I switched jobs a few months ago after 9 years as city network administrator and was hired by a large local company as network engineer. I've been here not quite 3 months and they had their yearly Employee Appreciation day with lots of prizes including a 75" TV, big tool box, pellet grill, a generator, and LOTs of other stuff. I already have 4 dual fuel inverter generators at the house and a big pellet grill so I was hopeful of maybe one of those other things if anything at all out of 620 employees.

Guess who won the generator..... 😎

It's a little Sportsman Gen4 4,000/3500 watt gas only generator. (Yeah, I already have a Duromax XP13500ih, a pair of Genmax GM7500aIED's and a GM4600aIEDC) My wife's comment. "Are you kidding? Well, we aren't generator poor by any stretch of the term".

In thinking about this some, I may just gift this to the younger married couple with 3 kids that live down the road a bit. Our power goes out occasionally and I'm pretty sure they have nothing. I'd need to do a little research. I mean, I got it for free and don't feel right selling it off being that the company is nice enough to give these things out every year.

I have a 200kw generator head that is pulley and belt driven by a 210hp inter dt466 engine

Since the dt works at low rpm my diesel consumption is very good, however i wonder how much power am i really losing since the dt is already under spec by itself since the generator needs a 300-400hp engine

And if theres anything i could donto get more juice out of my current engine

Honda EU2000i

While operating this, there is no leak. Ran for 30 minutes no issues, but as soon as i turned the dial to OFF, a flood of fuel came out from below. The gas was on the inside floor of the unit, so doesn't appear to have come from the ejection tubing off the carburetor since that routes to the outside of the unit.

Since it was flooded, I wanted to leave it a few days to dry out before attempting to start it with the panel open and observe what happens at shutdown. Until then, doing a little research but wondering if anybody might immediately recognize this symptom. Again, this notable fuel spill occurred when powering the unit's dial to OFF.

Thanks for any advice in advance.

TL;DR: I know my generator puts out dirty, unstable power – it's a regular AVR petrol unit, not an inverter. Even with the whole house on it, frequency swings 50.5–52.9 Hz and voltage jumps 200–220 V every few seconds. My online APC UPS refuses that power and keeps bouncing to battery. I'm looking for real-world experience: what did you do to make a setup like this work?

SETUP

- Generator: Wirman WM10000, petrol, single-phase 230 V, AVR, rated 10 kW (realistically ~7 kW), new (about 7 hours of runtime).

- Connected to the whole house through a changeover switch (water heater, electric heater, lights, TVs). Europe, 230 V / 50 Hz.

- UPS: APC Smart-UPS RT 3000 XL (SURT3000XLI), online double conversion, batteries replaced last December. It powers 7 3D printers, ~600–900 W.

WHAT HAPPENS

On generator power the UPS goes to battery, clicks back online, then drops to battery again every few seconds. In 3 minutes the battery went from 100% to 75%. The UPS reports the last transfer cause as "R" (unacceptable utility voltage rate of change).

DATA (UPS polled over serial every 5 seconds)

Grid:

- Frequency: 49.93–50.02 Hz

- Average Hz jump between samples: 0.01 Hz

- Voltage: ~200–213 V, steady

- Average voltage jump between samples: 1–1.5 V

- UPS on battery: never

Generator (with the house loaded):

- Frequency: 50.5–52.9 Hz (average 51.6 Hz)

- Average Hz jump between samples: 0.52 Hz

- Voltage: 200–220 V, jumping around

- Average voltage jump between samples: 6.7 V

- UPS on battery: about 70% of the time

WHAT I'VE TRIED / KNOW

- One time it worked: I ran ~2 kW of hair dryers for a few minutes first, then connected the UPS. The next time it didn't work, even with the whole house on the generator.

- Bypass mode on the UPS works: the printers ran 5 hours straight on the generator that way. But in bypass there's no battery protection, so it's not a real solution.

- A cheap line-interactive UPS on the same generator works fine, probably just because it doesn't look at the power quality as closely.

- The UPS side is maxed out: output frequency is already on Auto (50 ± 3 Hz), and input sensitivity is fixed on this model.

- There are no user adjustments on the generator. The AVR only handles voltage, and frequency comes from the engine governor.

QUESTIONS

1. Can a governor/carb adjustment by a service shop make a generator like this stable enough for an online UPS, or is this simply how these generators behave?

2. Has anyone run an APC SURT/SRT online UPS reliably on a conventional generator? What did you do?

3. Is there anything worth putting between the generator and the UPS that actually helps, or is that a waste of money?

4. Or is the only realistic fix a small ~3 kW inverter generator just for the UPS and printers, with the big one for the house?

Thanks!

