Picking a Generator

[Elliot]

No numbers, but my impression from many years with my EU3000 is that eco mode does not save very much fuel.
Some, certainly. And noise may also be a factor. But you might want to run a test at home to see how much extra fuel it uses on the regular setting.

Now.... Something I would be interested in is a way to stagger the starts of three refrigerators and an air compressor. It doesn't happen often that two of them start at the same time, but it would be nice to eliminate the possibility.

[Popeye]

Now.... Something I would be interested in is a way to stagger the starts of three refrigerators and an air compressor. It doesn't happen often that two of them start at the same time, but it would be nice to eliminate the possibility.

You could cobble something together with a few current relays and some Relay's In A Box but I think parts would be more expensive than it is worth.
You might check your air compressor to see if it can be wired for 230V. If so it will pull less starting and running current than a 120V setup. Make sure your two refrigerators are on opposite legs.

[maladroit]

If compressor-based appliances all came with warn/inhibit I/O terminals, detecting startup requests and sequencing the loads would be incredibly simple. An easy $10 PCB. Ah well, I guess if you want big industry features you gotta pay big industry prices.

[Elliot]

Alas, my generator -- an EU3000is -- does not put out 230.
The occasional generator overload "kick-out" is a bit of a nuisance, since it can leave us with luke-warm beer and no air pressure for filling tires, if it happens outside shop hours and nobody is paying close attention. I learned to watch for the light inside the glass-door refrigerator, but I cannot watch that light 24/7 -- LOL

[FIGJAM]

How hard would it be to put a "power out" alarm at the plug in.

Could be fun since the alarm could be anything from a klacson, bell, or appropriate tune.

[Luigi]

Any one have experience with the Ryobi pair that are sold for about 1200 ?? Two 2200 watt each inverter generators with parallel cable.