Hmm, no big points to make, but a few comments inline:

"Chris Lewis" wrote in message
...
: According to Pop :
: ...
....
:
: No, not so rare. MANY generators idle during periods of
no-load.
: Most generators around here do, including mine. If there is
ANY
: load though, it jumps up to speed incredibly fast.
:
: These generators tend to be slightly upscale (as in commercial
grade)
: rather than the cheapos you see at HD. Usually not _big_ ones,
because
: they're usually used in circumstances where you're always
drawing power.
: The big ones often operate full time at 1800 RPM.
=== lol, I have an upscale generator? First I've heard of it.
It's a Coleman 5000W, one of their "Industrial" lines (not
"Commercial"; industrial), a term they seemed to use for anything
over 5kW & with all the receptacles, at the time I bought it, on
sale, at Lowes. It cost almost a hundred less than the no-name
5.5kW sitting next to it, but it was the only one left. They
seem to use the "industrial" on anyh of them that have the duplex
receptacle plus a 3-wire and a 4-wire receptacle on the panels.
To me, that would make it a "jobber's" generator, more than
industrial. ;-)
:
: I recall reading about 3600-1800 or 1200 RPM idle step-downs
on mid-range
: commercial Onans, Generacs and Hondas. It's advertised as a
feature
: to make the generator last longer.
:
: The idea being that the generator itself is much cheaper to
make if
: it's operated at 3600 RPM (eg: most engines produce peak power
near to
: 3600), but the wear level is considerably increased over 1200
or 1800 -
: hence the compromise of idling lower.
:
: There's an analogous situation with electric motors. It's
cheaper
: to make a 3600 RPM motor than an 1800 RPM one. But most
applications
: need 1800 RPM rather than 3600 RPM, and the cost of gear/belt
reduction
: of 3600RPM is more than the cost savings of 3600 over 1800.
Hence, most
: motors are 1800 except with certain applications.
=== Uhhh, I don't know about that. Besides, it's 1725 and 3450,
not 1800 and 3600, right? With an electric motor, the
application much more than the speed determines its life.
Stresses on the bearings laterally and longitudinally, and %
power output are much more the determining factors of the life of
an electric motor. So it really only equates to load, not speed,
with an electric motor. You have many more varaibles with a
generator and I don't feel qualified to speak to any more than
"intuition" and educated guesses about most things generator
wise.

Are you implying that my idle speed is 1800? I really doubt that
from the sound of the motor, but then again I do feel it's well
over 600 rpm, but - that sounds pretty high.

You're really getting me curious now; guess I'll have to find a
way to measure rpm's after all. I can't stand not knowing some
things! ;-(. Up to now, I've figured 60Hz was the only number
I'd bother with checking, but, well, curiousity and all that ...
knowledge is power (who said that?).

Pop


: --
: Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
: It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named
after them.