05-17-2013, 06:09 AM
It's important to know what type of generator. I have a front loading Bosch. I can run it on a Honda EU1000i if I run it through my UPS that I use as an inverter, although it switches to battery power during the spin cycle because of the load. Hasn't fried it yet.
a good inverter generator of sufficient capacity should work OK although there is the question of whether you bond the neutral to the negative. The hondas are not bonded. I don't know why but the little Honda won't run the Bosch front loader if plugged in directly but it will (sort of) if the UPS is in the middle. Issues of neutral bonding and grounding may be more significant than the generator itself. However make sure that if the generator says "Inverter" on the side that it produces a good approximation of a sine wave. There is nothing to stop a manufacturer from making a square wave inverter-generator. Even the Hondas are not absolute true sine wave output, but they were designed to be close enough to satisfy electronics.
a good inverter generator of sufficient capacity should work OK although there is the question of whether you bond the neutral to the negative. The hondas are not bonded. I don't know why but the little Honda won't run the Bosch front loader if plugged in directly but it will (sort of) if the UPS is in the middle. Issues of neutral bonding and grounding may be more significant than the generator itself. However make sure that if the generator says "Inverter" on the side that it produces a good approximation of a sine wave. There is nothing to stop a manufacturer from making a square wave inverter-generator. Even the Hondas are not absolute true sine wave output, but they were designed to be close enough to satisfy electronics.