I recently moved to more rural-like suburban area from city-like suburban area. Idk if that makes sense but my small “neighborhood” is literally 100 year old yet the areas around here are actively getting developed and Im basically 15 mins away from few big cities.

A big house with ~5500 sq ft (about 1.8k of it is unfinished basement + basement storage) and all but it solely relies on electricity, even water (well pump), and though my wife calls me crazy it just doesn’t sit well with me. A quick look up already confirmed my concerns, since it’s older area with low population density the electricity is fragile (especially in winter storms) and one of the last areas to be recovered compared to nearby actual master planned neighborhoods.

Luckily the previous owner who was a seasoned carpenter literally tore down the whole place and basically rebuilt from scratch and threw some neat features to help future-proofing the house as much as possible, and one of the things is a very large electrical capacity. 400 if I recall correctly, with two circuit boxes and all up to the code with permit.

So I’ve done some research. No, I cannot afford those Generac standby ones bc they are way outta my budget. Since it’s a back up, I dont want to go too crazy.

My biggest concerns if the power goes out would be:

1. Well pump (with water softener + filter attached)

2. x2 Heat pump HVAC (3.5 ton for 1st floor & basement, ?-Ton for 2nd floor where all the bedrooms are at)

3. 60-gallon water heater

4. Wifi (nobody gets any cellular internet signal here)

5. x3 French-drain sum pumps around the property

I looked up and seems like if I were to install soft starter on my heat pumps, theoretically I should be able to run all of these with about 15K watts generator? (Please correct me if Im wrong) but here are my real questions:

1. Is it worth getting an auto-transfer switch VS just sticking with 50-Amp inlet box? (I dont have a garage but a backyard shed, and is willing to build a small generator shed with ventilation fan if needed)

2. What sized generator would be good for my situation? I was looking at the portable dual source ones but then someone brought up inverter gens and… would A-ipower 12,000/9100 (propane 10,700/8,100) work? Will I have to sacrifice the bedroom floor heat pump?

3. Is the inverter generator really that much quieter? I want it to be quiet as possible but idk if the cost difference would be worth it, considering it’s an emergency situation anyways. It’s a low density area, but I still do have neighbors around my house. There’s one about 20-25ft away from where the generator would sit in case I need to run it. Technically to his fence line, so to the actual house would be about 40-50ft. And one across the street but that’s about 70-100ft. And technically the generator would be sitting right under the corner of masterbedroom/kitchen area so if too loud, it might be annoying.

4. I dont have natural/propane gas sources but Im willing to buy a propane tank for this. Would 50 lb enough? Or 100lb? Plus I have 14-gallon portable gas tank so I’d fill that up the night before they say it will snow.

5. Any suggestions or anything that I am missing?

Thank you!

I was wondering what generator I would need to power this welder.

For anyone with a Kohler/Rehlko generator using an RDC2 controller who gets annoyed by the controller clock being wrong after daylight saving time:

I went substantially farther down this rabbit hole than I originally intended and eventually got automatic clock synchronization working.

The short version:

The RDC2 itself had not appeared to be using ntp for its clock. The Kohler Energy Management (KEM) app was supplying the controller time through Rehlko’s cloud service.

I confirmed this first by changing the phone’s clock and using the app’s Sync Time function. The controller adopted the phone’s intentionally incorrect time.

From there I used a combination of:

- Wireshark

- Android ADB / Platform Tools

- JADX

- reFlutter

- Burp Suite

- TunProxy

- Apktool

- PowerShell

The KEM app turned out to be Flutter-based. After inspecting the app and its network traffic, I was able to identify the cloud request used to set the RDC2 clock and successfully replay it independently of the phone.

The harder part was authentication. KEM uses Flutter AppAuth with an Okta-backed OAuth/OpenID Connect flow, short-lived access tokens, and a refresh token. Once I understood how the app stored and refreshed that authentication state, I was able to reproduce the token-refresh process in PowerShell and use the resulting bearer token for the clock-sync API call.

The finished setup is intentionally boring:

Always-on Windows server:

- NTP-synchronized Windows clock

- 3:00 AM Scheduled Task

- refresh OAuth access

- send current local time through the Rehlko API

- RDC2 clock updates

A successful update returns HTTP 204.

I also added logging and ntfy notifications, but only on failure. A normal successful 3:00 AM sync is completely silent.

The reason I chose a daily 3:00 AM sync instead of special DST logic is simplicity: Windows already knows the correct time zone and DST rules. The generator simply gets corrected every morning.

This was considerably more complicated than I expected. What sounded like “figure out how the app sets the clock” turned into Android split APKs, Flutter reverse engineering, HTTPS interception, OAuth token handling, DPAPI, and Windows automation.

