussion
If there's an automatic transfers switch, the ATS has a delay between when the generator starts and when it switches over to generator power, typically somewhere in the vicinity of 30 seconds.
If your setup does not have an automatic transfer switch, but instead you have to plug the shore power cable into a socket connected to the generator, then the power would come up immediately as the generator is getting up to speed. Similarly for external generators, although some (most? all?) inverter generators may have a time delay of some sort before they output power at all.
It is generally the best practice to not start a generator under load, particularly a traditional fixed-speed generator, as it is hard on the engine and the voltage regulator. Inverter generators might have a delayed turn-on when starting up built into the inverter control electronics--I'm not sure on that.
As to the converter producing output, some do have low-voltage cutoff circuits that stop the output if the input voltage is too low. Modern converters are based around switching power supplies, which are by nature pretty insensitive to variations in the input power; I would not generally expect decent designs to be damaged by momentary low-voltage operation. That doesn't mean it's a good practice, of course.
If your setup does not have an automatic transfer switch, but instead you have to plug the shore power cable into a socket connected to the generator, then the power would come up immediately as the generator is getting up to speed. Similarly for external generators, although some (most? all?) inverter generators may have a time delay of some sort before they output power at all.
It is generally the best practice to not start a generator under load, particularly a traditional fixed-speed generator, as it is hard on the engine and the voltage regulator. Inverter generators might have a delayed turn-on when starting up built into the inverter control electronics--I'm not sure on that.
As to the converter producing output, some do have low-voltage cutoff circuits that stop the output if the input voltage is too low. Modern converters are based around switching power supplies, which are by nature pretty insensitive to variations in the input power; I would not generally expect decent designs to be damaged by momentary low-voltage operation. That doesn't mean it's a good practice, of course.
