Genset/generator in Aldi

[eddystone]

Up till now there have been a few occasions when a generator would have been useful but I couldn't justify price. It could be useful though if I wanted, for example, to run a Dremel tool, sander or hot air gun on a mooring.

Noticed in Aldi yesterday a generator inverter for £289.95; aircooled, 4 stroke, 1800 watts(oris that amps?don't understand electricity) with occasional burst up to 2400.

Do you think this is a good by for something that might be used occasionally? I appreciate it will be very noisy and not the thing to run overnight on a campsite.

Is 1800 enough to run a drill/Dremel (less the drill as I have a battery one) or is it for laptop/hairdryer etc?

 

[RichardS]

1800 watts will run almost anything provided the load will accept the rectified output. However, it will be very noisy ..... and also check the weight to see if you could take it on a camping trip at all, even for daytime use.

Richard

 

[eddystone]

Just looked at specs. on Aldi site - 21.5 kilos - that's 50% more than my Honda outboard - ouch! Also 105cc - that's surprisingly big.

c.60% of reviews are unfavourable - a number seized up quite quickly and others wouldn't start- but maybe some aren't used to pull starts.

 

[maby]

1800 watts will run almost anything provided the load will accept the rectified output. However, it will be very noisy ..... and also check the weight to see if you could take it on a camping trip at all, even for daytime use.

Richard

It does look quite decent, but its sound rating is a bit high - "71 (dB) approx" - the Loncin which I've always regarded as a decent yard-stick is 61 dB - that really is quiet. How much it matters depends on what you intend to do with it, of course.

 

[peteK]

Up till now there have been a few occasions when a generator would have been useful but I couldn't justify price. It could be useful though if I wanted, for example, to run a Dremel tool, sander or hot air gun on a mooring.

Noticed in Aldi yesterday a generator inverter for £289.95; aircooled, 4 stroke, 1800 watts(oris that amps?don't understand electricity) with occasional burst up to 2400.

Do you think this is a good by for something that might be used occasionally? I appreciate it will be very noisy and not the thing to run overnight on a campsite.

Is 1800 enough to run a drill/Dremel (less the drill as I have a battery one) or is it for laptop/hairdryer etc?

I just use an inverter for low power mains tools such as dremel and sander doesnt take much out the battery for short periods.

 

[seaangler23]

I have one of the park side smaller ones that come up for around £100 it was aldi it Lidl I can’t remember, it’s alright for occasional use but is cheap, the pull start mech broke within a week and I repaired it but it’s a poor design, for the money it’s fine and I have a bigger Honda for any larger jobs but it’s not practical to have onboard

 

[elton]

Noticed in Aldi yesterday a generator inverter for £289.95; aircooled, 4 stroke, 1800 watts(oris that amps?don't understand electricity) with occasional burst up to 2400.

The essential question is, is it pure sine wave, "modified" sine wave, or square wave output? Anything other than pure sine wave can cause problems. In some cases the powered equipment simply won't work, or could even self destruct.

 

[prv]

1800 watts will run almost anything

My 3000 watt boatyard generator would occasionally stall when I switched on the hoover to clear up sanding dust or whatever. It wouldn't have run the fan heater I used for epoxying in cold weather, and while I never tried it I'm pretty sure it wouldn't run my welder either (that occasionally trips the MCB on the shed supply ).

Not saying that 1800 watts isn't useful, but "will run almost anything" isn't really true.

Pete

 

[VicS]

The essential question is, is it pure sine wave, "modified" sine wave, or square wave output? Anything other than pure sine wave can cause problems. In some cases the powered equipment simply won't work, or could even self destruct.

And it does not say what it is !

RichardS refers to a "rectified" output I don't know what he means by that or where he has seen that description of it.

Personally I would not risk nearly £300 on a Lidl or Aldi special buy. £10 or even £20 I am prepared to write off but not £300.

 

[RichardS]

My 3000 watt boatyard generator would occasionally stall when I switched on the hoover to clear up sanding dust or whatever. It wouldn't have run the fan heater I used for epoxying in cold weather, and while I never tried it I'm pretty sure it wouldn't run my welder either (that occasionally trips the MCB on the shed supply ).

Not saying that 1800 watts isn't useful, but "will run almost anything" isn't really true.

Pete

OK .... let's test that hypothesis shall we?

You've listed two things that your genny wouldn't power because those items demanded more than 3kw. The problem with the Hoover was not due to a lack of power but due to supply incompatibility which I specifically pointed out.

