Best Generators

[bonany]

Hi all.

 

Anybody know much about generators, prices, where to get them?

 

I need to charge my battery, run tools and maybe run a few appliances, laptop charge etc.

 

Any info would be excellent as when i look on the net it seems you can buy them for £60 or £1,000 plus and everything inbetween.

 

I'm unsure about the wattage outputs i need.

 

Also What kind of battery charger do i need to come from it to my battery? (I only have one battery that i use for lights and water pump only.)

[bottle]

Add up all the wattages of the appliances, (on their labels, it may state amps, just multiply that by 240 [near enough]) that will be used at the same time, equals generator size but personally I would get a slightly bigger one, they are more fuel efficient when not fully loaded.

 

Check that the rating of the generator is given in 'continuous load'

 

Charger needs to be 'intelligent' usually stated as 'three stage' a standard car battery charger will not do.

 

The rule of thumb that some agree with and many do not is the charger should be 10% of the battery bank. This is only a guide

 

As for cost, you get what you pay for, look at Honda, 1Kw, 2Kw, depending on your needs.

 

The true experts will be along, I have only given the novices view.

[sueb]

Preferably get a quiet diesel genny. We cope with an inverter which is silent.

Sue

[ditchcrawler]

Preferably get a quiet diesel genny. We cope with an inverter which is silent.

Sue

You can't charge your single battery with that.

Edited August 16, 2010 by ditchcrawler

[Richard10002]

Anybody know much about generators, prices, where to get them?

 

I come from a yachting background where you might spend several weeks, or even months, at anchor, with no access to shore facilities. The concensus seemed to be that Kippor generators were just about as good, and as quiet, as Honda generators, (in fact AFAIK Honda are taking legal action against Kippor for more or less copying them). Honda also seem to hold their value very well.

 

However, when I bought a generator, (in Malta), I chose the Honda 2.0EUi, rather than a Kippor. Cant say how good it is as illness overtook me, so I sold the boat with the genny, never having had to use it.

 

When I get a narrowboat, I'll be considering the Kippor, as a lot of yachties have them, and seem to be happy, but I might buy another Honda.

 

Lots of places to buy on the web.... just google Kippor suitcase generator, and Honda suitcase generator.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Richard

[sueb]

You can't charge your single battery with that.

Isn't that what the engines for?

Sue

[Lady Muck]

I come from a yachting background where you might spend several weeks, or even months, at anchor, with no access to shore facilities. The concensus seemed to be that Kippor generators were just about as good, and as quiet, as Honda generators, (in fact AFAIK Honda are taking legal action against Kippor for more or less copying them). Honda also seem to hold their value very well.

 

However, when I bought a generator, (in Malta), I chose the Honda 2.0EUi, rather than a Kippor. Cant say how good it is as illness overtook me, so I sold the boat with the genny, never having had to use it.

 

When I get a narrowboat, I'll be considering the Kippor, as a lot of yachties have them, and seem to be happy, but I might buy another Honda.

 

Lots of places to buy on the web.... just google Kippor suitcase generator, and Honda suitcase generator.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Richard

 

Costco does the cheapest prices on the Eu20i, plus a five year no quibble guarantee. It's where we got ours. It's a members warehouse though, you may or may not qualify for a card.

[mrsmelly]

Hi all.

 

Anybody know much about generators, prices, where to get them?

 

I need to charge my battery, run tools and maybe run a few appliances, laptop charge etc.

 

Any info would be excellent as when i look on the net it seems you can buy them for £60 or £1,000 plus and everything inbetween.

 

I'm unsure about the wattage outputs i need.

 

Also What kind of battery charger do i need to come from it to my battery? (I only have one battery that i use for lights and water pump only.)

Electrolux on the engine......spot on

[Richard10002]

Costco does the cheapest prices on the Eu20i, plus a five year no quibble guarantee. It's where we got ours. It's a members warehouse though, you may or may not qualify for a card.

 

I think SWMBO has arranged to "piggy back" on a friends membership for a small fee. Thanks for the heads up!!

[bag 'o' bones]

Hi all.

 

Anybody know much about generators, prices, where to get them?

 

I need to charge my battery, run tools and maybe run a few appliances, laptop charge etc.

 

Any info would be excellent as when i look on the net it seems you can buy them for £60 or £1,000 plus and everything inbetween.

 

I'm unsure about the wattage outputs i need.

 

Also What kind of battery charger do i need to come from it to my battery? (I only have one battery that i use for lights and water pump only.)

 

Like most thing in life you generally get what you pay for.....To a point.

 

At one end of the scale you have the ultra reliable and expensive generators - anything powered by Honda really.

 

At the other end you have the 70 quid Chinese specials which whilst produce electricity, don't expect to run anything which requires a perfect AC wave form - As in LCD tellies and most lap top supply bricks - they don't tend to be much good for high power appliences either; most being less than 1kw. There also very noisy and probably won't be very reliable.

 

In the middle you have other branded gennies such as the Kipor, which as others have pointed out are rip off Honda technology allegedly. I don't know how good they are, some say there as good as Honda, others say they have reliability issues. Probably a quality control proble for the unlucky few I imagine.

