Opinions on generator

[CLAN1]

 hi, has anyone experience/opinions on the Auto Jack suitcase generator looking at the 2200w model. Cheers

[Alan de Enfield]

A bit of an 'unknown'.

 

Unlikely to be a 'continuous' 2000w when the Honda 2000i equivalent (market leader) is only rated at 1600w continuous.

Don't buy it if you intend running anything over 1600w.

 

 

[MtB]

Or anything with  biggish electric motor in it, e.g. a vacuum cleaner.

 

A 2200w electric motor will just stall the genny when you turn it on due to the very high momentary start-up current, despite it matching the claimed genny power.

[CLAN1]

Thank you for your replies very helpful, did seem a bit too good,

[bramley]

just to follow this up for anybody searching. 

 

I took delivery of a Auto jack 1200 watt genny today. It last 3 mins before it cut out. I spent a hour fault finding and found it has no spark and i have no idea why. 

 

returned to amazon and chalk it down as experience 

[Alan de Enfield]

6 minutes ago, bramley said:

just to follow this up for anybody searching. 

 

I took delivery of a Auto jack 1200 watt genny today. It last 3 mins before it cut out. I spent a hour fault finding and found it has no spark and i have no idea why. 

 

returned to amazon and chalk it down as experience 

Maybe you overloaded it and the cut-out activated.

 

What were you running off it ? (It is only rated at 1kw)

 

• Max. Output - 1.49 KVA / 1200 Watt
• Rated Output - 1.25 KVA / 1000 Watt
• Sockets - 1 x 230V 13Amp
• DC Output - 12v 4Amp
• Horse Power - 4 HP
• Starting System - Recoil
• Engine Type - 4 Stroke Petro
• l
• Output Voltage - 230V
• Run Time - Min 6 hours @ Half Load
• Fuel Tank Capacity - 3 Litre
• Overload Protection - Yes
• Low Oil Shut-down - Yes
• Mounting - Anti Vibration Feet
• Noise Level - 58 dB(A)
• Dimension LxWxH (mm) - 480 x 255 x 425
• Weight - 12.1 Kg
• Barcode - 5060504000864

Edited August 17, 2019 by Alan de Enfield

[bramley]

1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Maybe you overloaded it and the cut-out activated.

 

What were you running off it ?

Nothing at all, i just left it running for a few mins as it was brand new. The cut out is a fuse that pops out. Sadly thats fine also 

[Alan de Enfield]

Just now, bramley said:

Nothing at all, i just left it running for a few mins as it was brand new. The cut out is a fuse that pops out. Sadly thats fine also 

Ok - at least you can get your money back.

 

It is better to spend a bit more and get a reputable make, like Honda or Kipor.

 

You should be able to pick up a 2nd hand 2000i Kipor for not much more than you paid for the "Auto Jack"

[MtB]

I have one of them Screwfix £140 jobbies. 

 

Several years old now and still going strong. Excellent VFM although pretty low powered. 

[Lily Rose]

27 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

I have one of them Screwfix £140 jobbies. 

 

Several years old now and still going strong. Excellent VFM although pretty low powered. 

Is it one of these Mike?

 

I'm intrigued and wondering whether it's worth having for battery charging on days when solar is inadequate. I didn't know you could get generators this cheap.

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

9 hours ago, Lily Rose said:

Is it one of these Mike?

 

I'm intrigued and wondering whether it's worth having for battery charging on days when solar is inadequate. I didn't know you could get generators this cheap.

 

 

Under £100 at Aldi (when they have them on 'specials')

[Tony Brooks]

9 hours ago, Lily Rose said:

Is it one of these Mike?

 

I'm intrigued and wondering whether it's worth having for battery charging on days when solar is inadequate. I didn't know you could get generators this cheap.

 

 

Be very wary about charging from any 12V outlet, use a mains battery charger with it. The 12V outlets are usually silly low output (4 amps in this case and 7 amps with the Honda i1000) but more to the point they are unregulated and when the batteries are well charged they will be charging at over 20 volts and thus destroy batteries.

[Lily Rose]

4 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

Be very wary about charging from any 12V outlet, use a mains battery charger with it. The 12V outlets are usually silly low output (4 amps in this case and 7 amps with the Honda i1000) but more to the point they are unregulated and when the batteries are well charged they will be charging at over 20 volts and thus destroy batteries.

Ok thanks. I doubt I'll get one anyway but I was assuming that if I did I would plug my shore power cable into it and switch on my smart charger.

 

[Tony Brooks]

14 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

Ok thanks. I doubt I'll get one anyway but I was assuming that if I did I would plug my shore power cable into it and switch on my smart charger.

 

That is the way to do it.

[MtB]

10 hours ago, Lily Rose said:

Is it one of these Mike?

 

I'm intrigued and wondering whether it's worth having for battery charging on days when solar is inadequate. I didn't know you could get generators this cheap.

 

 

 

One of what? Did you include a link? If you did, it isn't showing here on my lappy.

 

 

It's one of these:

 

 

I see they put the price up to £190 now.

[Lily Rose]

15 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

One of what? Did you include a link? If you did, it isn't showing here on my lappy.

 

 

It's one of these:

 

 

I see they put the price up to £190 now.

 

Sorry, I was a bit of a silly billy. Did the copy but not the paste.

 

Yes that's the one and here's the missing link

 

https://www.screwfix.com/p/impax-im800i-700w-inverter-generator-230v/15760

 

Oddly a couple of other people replied, they must have psychic powers!

