Most likely neither the windings nor the inverter electronics will actually
be the limiting factor. All generators use some form of circuit breakers
and/or fuses to limit both the continuous current delivered as well as the
transient surge demand which is imposed by big inductive loads like motors,
etc. The breaker / fuse is deliberately chosen to protect the inverter /
windings / etc.

Unless somebody is deliberately trying to circumvent this design by either
putting a jumper across the breaker/fuse or repeatedly overloading the
circuit and flipping the breaker on manually, the generator should know how
to protect itself against the common start-up demands which typical
appliances demand.

It is entirely possible though that the generator is designed and fused to
only deliver a very small amount of extra transient surge current above its'
normal steady state continuous rating. In this case, the 'fridge' could blow
the breaker every time it cycles on its' compressor, if the generator is
undersized.

Smarty
"Toller" wrote in message
...

"ransley" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Jun 13, 12:00 pm, Mark wrote:
Toller wrote:
A month or two go I asked here if a Yamaha EF1000, which will
produce 8a,
will start my refrigerator that draws 13a at startup.
The majority opinion was probably; the fridge probably doesn't need
13a
to start and the genny will probably produce more than 8a for a
short
time; so between the two...

As it happens, one retailer claimed that Yamaha told them the
EF1000 will
produce 3500w for 3 seconds, which is not supported on the Yamaha
website. I called Yamaha and was told that their website says it
will
produce 1000w, so that is all it will produce. Eventually I got to
the
supervisor's supervisor, who said that it will do 3500w, but they
are not
making that claim anymore. (presumably they got complaints from
people
who didn't understand what "3 seconds" meant.)

So I bought the EF1000. It will actually start my shopvac, which
draws
16a at startup. I haven't pushed it any harder, so I can't
actually
verify the 3500w, but it is good enough.
Alls well that ends well.

Does this generator use a DC generator with an inverter?

I think that in the case of a generator with an inverter, the surge
rating is limted by the electronics in the inverter.

With the old fashioned mecahnical AC generators, the surge rating is
much higher and is limited by the resistance of the windings...

Mark- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

pushing a unit is the way to break it, sure it will work but for how
long.

Well, Yamaha says it will produce 3500w for 3 seconds. In the manual they
say it will simply shut off in event of an overload, and they don't warn
about overload breaking it. So, it seems likely that 2000w for 2 seconds,
without the genny shutting down, won't damage it