09-19-2012, 05:11 PM
This might seem like splitting hairs, but regular old iron generators all produce sine wave power, just not having very tightly controlled frequency or voltage. They still might in fact fry your electronics though. I only mention this because the common perception is that inverter generators (the i in EU2000i) all produce perfect power. In reality they electronically produce pseudo-sine wave power that in the case of the Hondas, Yamahas, and other reputable brands replicate true sine waves closely enough that none of the electronics cares and while they are at it they also take care of that wandering voltage/frequency thing, no charge. Using those generators you do come out ahead in the power quality department. My point is that there is such a thing as a modified square wave inverter and I have read that there are generators out there with inverter in the name that only give you a square wave output.
Another difference between inverter generators and regular old swing-a-loop-of-wire-through-a-magnetic-field-60-times-a-second generators (which automatically gives you a true sine wave output) is that the dedication to quality of high quality inverter generators is such that they won't give you bad power even when you wish they would hang in there and give it the old college try. If they can't produce the power being demanded, they stop trying. The old dumb generator would just slow down, which results in less voltage at lower frequency, which, depending on the load, often gets the job done albeit more slowly and less elegently. It also might result in excessive current flow and burned up motors.
I am currently putting together a solar based power system at my place. I'll depend heavily on generator back-up. I settled on a 48 volt system because I got a free true sine wave UPS that I intend to use as my inverter. I discovered right away that the power quality of my old iron horse Generac generator didn't rate very highly with my UPS/inverter. This came as a surprise although it shouldn't have. The purpose of a UPS is to monitor the quality of the grid power and go to battery power when grid power gets too messy. Apparently my genny power is too messy most of the time. Surprisingly even my EU1000i doesn't always meet the demanding standards of the UPS. Perhaps the inverter/UPS wasn't so free after all.
Another difference between inverter generators and regular old swing-a-loop-of-wire-through-a-magnetic-field-60-times-a-second generators (which automatically gives you a true sine wave output) is that the dedication to quality of high quality inverter generators is such that they won't give you bad power even when you wish they would hang in there and give it the old college try. If they can't produce the power being demanded, they stop trying. The old dumb generator would just slow down, which results in less voltage at lower frequency, which, depending on the load, often gets the job done albeit more slowly and less elegently. It also might result in excessive current flow and burned up motors.
I am currently putting together a solar based power system at my place. I'll depend heavily on generator back-up. I settled on a 48 volt system because I got a free true sine wave UPS that I intend to use as my inverter. I discovered right away that the power quality of my old iron horse Generac generator didn't rate very highly with my UPS/inverter. This came as a surprise although it shouldn't have. The purpose of a UPS is to monitor the quality of the grid power and go to battery power when grid power gets too messy. Apparently my genny power is too messy most of the time. Surprisingly even my EU1000i doesn't always meet the demanding standards of the UPS. Perhaps the inverter/UPS wasn't so free after all.