Generator questions

[Mr J Morton]

What do you think of this generator?







My fathering law is thinking of buying it to be used to run lights, few power tools ect at the farm. It will also see use running the welder (cosmo 170). I've tried it and when welding on full power, 4mm steel, the engine struggles and the penetration drops. However as the welder is used primarily messing about with classic cars, full power will rarely be needed if it is we can move closer the mains power for those jobs.

This is what we have been told about it. It was a Travis Perkins hire machine, which saw very little use due to it being a hand crank and health and safety not liking them. The current owner is a service engineer for these machines who converted it to have a starter motor. He has used it for odd jobs but nothing major.

It runs on diesel at a about 3500rpm and is a noisy begger. I can't hear myself weld near it!

Is it a good piece of kit suitable for use?

thanks for any advise
Jonnym

 

[brightspark]

if its a good runner starter and not an oil puffer and the price is right it will be a good buy

 

[piman]

Hello Jonny,

if a hire company used it it should be of a reasonable quality.

They do overstate it's capacity slightly, (nit picking), it's not quite 5KVA by their name plate figures so it certainly is not 5 KW, especially for a welder.

Alec

 

[Mr J Morton]

Thanks for the replies! How much do you think is reasonable to offer?

It starts very easily, the down side is there is no where for a battery to sit and no way of charging it, this isn't a great worry as we can use jump leads from one of the vehicles.

I wondered about that, the 5KVA on the alternater doesn't add upto 5kW, do you think at that stated power output it should have the beans to run the welder on full poke?

thanks for the help

Jonnym

 

[R Kraft]

I think that some generators are being rated by their short term overload capacity,maybe S1 rating is for starting an electric motor.
It looks like it would be a good little generator for general use.
In real world terms,you would have to try it with the welder.
Robert

 

[Mr J Morton]

In real world terms,you would have to try it with the welder.
Robert

I have given it a quick try as mentioned in the first post, but far from hammered it. I used the blue 16 amp socket and as mentioned with the mig on full whack the engine struggled and the penetration dropped. Would using the single 32 amp yellow plug make a difference?(seen in the second picture)

What do you think its worth? I can't find anything similar on ebay.

Is £600 far off the mark?

Jonnym

 

[piman]

Hello Jonny,

the 32 amp will not help in this case as you seem to have overloaded it with the 16A. Did you notice what the voltage or speed dropped to? By the way it should run at 3,000 rpm.

Alec

 

[Mr J Morton]

Thanks

I didn't test the voltage drop as I didn't have a meter with me and there is no rev counter, but the revs dropped audibly quite alot.
I miss read the plate 3000rpm

thanks
Jonnmy

 

[eddie49]

The two blue 16A sockets are for 230V, the yellow 16A on the front and the yellow 32A on the back are for 110V. I guess the toggle switch is used to change over for 110 or 230. Unless your Cosmo 170 MIG is dual-voltage with auto-sensing, it will not run on 110V !
And even if it did, a Watt is a Volt times an Amp, and you've got 5,000 of them whichever way you slice it. So it looks like this genny does not have quite enough power to run the welder at max welding current.
As for the price, if it was petrol I would say 200 - 300 for an ex-hire 5 KVA. Diesel - add 100 -150, so at 600 I think it's a bit pricey.

 

[Mr J Morton]

I knew the back was 110v I thought it said 240 on the flap of the front yellow socket, but of course now I engage my brain yellow is 110v. I didn't spend much time with it.

I'm coming round to thinking £600 is a bit pricey now. Saw this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5KVA-SILENT-R...nerators_ET&hash=item3360e9e5d3#ht_3238wt_905

I know its not as good quality ...but it is new. I might have to tell my fathering law he needs to haggle harder!

thanks for the advise
Jonnym

 

[piman]

Hello Eddie,

"a Watt is a Volt times an Amp,"

Not quite, with an A.C. circuits you also have to multiply the power factor, nominally about 0.8 for general equipment so 5000 VA is about 4,000 watt (4 Kw).

Alec

 

[d c]

i've seen one of those come through our workshop with the electric start and it had a battery box within the frame so its possible to fab something if you get it.
the hire generators i work on rarely reach the stated output unless new, nearly new

 

[Mr J Morton]

As it has no running hours on it could have had some hammer, third hand to boot. I should have taken the multi meter with me.

Do you guys agree with eddie49 that £600 is too pricey?

Thanks
Jonnym