So that's 2 to you. Now I'll list all the things that Eddystone could run with his 2.4kw max .......

...... actually, do I need to? That list would be so long that almost anything would be on it.

Richard

 

[RichardS]

RichardS refers to a "rectified" output I don't know what he means by that or where he has seen that description of it.

I'm not sure if you want an answer to "what is a rectified output" other than to say it's what comes from the output side of a diode rectifier .... but that's rather a circular explanation? I can provide a more detailed exposition of the principles of rectification if that's what you're looking for.

Richard

 

[TQA]

Not saying that 1800 watts isn't useful, but "will run almost anything" isn't really true.

Pete

1800 watts will run a 1kw heater, fans a microwave , most drills saws routers etc. It will also run hairdryers curlers shavers etc. About the only thing found on a boat that it wont run is an AC unit unless it is a real baby with a soft start option.

 

[VicS]

I'm not sure if you want an answer to "what is a rectified output" other than to say it's what comes from the output side of a diode rectifier .... but that's rather a circular explanation? I can provide a more detailed exposition of the principles of rectification if that's what you're looking for.

Richard

To me " rectified output " implies DC ...… Obviously not DC though. ( except the 12 volt DC output "for battery charging")

Cannot find where you read the description. I was looking to see if there was any mention of pure sinewave, modified sine wave etc but I cannot see any.

Not looking for a detailed explanation of the principles of rectification just wondered what you meant by rectified output in the context of 230 volt AC 50 Hz and whare abouts on the webpage you'd seen it

 

[RichardS]

To me " rectified output " implies DC ...… Obviously not DC though. ( except the 12 volt DC output "for battery charging")

Cannot find where you read the description. I was looking to see if there was any mention of pure sinewave, modified sine wave etc but I cannot see any.

Not looking for a detailed explanation of the principles of rectification just wondered what you meant by rectified output in the context of 230 volt AC 50 Hz and whare abouts on the webpage you'd seen it

I've not looked at the webpage at all as I know from experience that whatever it says about the output waveform, unfortunately, it will not provide conclusive proof one, way or the other, about whether the output of that particular generator will correctly power a specific piece of electrical equipment, which is why I used very general terminology about providing the load i.e. the device being powered, will accept it.

I believe that inductive loads are usually the most problematic to power with simulated sine waveforms but until you actually try the generator with the load you have in mind, you can't be 100% sure.

Richard

 

[Kelpie]

And it does not say what it is !

RichardS refers to a "rectified" output I don't know what he means by that or where he has seen that description of it.

Personally I would not risk nearly £300 on a Lidl or Aldi special buy. £10 or even £20 I am prepared to write off but not £300.

Bear in mind for Lidl at least (not sure for Aldi) you get a pretty good three year warranty on tools. I've had to use it once and was quite impressed with the service- replacement item sent out no questions asked.

 

[matthewriches]

They output a sine wave on the AC outlets. The DC output is somewhat messy varying from 12 to 15 volts.

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

Just hazarding a guess,
The unit is probably made in China and the blurb was possibly quoting the 'English' on the instructions leaflet.
I take it that 'rectified output' would mean 'modified sine wave'. I recently bought a cheap inverter from China that gave a 'modified sine wave'. This output was fed to an oscilloscope and the waveform was like a vertical rectangle with the two top corners slightly rounded and with the horizontal part quite wavy.
I have to admit that the specifications were quite accurate... you couldn't have a 'sine wave' that was more modified than that! :ambivalence:

 

[VicS]

I've not looked at the webpage at all as I know from experience that whatever it says about the output waveform, unfortunately, it will not provide conclusive proof one, way or the other, about whether the output of that particular generator will correctly power a specific piece of electrical equipment, which is why I used very general terminology about providing the load i.e. the device being powered, will accept it.

I believe that inductive loads are usually the most problematic to power with simulated sine waveforms but until you actually try the generator with the load you have in mind, you can't be 100% sure.

Richard

The big problem with inductive loads eg a vacuum cleaner is the very high starting current. I think I have seen it suggested that one should allow for up to 5 times the running load..

Decent modern small generators use "inverter" circuitry which produces a good sine wave output and allows them to run electronic equipment that might not like spiky outputs or modified square waves.
It still does not get around the high starting current of motors etc though.

 

[eddystone]

Having established I can hire a Honda 20i for a week for not much more than £50 plus VAT given likely occasional use I'll give the Aldi one a miss.