I Found A Great Little Generator!

[Joseph Domingos]

Hey all,
Just had to gloat a little, I found this great little generator for my trailer on Craigslist. I've been watching the different threads regarding generators for a while, and they all seem to be one of several things:
1. WAY more power than I need for my trailer.
2. WAY too expensive for my budget.
3. WAY too darn big, take up too much space, etc.

So I'd pretty much written off a generator being an option for me. About the most generator use I've gotten has been to plug into my nephew's generator on the family trips, when he's running his A/C and all in his big toyhauler...

Truthfully too, I really aspire to have a solar system setup on my rig someday, to take advantage of all that free power that Mother Nature pours down on us every day. But that's going to take more budget money than I have to spare right now too, so that's on hold for a while. And it's pretty tricky to charge up the house battery at the storage yard, so I have to take it out and bring it home before trips now.
And then I was on Craigslist the other day, and saw this guy had a small generator advertised. Only 500 watts, hmmm, that seems smaller than the Hondas and such that get talked about on here, but well within my power needs. After all, I have two 110v lights and a battery charger, how much power do I need? And the best part, it was only $50!!!! So I did some emailing, some phone calling, and some driving. It started right up, ran great, and now it's mine! The details:
1. Ag-Tronic Powermate 500 (I believe it's the same company that makes the Coleman gennies, but back before Coleman bought them out)
2. Two Stroke-it basically looks like a weed-wacker motor to me!hehe ( I know, a little smokey and noisy, but most of my trips are away from folks anyway, so not a big deal)
It was still in the original box it was bought it, no scratches or anything, so I'm guessing very low hours on it. So small, it will easily tuck away somewhere when not in use. Would probably be great emergency power, even for home.
Anyway, just had to share! (Plus I finally figured out how to post pics again! YAY! hehe) You can see how small it is in the one pic, where it's sitting next to the 1 gallon gas can.
Joe

[Scott,H]

Joseph,

Congrats on the generator! Pretty cool camping accessory for $50. I would have bought it as I like anything that has an engine on it. Just curious about the Ca. regs on 2 stroke emissions. Seems that Calif. leads to way for the rest of the nation on implementing bans/changes on our toys(boat motors comes to mind). Will they allow 2 stroke in the parks?

Scott

[Lee Senn]

Glad you finally found what you were looking for. That was quite a deal and still in the box !!!! Lee

[Byron Kinnaman]

It's too bad that Honda doesn't make the little 350 anymore. I tried to find one a couple years ago. I figured it was just right to charge the battery if I needed to. Since I couldn't find one I ended up with a KYOCERA - KC65T.

[BOBSMITH]

Cool!

[francene]

Looks good, Joe. Good find for sure, for $50 bucks. A compact generator for your Compact trailer.
Enjoy using it.

Fran
Compact II '74