Generator

[JIMZ]

Hi everyone, I have a chance to pick up a honda ex650 generator for $200.00cad. Is it worth it or is it just to small i want to run a couple of lights my small home theater sytem & 20'' lcd tv! when theres no shore power. What do ya think.

[BOBSMITH]

Wish I could say. My wife and I are now shopping for a generator that we want to buy for our upcoming trips in March and Apri.

We've been looking at the Honda 2000. Wonder where I could find that one at a good price?

[Gina D.]

I have a 1k watts gen set and thats about what it runs during power outages at home. Go figure, I can't iron with it (DARN! )

You'll have to look at what each bit you are running uses in current draw and power cunsumption and add it up.

The 650 is an old style noisey sucker isn't it? Are you sure you neighbors will still like you?

[JIMZ]

Its not, I heard it run and me talking normal was louder than the genertor was, the guy bought it in 95 and never really used it so it in reallygood shape.

[Dan Simon]

I just bought (received on Monday) a McCullogh 2000w one. It looks just like the Kipor, which is a knock off to the Hondas. The Honda 1000w units went for $1000 a year ago and now you can get a 2000w one for the same price.

However, look on ebay and you will see the Kipor's selling in the $700 range. I went with the McCulloch which is only $499 for a new one and $8 for shipping at a place in Colorado called toolking. I don't think you can beat it.


Dan

[BOBSMITH]

I just bought (received on Monday) a McCullogh 2000w one. It looks just like the Kipor, which is a knock off to the Hondas. The Honda 1000w units went for $1000 a year ago and now you can get a 2000w one for the same price.

However, look on ebay and you will see the Kipor's selling in the $700 range. I went with the McCulloch which is only $499 for a new one and $8 for shipping at a place in Colorado called toolking. I don't think you can beat it.
Dan

Is it as quiet as the Honda?

[Dan Simon]

It's "rated" a couple db higher than the Honda....should not be noticable.

[BOBSMITH]

We're probably going to go with the Honda. We found it online for the $870 price (including shipping) mentioned elsewhere.

If I could see a McCullough in action and talk to a salesperson, I might consider it. Same goes for the Kipor. I just haven't been able to see one being fired up.

I have, however, seen a Honda 2000 in use and it was so quiet I couldn't believe it. The last portable generator I had seen was my father-in-law's, and it was so loud I dreaded it when he put it in use with his Prowler. It was horribly loud and there is no way I'd put other campers through the torture of listening to something like that.

[Pete Dumbleton]

Dan, if that Mac is the 2000TC, it is not an inverter-based generator like the Kipor 2000TI or the Honda EU series, altho it looks just like them.

The power output is not as clean and the generator will likely make more noise in use because it has to rev up to get the frequency and doesn't have eco-throttle. According to the specs, however, it is quiet.

[Frederick L. Simson]

It's "rated" a couple db higher than the Honda....should not be noticable.

I googled decibels and got:

The usefulness of all this becomes becomes apparent when we think about how the ear perceives loudness. First of all, the ear is very sensitive. The softest audible sound has a power of about 0.000000000001 watt/sq. meter and the threshold of pain is around 1 watt/sq. meter, giving a total range of 120dB. In the second place, our judgment of relative levels of loudness is somewhat logarithmic. [b]If a sound has 10 times the power of a reference (10d we hear it as twice as loud. If we merely double the power (3d, the difference will be just noticeable.

[The calculations for the dB relationships I just gave go like this; for a 10 to one relationship, the log of 10 is 1, and ten times 1 is 10. For the 2 to one relationship, the log of 2 is 0.3, and 10 times that is 3. Incidentally, if the ratio goes the other way, with the measured value less than the reference, we get a negative dB value, because the log of 1/10 is -1.]

[Byron Kinnaman]

That's not a bad definition of decibels. There's one thing that missing. The noticable difference that the human ear can detect in sound pressure (decibels) is 3db. Therefore if the statement that a couple db = 2 db you'll have a hard time telling the difference. Greater than that will be noticable.