[Lowfer] Heads up on a nice small genset

[W5JGV (Ralph Hartwell)]

I just thought I'd pass this along to anyone who is interested in
emergency power for  disaster communications or just being ready for
whatever happens.

About a month ago, I purchased a small gasoline powered genset for use
around the 15  acres Bonnie and I just purchased.  It's sold by Pep
Boys, and is a UST2300 machine,  imported by UST in California.  It's
made in China as most everything nowadays seems  to be, but it really
appears to be a nice unit.

Pep Boys has them on sale this week for $199.98 after a $40.00 mail in
rebate.  When I  bought mine, there was only a $30.00 rebate.) Their
stock/item number is #GG2300.

The machine, empty of fuel, weighs only 83 pounds, so even though I have
grown a bit  gray, I can still pick it up and toss it into the trunk of
the car.  It's rated at 120 VAC, single  phase, 2 KW load, 1.3 KW surge.

The fuel tank holds about 3.5 US gallons of unleaded gasoline, and as
advertised, the  machine really does run for better than 10 hours on a
full tank of gas with a 1 KW load. (I  timed it.)

The generator is a rotating self-excited field machine, so there are no
commutator  brushes to worry about.  It also is not harmed by accidental
short circuits.  The unit has  an engine shutdown switch, an AC power
output on/off switch, a AC output circuit breaker,  a voltmeter, and a
120 volt 20 ampere duplex outlet on the panel.  There's also as a
ground stud for a safety connection to earth.  It also has a auxiliary
12 volt DC @ 10  Amperes output with a circuit breaker (really about 18
VDC unloaded) which is designed  for battery charging.

The AC output is a clean sine wave, so most gear should be happy with
the power.   Voltage regulation is pretty good, too, and changing the
load from 500 watts to 2 KW  results in a moderate dip followed by a
quick recovery within a second or two.

The engine is recoil start, (no electric start option) but it's not hard
to pull through on  starting since it's only a 5.5 HP engine.  It's
fairly quiet when running, and nicely  packaged.  Two things to watch if
you buy one - first, the unit is delivered with NO OIL in  the
crankcase, but because of the way the dipstick is slanted, at first
glance it looks like  there's oil in the crankcase.  Second, he sure to
change the oil at the eight hour point as  mentioned in the engine
manual.  You WILL get some aluminum flakes out along with the  used oil.

I'll be happy to answer any questions about my experience with this
machine.

73,

Ralph   W5JGV - WC2XSR/13 - WD2XSH/7

( Whose other gensets include a 5 KW Onan and a 2 KW Kohler, and a home
made put- put. <G> )

http://w5jgv.com
http://500kc.com
http://spectrotek.com
http://kc5cah.com
http://kb5yse.com
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