Harbor Freight 350W generator electric test results.

Rye Gewalt (ryeg@vais.net)
Wed, 10 Feb 1999 19:56:46 -0500


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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Testing of the Harbor Freight 350 Watt 2 cycle generator was conducted
here at the National Scientific Laboratories (A Bowser Corporation) in
Springfield, Virginia, using meters supplied by the Emil Gewalt Memorial
Meter Museum (http://www.vais.net/~ryeg/MeterMuseum.html). Testing was
conducted on the outdoor test range (patio) because of safety issues and
influences of the unseasonably warm weather.

SUMMARY: The unit under test qualifies under the following adages:
"whatcha see is whatcha gets" and "ya get whatcha pays for". The
unit performs as advertised, but is not to be considered the Cadillac of
small generators. AC voltage regulation is good for resistive loads but
tends to get out of hand for reactive loads. DC output was good but must
be stabilized with a storage battery. The unit is a low tech solution
to a simple problem and there are esthetic as well as environmental
problems that may send the purists over to the Honda shops. Workmanship
and general quality are adequate, but this is not a unit that should be
expected to perform in life threatening situations. It is, however, OK
for pottering around where one can afford to be "left in the dark" on
occasion. The date code on the unit under test was September 1989 and
it is made in China.

AC LOADING: The unit was loaded with a number of incandescent lights
and soldering irons which were connected in different configurations for
different loads. Going from 40 watts to 300 watts caused the output
voltage to drop from 124 volts to 120 volts --- which seemed to be the
typical output voltage range. The manual recommends that the throttle
be reset for each change in load using the guidance of the little red
and green lights on the control panel. This keeps fuel consumption
under control and makes the motor runs smoother. When steady state
loads of over 350 watts were applied, the generator abruptly shut down
using some sort of internal overload feature. The overload feature
seems to require a short wait before the unit can be restarted. I
don't think one should depend on the unit to supply much more that 300
watts.

A 3/8" electric drill was attached to the generator and functioned
adequately for normal drilling operations. The drill has momentarily
high starting current but it is of short enough duration that it doesn't
trip the overload. Under unloaded conditions the drill draws less than
one ampere. When loaded, e.g. drilling a 1/4" hole in hard pine, the
current rises to the 2-3 amp range which didn't seem to bother the
generator in the least. Using the drill for larger jobs (requiring
higher current) might cause a shut-down, but for general purposes the
generator seems up to the task. Because the drill presents a complex
load, voltage regulation was poor with momentary drops to 60 volts and
occasional rises into the 160 volt range. This is not unexpected for
such a simple device and probably not dangerous to the drill --- but
then I don't even pretend to play an electrical engineer on TV. It
would be a bad idea to have any voltage sensitive devices (like TVs)
attached to the generator when using motorized power tools.

DC LOADING: DC output seems to be intended only for battery charging
with output voltage rising to 31 volts without a load and dropping to
just under 15 volts when a "fully" charged type 24 battery was connected
to the system (resulting in a 3.5 amp charge rate).

ACOUSTIC NOISE CHARACTERISTICS: When the unit is running with no load,
or a small load, it is reasonably quiet. As load is increased the noise
rises to a probable irritating level --like a typical lawn mower --
but not as bad as a chain saw or leaf blower. Much of the noise at high
load comes from the air filter/carb rather than from the muffler.

MESS AND STINK: It's a two cycle engine.... Fuel is mixed at 25:1
so there is a slight blue cloud while the unit is running and it smells
like an old outboard. Like all 2 cycle engines, some unburnt oil always
drips out of the muffler and makes a little puddle under the unit ---
outboards just leave an oil slick.

SPEED REGULATION TECHNOLOGY: This unit should not be operated within
five hundred miles of California. Speed (and voltage) is regulated by
shutting down the spark when the voltage gets too high -- with the
resulting emission of unburnt oil and gas. For someone familiar with gas
motors, it's really aggravating to hear the generator running "slightly
out of tune". It is, however, a clever, cheap, dirty, way of solving
the speed regulation problem -- but not exactly environmentally
friendly. This is the sort of down to earth technology that made the
little fellows in Viet Nam so effective against our high tech systems
during the unpleasantness of several decades ago.

CONCLUSIONS: If you need power to run a heart-lung machine, this isn't
the generator for you -- buy a big Westinghouse. If you want to charge
batteries, run small power tools and light lights while pottering around
on weekends, it's probably OK. It's another item in our arsenal of
things for us big kids to play with while we wait for spring.