 

Whatever gennie you buy, make sure you buy a pure sine wave model if you require it to run electronic equipment.

[WotEver]

In the middle you have other branded gennies such as the Kipor, which as others have pointed out are rip off Honda technology allegedly.

As I understand matters (from reading on here), Kipor used to make Honda's gennies for them. They said to themselves "That's easy" and made the same thing with their label at a lower price. Honda sued. Honda have since developed their technology and no longer sell that older design, and Kipor no longer sell (in the UK) the Honda rip-offs.

 

I'm sure an expert will correct me shortly if I have any of that wrong.

 

Tony

[blackrose]

Have a look at Just Generators or TidyCo for good prices on generators.

 

http://www.justgenerators.co.uk/

 

http://www.tidyco.co.uk/store/

[Proper Job]

Honda EU 10 or 20

 

No contest

 

If Costco are doing them now, I'd imagine that they'd do a good price.

 

I got mine from Edge Technology: Safe link

Edited August 17, 2010 by Proper Job

[Albion]

Honda EU 10 or 20

 

No contest

 

I agree.

I managed to buy a nearly new Honda EU10 on eBay a while ago and it is superb; easy starter, very quiet, quite capable, easy to service. I don't use it for boating purposes I would add, but if you do and want significant power then the EU20 would be better IMO. I have no experience of the Kippor clones though but Honda's reputation was enough for me despite the price difference. I reckon you get what you pay for, as in most things.

Roger

[nb Innisfree]

IIRC only certain models of Kipor infringe Honda patents, the KRG? range I believe. We have a Kipor equivalent to the Honda EU20i andapart from the colour can't tell the difference, tried them side by side, identical in appearance, sound levels and performance.

[Denis R]

I bought a Briggs & Stratton with more enthusiasm than forethought and it's the loudest, most irritating noise on this earth, with a lousy AC waveform to complete the misery. Neighbours use both Kippor and Honda. I'd say the Honda is a little quieter but there's not much in it. They are both considerably more tolerable than my Kalashnikov sound-alike. The guy who runs the mobile coffee shop that pulls up outside the office has a little Chinese 2 stroke £70 jobbie that hums away quite merrily. He's got no illusions as to how long it's going to last mind you...

[blackrose]

Honda EU 10 or 20

 

No contest

 

I'd say if one is thinking about buying the EU10i don't & buy the EU20i instead. It's so much more versatile and means that you can run other appliances at the same time as a reasonably sized (30 or 40amp) battery charger without significantly higher fuel consumption. A friend of mine reckons he ran his full sized domestic washing machine on an EU20i. I don't know how because the rated output of the generator is 1600w and I thought a full sized washing machine would require up to 2400w on most cycles?

[WotEver]

A friend of mine reckons he ran his full sized domestic washing machine on an EU20i. I don't know how because the rated output of the generator is 1600w and I thought a full sized washing machine would require up to 2400w on most cycles?

Dunno about instantaneous power requirements (because they're not stated) but this Bosch for instance states a consumption of 1.02 Kwh, so that'd happily fall within an EU20i's capacity.

 

Tony

[Graham Bowers]

Another vote for Honda.

Admittedly the 2 KVA is only 50% more than the 1 KVA, but weighs 21 Kg as opposed to 13 Kg. I have the 1 KVA and wouldn't fancy chucking the 2 KVA around as I have an awkward lift in to where I store it. I guess I'm saying, consider if weight is a factor for you.

Cheers

Graham

[Secret Garden]

I'd say if one is thinking about buying the EU10i don't & buy the EU20i instead. It's so much more versatile and means that you can run other appliances at the same time as a reasonably sized (30 or 40amp) battery charger without significantly higher fuel consumption. A friend of mine reckons he ran his full sized domestic washing machine on an EU20i. I don't know how because the rated output of the generator is 1600w and I thought a full sized washing machine would require up to 2400w on most cycles?

[/quo

 

I'd suggest the EU20i too, mine's been very good when i was cc'ing

About £1 / hour petrol cost on average I reckon, but just on battery top up & TV much lower

Did however have trouble finding an iron these days with a low enough rating

About 21kg I think & therefore maximum weight my partner could lift out of the back doors.

[Colin Smith]

I bought a chepo Chinese genny (£300). It's a 6.5Kva 'super-silent' thing ie. it has a huge silencer on it. Very basic and pretty rubbish but, I've had it for 2 years and in that time it's been running a 2500W chop saw, various power tools, a 3000W hoover, hover-mower etc. When it's running I usually plug in the 50Amp batt charger too. It seems to be pretty frugal on fuel and has been ultra-reliable. However, the rectifier thing packed up so I got one for a similar genny - think it was a Loncin 6.5Kva (try finding parts for anything cheapo-chinese!) for £16.00. That was 12 months ago and it's still going strong.

 

I decided that £2k for a decent one wasn't justified for fitting out and if it lasted more than a year I'd done well. So, if you have the cash and want the best then maybe go for the Honda. If, like me you're just after something to drive all the power tools and can't be bothered looking after the thing properly, you could go the cheapo route on the basis that you'd have to go through half a dozen of them before the Honda would have been a better investment??!!

 

Colin