 

Do you use it for charging your leisure batteries and, if so, how effective is it for that purpose?

 

How quiet and how thirsty is it?

 

Cheers.

 

[MtB]

1 minute ago, Lily Rose said:

 

Sorry, I was a bit of a silly billy. Did the copy but not the paste.

 

Yes that's the one and here's the missing link

 

https://www.screwfix.com/p/impax-im800i-700w-inverter-generator-230v/15760

 

Oddly a couple of other people replied, they must have psychic powers!

 

Do you use it for charging your leisure batteries and, if so, how effective is it for that purpose?

 

How quiet and how thirsty is it?

 

Cheers.

 

 

Its not in regular use, just emergencies. 

 

Its fairly quiet but not as quiet as a Honda. Must quieter and more reliable than the little screaming cheapo chinese 2-stroke I had before though!

 

It sips the juice parsimoniously, in accordance with its low power output.

 

One big problem is it won't run my Numax three stage clever-dick electronic charger. The charger pops the overload protection when it ramps up to full current. I have to use a dumb charger. 

 

[Lily Rose]

26 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Its not in regular use, just emergencies. 

 

Its fairly quiet but not as quiet as a Honda. Must quieter and more reliable than the little screaming cheapo chinese 2-stroke I had before though!

 

It sips the juice parsimoniously, in accordance with its low power output.

 

One big problem is it won't run my Numax three stage clever-dick electronic charger. The charger pops the overload protection when it ramps up to full current. I have to use a dumb charger. 

 

 

That last sentence might be the showstopper. I have a C-Tek smart charger and a cheaper Stirling one as backup. If they don't work with it then it'll be no use and I don't really want another charger. I probably wouldn't use it much anyway. My mix of 2 or 3 hours cruising most days, 200 watts of solar and only two leisure batteries to be charged sees me right most of the time.

 

Thanks for the info though.

 

 

[Tony Brooks]

7 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

 

That last sentence might be the showstopper. I have a C-Tek smart charger and a cheaper Stirling one as backup. If they don't work with it then it'll be no use and I don't really want another charger. I probably wouldn't use it much anyway. My mix of 2 or 3 hours cruising most days, 200 watts of solar and only two leisure batteries to be charged sees me right most of the time.

 

Thanks for the info though.

 

 

You may get more definitive advice if you gave the maximum charging currents of the two chargers.  There is a lot of difference of input currents between a 10 amp and a 50 amp charger.

[Alan de Enfield]

9 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

 

That last sentence might be the showstopper. I have a C-Tek smart charger and a cheaper Stirling one as backup. If they don't work with it then it'll be no use and I don't really want another charger. I probably wouldn't use it much anyway. My mix of 2 or 3 hours cruising most days, 200 watts of solar and only two leisure batteries to be charged sees me right most of the time.

 

Thanks for the info though.

 

 

It will depend on the 'amperage' of your charger.

My 600w Honda Jennifer can run a 20 amp charger without problems.

 

If you are looking to run a 100 amp charger then you will need something like a 2kw generator (depending on power-factor - some battery chargers have a Pf as low as 0.6)

[Lily Rose]

19 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

You may get more definitive advice if you gave the maximum charging currents of the two chargers.  There is a lot of difference of input currents between a 10 amp and a 50 amp charger.

 

The Stirling one (bought as a cheap backup while I awaited a replacement for a failed C-Tek) is only 6 amps at its maximum setting so I'm guessing that would work but be rather on the slow side.

 

The installed C-Tek charger, which is the one I would want to use, is 15 amps.

 

[Tony Brooks]

4 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

 

The Stirling one (bought as a cheap backup while I awaited a replacement for a failed C-Tek) is only 6 amps at its maximum setting so I'm guessing that would work but be rather on the slow side.

 

The installed C-Tek charger, which is the one I would want to use, is 15 amps.

 

I think that there is a good chance that either will work on a 1kVA generator. Where in Oxfordshire? If around Oxford I could bring my Honda for you to test them.

[MoominPapa]

1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

One of what? Did you include a link? If you did, it isn't showing here on my lappy.

 

 

It's one of these:

 

 

I see they put the price up to £190 now.

I had two of those. First one wouldn't start of a few months and was replaced under guarantee. Second lasted beyond guarantee period then expired in a huge cloud of oil smoke. YMMV.

 

MP.

 

[Murflynn]

as others have said, chargers need a surprisingly high input current.    I had a Honda 650 which, according to the published data for the genny and the charger, would struggle to power my 20A Paco 7 stage charger when connected to the 240v outlet.   

[Alan de Enfield]

52 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

as others have said, chargers need a surprisingly high input current.    I had a Honda 650 which, according to the published data for the genny and the charger, would struggle to power my 20A Paco 7 stage charger when connected to the 240v outlet.   

The power factor of battery chargers is 'all over the place'.

I was looking at a 'cheap one' on ebay and asked the supplier what the Pf was, and after checking with the manufacturer came back with 0.6.

 

In theory your Honda 650 (the same as mine) is rated at 450 watts continuous so it should run a 30 amp charger (at 14 volts)

However if the Pf is as bad as 0.6 then it will only run an 18 amp charger.

 

Better quality (electronically sorted to give close to a Pf of 1) will be OK at 30 amps.

 

I can certainly run my 20 amp (fairly cheap very old) charger of the little Honda.

For my 50a Victron charger I use the Kipor 2000 (rated 1600w continuous)