[Elecraft] OT GENERAC generators

Thu Jul 24 09:24:30 EDT 2014

The house that my girlfriend and I are currently renting has a 14KW Generac
Guardian Series standby generator.  I need to go pull the battery out and
charge it, I suspect that the battery charging circuit isn't working right
because of a bad onboard control panel. Ours powers everything except the
room where the shack is, the washer, dryer and stove. As I've never had the
generator fire up while I've had an HF radio, I have no clue what kind of
hash or other RFI will become audible when it's running.

As we live in the country, we keep our generator in manual mode and if we
decide we need it, we will fire it up. We pay for our propane as we use it,
so we'll decide if we want to incur the expense.

73,
Joshua Gould
K8WXA
EM89pn

On Thu, Jul 24, 2014 at 8:58 AM, Michael Walker <va3mw at portcredit.net>
wrote:

> Hi John
>
> The easy part is the size and if it produces power.  The hard part is the
> RFI noise, so, somehow, you need to figure out a way to actually test this
> in the field (no pun intended) so you can actually hear if there is any RFI
> issues.
>
> I would look for similar installations or reference customers from the
> vendor.
>
> Your electrician may or may not have knowledge of dealing with radio
> interference.   Ask the hard questions so that you get a good answer and
> make sure you also write it into the purchase agreement.  If you don't then
> the vendor may walk away since RFI is very hard to measure for most other
> than those on this list.
>
> Good luck!
>
> Mike va3mw
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jul 24, 2014 at 8:36 AM, <wb4jfi at knology.net> wrote:
>
> > We also have a Generac generator, and ATS.  I believe it's about 20kW,
> the
> > largest they sell that is NOT water cooled.  I didn't want a car
> engine...
> >
> > Our house has two 200A panels inside, and being in South Carolina (hot,
> > muggy), we have three air conditioning units, including  mini-split for
> the
> > ham shack, plus all electric kitchen (induction cooktop), and other
> > high-current things.  I tried several electricians, all of whom wanted to
> > install 30+kW, water-cooled generators, which I could not afford.
> >
> > We finally found an electrician (as part of a kitchen remodel) that was
> > smarter than the average one, and he was familiar with the Generac Nexus
> > (sp) line of "Smart Switches".  These are add-ons to the ATS that manage
> > generator loading by cutting back heavy loads if the generator gets
> bogged
> > down.  They add a switch to each identified load, and the ATS controls
> how
> > those switches get managed.
> >
> > We've had the generator run a few times, and I've seen the ATS cutting
> > back the load at least once.  I'm usually home during outages, so I can
> > manually trip breakers to manage the load myself, but it's nice to see
> that
> > the system works even if we aren't home.
> >
> > So far, I've been really happy with this setup.
> > 73, Terry, WB4JFI
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message----- From: Philip Carter
> > Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2014 8:00 AM
> > To: John Scott ; elecraft at mailman.qth.net
> > Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT GENERAC generators
> >
> >
> > I would also recommend that.  Very little trouble.
> >
> >
> >
> > On Thursday, July 24, 2014 6:30 AM, John Scott <scotts at sandycove-ns.ca>
> > wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > We are considering the installation of a generator here for times when,
> > for one reason or another, commercial power is unavailable.Our
> > electrician has recommended a Generac generator.
> >
> > I would welcome comments from this august and knowledgeable group about
> > these generators regarding reliability and RFI emissions or, preferably
> > the lack of RFI!
> >
> > Please reply off list to scotts at sandycove-ns.ca
> >
> > 73 TIA
> >
> > John, VE1JS
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