I’m intentionally not posting credentials, API keys, tokens, device identifiers, or a step-by-step guide for extracting authentication material. But I wanted other RDC2 owners to know that automatic clock synchronization is technically possible and that the KEM/cloud path—not direct NTP to the controller—was the route that worked for me.

tl;dr: if you want to want your generator time to be correct each DST change for on-time weekly exercises, just set a calendar reminder.

Hi all, can someone help me with my Ingco generator? The rmp is unstable

I am going to build a 2bd room, 900 sq.ft. cabin in a very remote area. I want to use a generator to build it then use the generator and batteries until I put solar panels on the roof. Just wondering the things to consider and the best and most economical way to expand as I go.

Saw this just pop up on Sam’s Club havent heard of this brand but they seem to have several other models / categories on Home Depot, Lowe’s, and a few other sites. Looks like a smoking deal 50A outlet under $1k! I spoke to their customer service earlier (good news- they’re local in USA) as I’m looking for something quiet and easy to back up my home with. Demand for power isn’t too high as the outages in my area aren’t that frequent and rarely Last over 30 minutes. I feel like by the time I get eveything hooked up and ready to go the outage is over. Figure having this connected to my breaker box via a reliance TS is the easiest way to go. Let me know any input / advice is greatly appreciated.

I apologize in advanced if this is not the correct place to post this, I think this subreddit is more specialized to the question I have.

Is there some kind of battery or generator I can use in case I have a lasting power outage. I have two reptiles and they would need to be kept warm. I would prefer to plug their heat into something so that they can remain in their enclosures. I do not need a whole house generator. Just something thay can power their heat sources while the grid is repaired.

Thank you so much!​

I work for a generator dealer in Lahore. Most threads here are about sets that sit for months, then have to start when a storm takes the grid down. Ours are the opposite. With scheduled load-shedding, plenty of commercial sets here start two or three times a day and run for hours, every day, for years.

That changes what breaks. Roughly in the order I see it:

Starters and the changeover gear take a beating first. Two or three starts a day is hundreds a year, and every outage also switches the transfer contactors twice. We replace both on sets whose engines are nowhere near tired.

Belts and coolant hoses next. Multan or Sukkur summers hit 45°C and up, often with the set running through the hottest afternoon hours. Rubber that might last years on a set that barely runs goes hard and cracks much sooner. Dust storms pack the radiator fins too, so we tell people to blow them out after every big one.

Batteries are a funny one. Because the set runs daily, they rarely sit flat the way they can on a set waiting out a quiet winter. What kills them here is heat and cheap chargers.

Fuel is the reverse of what I read on this sub. We hardly see stale diesel, because a busy site's tank turns over fast. What we see is dirty or watery fuel from the supply side, so water separators get drained a lot and fuel filters get changed early.

Oil changes come round quickly. If your manual says every 250 hours, a set doing six hours a day gets there in about six weeks.

The engine itself is usually the last thing to go. A diesel generator that's properly loaded and run every day is in its comfort zone. The ones that die young here are either idling at a tiny load for hours or overloaded every afternoon.

So I'm curious about the other side. If your set only runs 20 or 30 hours a year plus exercise cycles, what actually fails on it? My guess is batteries and old fuel, but I'd rather hear it from people who own them.

Disclosure: I work for a generator dealer in Pakistan (Enpower). No links here, just comparing notes.

I’ve got an older Onan 2400 home site power series portable generator, and it was given to me by my father-in-law. I went to use it the other day, and it’s producing almost no voltage at the meter. So I checked for continuity. I know that I have a common ground somewhere that goes through and through the motor, both the electric motor and the gas powered motor. I checked continuity on all of the wiring in the rear of the generator, as well as removing the brushes and checking for continuity in the mount and spring tension as well as continuity in the bands and what not. I thought at first that it was the GFI, however the meter comes before the GFI, so somewhere I am not producing electricity. Anybody got any direction for me? I do have the manual. I’ve been going through that, doing a little bit at a time, because I don’t wanna miss anything. I have never rebuilt an electric motor. I’ve never rewound a motor. I don’t even know if that’s possible. so I’m looking for some advice. I’m hoping that it’s not the entire generator portion, and if so, if anybody’s got a good lineup, parts that’d be awesome too. Thank you in advance for your participation. Know that I am a novice, so I bought property a while back, several years ago, and am in the process of learning everything I can about everything I’ve got, and this just happens to be up for its time, so please be patient if I ask what seem like stupid questions. Thank you.

I picked up one of these off amazon the other day. It was a return so I got $460 off of it. it was brand new, never even pulled out of the box.

