Small Generator Shoot-Out Results

[BFL13]

Comparing a 2-stroke non-inverter 950w King with a 4-stroke inverter type 500w Powerhouse ( called PH from now on here)

http://www.powerhouse-products.com/powerhouse_product/500wi/

http://www.kingcanada.com/Products.htm?CD=417&ID=21759

They are similar in price so call that equal.

Each is small enough to fit in the outside storage compartment at the back of our Truck Camper, so they are equal at that. The king is wider and about an inch taller at the handle.

The King weighs more than the PH --40 vs 21 lbs but both are easy to carry even with fuel in them, so not an issue for me, so equal at that.

Obviously they are not the same watts rating so I will just post the running results on that.

Noise was the big issue. The PH was very loud (I am used to my Honda 3000, so am spoiled, but still--- 😞 ) So the question was whether the King would be any worse. King specs say 57dB, PH 65dB loaded.

I can confirm that the King is not as noisy and in fact was not too bad on the ears really. It did "hunt" a bit in revs unloaded but ran smoothly with a good load on it. The PH ran steady. King wins the noise war. Those dB specs must be right.

PH is pure sine wave and the King has more of a typical non-inverter gen waveform for 120v output, so they are not equal for running things that badly need PSW, but most things will be ok. (EDIT--corrected that based on DrewE's post)

I only want a small gen to run a battery charger, and the more amps the better, but noise is a big issue.

The PH 500 ran the Vector/B&D charger and so did the King. Those Vectors do not need PSW. However they will not give full amps with the MSW if the loaded voltage sags--but they keep running at some level of amps.

Kill-A-Watt used to measure output of each gen. The numbers are shown as what they were, no intention to compete- just to compare, since they are different watt size gens.

PH Unloaded voltage- 120.8v King unloaded voltage 122.5v

A. PH with Vector charger at 20 amps (near max load for the 500 PH)

118.4v, 4.36a, 322w, 516VA, 59.9 hz (steady) PF 0.65 DC out-21.0a

B. King with Vector charger at 40 amps (near max for the 800w continuous King.)

99.8v, 7.29a, 543w, 715VA, 59.4hz (varies slightly), PF 0.76 DC out 38a

The King started with full Vector amps of 40.4 but quickly sagged in output voltage and the Vector amps tapered with that, until it settled about as above.

The 2 stroke has a slightly smoky exhaust--lots at first then not much when running, but does not need any oil. The 4 stroke had clean exhaust but needs 15W40 oil.

Both were hard to get started today at 32F. "Starting spray" (ether?) down the spark plug hole helped with the King for that.

[DrewE]

The king is not a modified sine wave generator; it's a traditional fixed-speed generator, which produces a (theoretical) sine wave thanks to having a coil rotate through a magnetic field. In practice, the waveform is probably a little noisy and/or distorted. It's certainly nothing like a square wave, however, and should be just fine for any electronic device within its rated power (possibly excepting things that are extremely sensitive to noise like some amateur radio sets).

[CapnCampn]

Really? The 4 stroke smaller engine inverter is louder? Wow!

I just bought the Harbor Freight version of the King about 3 weeks ago, I've got 6hrs on it, running 3-600W of halogen lights on it to break it in. I'm running about 40:1 in it at the moment, figured I'd give it a little extra lube to start with (and an NGK spark plug).

Mine runs at 128-130V, 62hz or so unloaded (according to Kill-a-Watt). After a little more break in time, I may try to dial it back a hair.

I've left it sitting outside, and it's been around freezing (+/- 10 deg F) for the last few weeks. Didn't have any issues starting it in the cold below freezing - perhaps the plug helped with that.

I did find that it'll run my full sized refrigerator with no issues, as long as I don't try to start the fridge from a "pressurized" state - if I let it sit unplugged for about 5 mins for the compressor system pressure to equalize, the generator will start & run the fridge with no problems.

Back to the sound... It's just slightly uncomfortably loud to stand next to, if I move it away the length of my extension cord (~50 feet) it's tolerable. I'll confirm that mine hunts a little unloaded, but smooths out with a load. I've read this in other reviews as well.

I haven't noticed much 2 cycle smell from it, even running the richer mix. I smell it if I stand just in the path of the exhaust, but other than that it's just a whiff once in a while.

In general, I'm quite happy with it. I bought it to have a means of charging my camper batteries (2x 6v Costco GCs) in the boonies with my Megawatt. I have yet to test this configuration.

CC