Quote:
Originally Posted by pin_head_47  So what exactly is the danger of running under a generator, and why is there a risk with some and not others? And is there any way to get around this and keep your gear safe, like a good surge protector perhaps? |
There are some 'whiz-bang' generators that aren't making good electricity and these you should not use. Surge protectors don't cover low voltage and bad AC. Some will not allow big spikes to pass - which is their design anyway - but they miss the boat to protect your amp from a decidedly bad generator.
I would not run on a brushless generator as they are not very easy to control for voltage and cycles however. Shy away from them if you find you are running on one of them.
If the generator unit is larger than something you'd use to provide emergency power for your freezer and some lights in your house in a power outage, then you can rest assured that they are quite capable.
I'd stay away from anything less than 5000 Watts for a good cushion and power surge or pulls when you fire something up.
I can't honestly say that I know any amp (that is less than something you'd use for a rave) current requirement for a bass amp with more than 66% of that 5KW - but first think what you are asking from a generator with a big bass amp f'rinstance::
Don't concern yourself with the OUTPUT - but look at the UL Amps and/or Watts needed to run your amp.
I have a 600 Watt bass amp and it pulls 800 Watts at 117 VAC -
which is quite overrated for a safe overhead. We live in Lawyer Land - remember?
How many 100 Watt lightbulbs do you think you can run with 5000 Watts? If we are only talking a 5KW generator, then we can safely run 50 - 100 Watt light bulbs. That's a lot of energy.
Remember here too that you are NOT running an electric motor with the associated field hysteresis and surging Amps either. There is a small spike/surge when an amplifier is turned on, but
nothing like an electric motor.
The easiest way to visualize current and consumption - to me - is to convert everything to Watts and then it makes it a lot easier to imagine the results of running too little or too much.
So - making electricity that's good is the trick and the big-name companies do that very well. Honda, Onan, Kawasaki and such are very good companies as well as the biggies like Caterpillar (below)::
This next unit (below) is the absolute lowest-rated generator I would run - but again, frankly, all the Honda units are rock solid and reliable sources for power and safety.
This (below) is about the biggest Honda unit I have used - and it's very powerful and I've never had a problem running welders, grinders and even banks of halogen lights at construction/demo sites for days at a time. This one is 11,000 Watts.
I ran multiple 250KV/A generators at a major hospital and they aren't a mystery. When we went on internal power it was a smooth and perfect switchover. The patients never died from poor electricity nor did they even know we weren't on Edison.
So - clean electricity and the ability to sheer the load when the generator senses troubles (loss of RPM from low fuel or oil levels getting critical) or overload or a defective AVR f'rinstance, is a lot safer than anything Edison can supply.
I can say that since you have NO control over what Edison sends - and although it starts out OK at the generating station (the place with all the Atomic crickets) - it is subject to spikes (lightning?) surges (car-into-power-pole) and up/down ramps and glitches that are created by surging electric motors (AC & refrigeration & blown pole drops and transformers & MG sets & whatever they are supplying on the same run) and phasing issues of really big motors (elevators) if they temporarily lose power and then have to re-sync to the grid. It all adds up.
You would know exactly what is running on your power system and then you can be sure that it's not adulterated with outside problems on the your line if you run off a generator.
Primarily - you have no problems running off Edison - so why would it be any different off a generator?
One more thing::: Surge protectors are CONSUMPTIVE or ABLATIVE and they lose ability to protect you all the time with the little glitches that hit Edison constantly. They WEAR OUT - SLOWLY and you won't know if they are even protecting you unless they are very modern and have a warning light or something.
Ok, that scares me! I did do a gig, on a small generator, a couple years ago using a Yorkville XS800 and I recall it cutting off a couple times. No damage though. I just want to make sure these micros aren't like supersensitive.
its fun.. 