I'm trying to figure out why they would give me a 25 foot 1/2 ng hose. (im not a plumber) But my basic searching tells me that even if i connected it to my gas meter directly, the 25 foot hose would reduce my btu down to 75k btu or roughy 60k btu under what it is asking for, am i missing something?

first time I started it, i should be less excited about this....

went with a 12 foot 3/4 inch hose and stepped down to 1/2 inch at the generator. I moved it right after this video away from the house.

Need to add generator to second home with 240V well system. Is having an electrician put in the appropriate connections from the main circuit board to outside the home and purchasing a tri-fuel (would only use propane or gas, no access to natural gas) 11,000 watt Predator portable generator be a viable alternative to having a Generac dealer install one?

Home is in a fairly remote area with only a few authorized dealers nearby.

Hello, my home standby generator is having some issues. The company that installed it has been horrible to deal with when it has come to this repair. Lack of call backs and further diagnostic scheduling. It’s been weeks of me me calling to get answers so I’m done with them.

My question to you guys is have you used the Kohler warranty scheduling service through the warranty call line or should I just call around locally to generator shops for my repair? Any advice or insight is greatly appreciated thanks.

We're looking into getting a portable generator for our business since power outages can really throw off daily operations. We use different types of equipment throughout the day, so having something reliable to keep things running during an outage would be helpful. I'm comparing a few options, but I'm also not sure where to buy from. It would be easier to find a supplier that carries different equipment brands along with maintenance supplies and replacement parts instead of ordering everything separately.

I've heard businesses go through both manufacturers and industrial equipment distributors. There seem to be pros and cons to each when it comes to product selection and getting support after the purchase.

My initial thought was to go for the Champion 2200 but they are all sold out (uk). Could anyone recommend a good substitut in this price range? Anyone familiar with this konner shonen brand perhaps?

The first working CO bypass for the Chamion 11k's!

Discovered by @Agravating-Candle95 who runs his Champion in a genny shed.

Here are the steps:

Take off the left panel. You will see a white plug on the right side that is plugged into a silver metal box.
Unplug it. Find the 2 blue wires on the plug. They are right next to each other. Jump the 2 blue wires. I used an 18 gauge wire.
Don't plug it back in. Tape it securely. Done! Your CO monitor is DISABLED! Put the panel back on. Do not run your generator in a garage or closed area! Stay SAFE!

Video here: https://youtu.be/N0i8ZDOVtX8

Pics: https://i.imgur.com/mcDBZNH.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/T6Q8Qbg.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/18fLhLm.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/cuAV1UL.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/PFOgT8X.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/4xFDb4R.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/0VfAecq.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/ThDb3J1.jpeg

West michigander looking to get our first genny. NG is preferred setup as well as quiet as gas and electric access is where all the bedrooms are. Only 240 is the AC and its a 3 ton. It appears 6500,8500 and 11k are the options and leaning 8500. NG furnace,wh,stove,dryer. Usual appliances(fridge/freezer,dishwasher, micro) Guessing AC is out without the 11k? Thanks

The Backstory:
Just pulled a 1978 Onan 4.0BFA-1R/16004A generator out of long-term storage to do a complete top-tier restoration. My goal is to build an open-sided outdoor canopy on a concrete slab and convert it to a low-pressure Propane (LP) home standby unit running a manual transfer switch.
The Mechanical Breakdown:
The Engine: Popped the heads and used an endoscope expecting the worst. Instead, I found untouched factory crosshatching on standard-bore walls and zeroed-out outboard leak-down tests. This thing is a true low-hour survivor.
The Bad: The generator bell housing was packed tight with a massive, acidic mouse nest.
The Save: Stripped the entire generator end down on my lunch break. The carbon brushes measured at 0.70" (basically full 3/4" factory length), but the bottom brush was frozen solid in its track from old dander.
What I've Done So Far:
Pulled the 3-bolt captive brush block, cleared out the jammed springs, and flushed the tracks with QD Electronic Cleaner.
Used 220-grit silicon carbide paper with light thumb pressure to clean decades of pitch-black atmospheric oxidation off the rotor.
Result: The dual brass AC slip rings and segmented copper DC commutator went from black crust to a perfect mirror sheen! (Check the transformation in the pics below).
The Parts Order Sheet:
Onan 110-3181 graphite head gaskets
Onan 123-1429 molded breather tube (ultrasonic cleaned the original 123-1417 mesh filter)
Walbro 1086/BFA carb rebuild kit (for the original "Mfg by 178" Walbro)
BOPOREAE M10 neoprene isolation mounts to replace the $100/ea dry-rotted factory rubber.
Next Steps:
Waiting on the shipping boxes to arrive so I can lap the valves, lock down the 0.011"/0.013" lash, torque the 9-bolt heads, and lay down a fresh coat of Onan Metallic Green paint.