Regards All

Rye Gewalt
'90 HMS 18
Springfield, VA

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Testing of the Harbor Freight 350 Watt 2 cycle generator was conducted here at the National Scientific Laboratories (A Bowser Corporation) in Springfield, Virginia, using meters supplied by the Emil Gewalt Memorial Meter Museum (http://www.vais.net/~ryeg/MeterMuseum.html).  Testing was conducted on the outdoor test range (patio) because of safety issues and influences of the unseasonably warm weather.

SUMMARY:  The unit under test qualifies under the following adages: "whatcha see is whatcha gets"   and   "ya get whatcha pays for".  The unit performs as advertised, but is not to be considered the Cadillac of small generators.  AC voltage regulation is good for resistive loads but tends to get out of hand for reactive loads. DC output was good but must be stabilized with a storage battery.  The unit is a low tech solution to a simple problem and there are esthetic as well as environmental problems that may send the purists over to the Honda shops.  Workmanship and general quality are adequate, but this is not a unit that should be expected to perform in life threatening situations.  It is, however, OK for pottering around where one can afford to be "left in the dark" on occasion.  The date code on the unit under test was September 1989 and it is made in China.

AC LOADING:  The unit was loaded with a number of incandescent lights and soldering irons which were connected in different configurations for different loads.  Going from 40 watts to 300 watts caused the output voltage to drop from 124 volts to 120 volts --- which seemed to be the typical output voltage range.  The manual recommends that the throttle be reset for each change in load using the guidance of the little red and green lights on the control panel.  This keeps fuel consumption under control and makes the motor runs smoother. When steady state  loads of over 350 watts were applied, the generator abruptly shut down using some sort of internal overload feature.  The overload feature seems to require a short wait before the unit can be restarted.   I don't think one should depend on the unit to supply much more that 300 watts.

A 3/8" electric drill was attached to the generator and  functioned adequately for normal drilling operations. The drill has momentarily high starting current but it is of short enough duration that it doesn't trip the overload.  Under unloaded conditions the drill draws less than one ampere.  When loaded, e.g. drilling a 1/4" hole in hard pine,  the current rises to the 2-3 amp range which didn't seem to bother the generator in the least.  Using the drill for larger jobs (requiring higher current) might cause a shut-down, but for general purposes the generator seems up to the task.  Because the drill presents a complex load, voltage regulation was poor with momentary drops to 60 volts and occasional rises into the 160 volt range. This is not unexpected for such a simple device and probably not dangerous to the drill --- but then I don't even pretend to play an electrical engineer on TV.  It would be a bad idea to have any voltage sensitive devices (like TVs) attached to the generator when using motorized power tools.

DC LOADING:   DC output seems to be intended only for battery charging with output voltage rising to 31 volts without a load and dropping to just under 15 volts when a "fully" charged type 24 battery was connected to the system (resulting in a 3.5 amp charge rate).

ACOUSTIC NOISE CHARACTERISTICS:  When the unit is running with no load, or a small load, it is reasonably quiet.  As load is increased the noise rises to a probable irritating level --like a  typical lawn mower --  but not as bad as a chain saw or leaf blower.  Much of the noise at high load comes from the air filter/carb  rather than from the muffler.

MESS AND STINK:  It's a two cycle engine....     Fuel is mixed at 25:1 so there is a slight blue cloud while the unit is running and it smells like an old outboard.  Like all 2 cycle engines, some unburnt oil always drips out of the muffler and makes a little puddle under the unit --- outboards just leave an oil slick.

SPEED REGULATION TECHNOLOGY:  This unit should not be operated within five hundred miles of California.  Speed (and voltage) is regulated by shutting down the spark when the voltage gets too high -- with the resulting emission of unburnt oil and gas. For someone familiar with gas motors, it's really aggravating to hear the generator running "slightly out of tune".  It is, however, a clever, cheap, dirty, way of solving the speed regulation problem --  but not exactly environmentally friendly.  This is the sort of down to earth technology that made the  little fellows in Viet Nam so effective against our high tech systems during the unpleasantness of several decades ago.

CONCLUSIONS:  If you need power to run a heart-lung machine,  this isn't the generator for you -- buy a big Westinghouse.  If you want to charge batteries, run small power tools and light lights while pottering around on weekends, it's probably OK.  It's another item in our arsenal of things for us big kids to play with while we wait for spring.

Regards All

Rye Gewalt
'90 HMS 18
Springfield, VA --------------A0BCCCB4D8F71C8280CB4FF8--