From: John De Armond Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel Subject: Re: Looking for SMALLEST gasoline generator available Date: Sat, 24 Feb 2007 16:38:04 -0500 Message-ID: <5ra1u2dm595b2ts1p6asma7v9ohjfd17cd@4ax.com> On Sat, 24 Feb 2007 14:28:34 -0500, "C. J. Clegg" <reply.in.group@nospam.no> wrote: > >I'm looking for the smallest and lightest-weight gasoline-powered >generator available. > >I only need about 200-300 watts, and in fact I really don't necessarily even >need 115 VAC out... if it had only 12 volts DC out that would be sufficient. I don't know of anything in current production lighter than the EU1000 which is overkill for what you want. Honda made an EX350 for years. It's a tiny 2-stroke inverter generator. Good for 350 watts plus a 12 volt battery charging output. Coleman market the Mighty-Mite 2-stroke generator for several years. Seems like the AC output is about 800 watts and a hefty 40 or so amps at 12 volts. It hasn't been out of production long so maybe you could find one used. Kinda noisy and a bit fuel-hungry are its only major faults. Harbor Freight sold this cute little 2-stroke inverter generator for several years under the Chicago Electric brand name: http://www.neon-john.com/Generator/generator.jpg It's rated at 350 watts. The round housing on the left holds what looks like a plain-jane motorcycle 3 phase magneto/alternator. The finned assembly at the far left is the inverter. You'll notice right behind the air cleaner the throttle control. This unit doesn't have a governor per se. One sets the approx throttle necessary to run the load and then a spark-chop type rev limiter controls the speed. Sloppy but it works. This is a sweet little generator for where very light weight is necessary. About 12 lbs if I recall. It's not very good where the load varies widely, say, with a coffee pot or some other thermostatic controlled load. But it works fine for lighting and other constant loads. I've had plans to remove the inverter, rewind the stator for 12 volts, add a bridge rectifier and convert it to one of the smallest Cordless Battery Chargers (CBC) . Still waitin' for that Round Tuit. Anyway, I see these occasionally at flea markets. Apparently many people couldn't deal with the complexity (NOT) of setting the manual throttle so HF got a lot of 'em back. They Dremel-tooled their name off the things then cut 'em loose to the surplus market. I got mine for $50 a few years ago. If you're handy with tools you could lash up any of a variety of surplus low voltage permanent magnet motors to the little Honda GX engine. Here's a breakdown of mine: http://www.neon-john.com/Generator/Honda_GX_31_engine/GX_31_home.htm They've changed that engine around some since I bought mine. I have it lashed to an EV Warrior (defunct electric bicycle) DC motor to make a CBC. It's good for about 35 amps. The motor isn't well matched to the engine - I need to either weaken the field or remove a turn or two from each armature pole - but it works fine as-is. Lashing up the motor was trivially easy. If you look at the second photo on the above page you'll see that the "output shaft" is a disc with a pair of centrifugal clutch shoes mounted. This is designed to fit up to the frame of their weed whacker. I simply made a bracket that holds the motor approximately centered over the output plate. I removed the shoes and replaced them with steel wear sleeves over each attachment screw. Then I inserted a long roll pin in the hole already drilled in the motor shaft. This roll pin engages the two attachment screws. This setup requires no precision coupling and works fine with the motor a bit out of alignment. There are some cottage companies out there who cater to the off-grid crowd and who make portable 12 volt generators. I don't know of any that are particularly light. Typically, a honda GC engine and an automotive alternator is involved. Weight is in the 40 to 60 lbs range. Barely portable by yer average guy. John |
