Generators: when noise is not an issue.

J

jamani

Active member
It's no secret that the Honda line of gennys are hugely popular on this forum if the extensive research I have done on the subject is anything to go by. I'm not sure if the majority of you own or rent these generators but boy are they expensive either way! I have assessed my needs and found that it makes more sense for me to own one given the kind of shooting I mostly do (off the grid locations). My question is, besides the RELATIVELY lower noise performance of the Hondas, is there any other reason everyone on here swears by them? I do mostly music videos so location audio is not critical for the most part. During my research I have seen the terms "sine wave clean power" thrown around quite a bit. Is this exclusive to the Hondas? Anyone here satisfied with the performance of any other more affordable brand? Like the CHAMPIONS. I have read nothing but great things about this particular brand.
 
The need for a "rectifier" type of generator that makes "true sine wave" power is dependent upon what you need to power. Monitors, in my experience don't like the non true sine wave power, but you can run anything of tungsten lighting with "square wave" power that the cheaper generators make.

As far as I know, anything that has its own "ac adapter" can be powered with the cheaper generator.

I would definitely steer clear of powering sensitive electronics with the non "true since wave" power.
 
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There are plenty of copycat inverter generators out there, both comparable and less expensive than the Honda. I own several different Honda power products, and they are always top quality, they always START. One side note, if you store this type of gear with fuel in it, make double sure you avoid gas that has ethanol in it. No problem to just burn it, big problem to store it.

Grant
 
If you are powering electronics then you will want to use an inverter generator. For what it's worth, Champion also makes a low cost inverter model which you can buy 2 of for the price of a single Honda. I currently own a couple of small quiet Yamaha generators.
 
David,
How do you like the Yamahas? I was looking that getting either that or the Honda. I know the Honda has the reputation but I've always been a Yamaha motorcycle.guy.
 
David,

Which Yamaha model do you have and how does it compare in price to a Honda of equal quality?
 
I carry a pair of Yamaha EF2000is generators which can be run together in parallel. They can be handled by a single person which is great when working alone. The larger generators really get heavy and need crew to move, or need to be setup on a roll around cart. If it were me, I would assess my power needs to know what size to get first. When shopping be aware that unless you find a place which offers free shipping, it can get expensive to ship a generator, so finding a local deal may be your best bet. As far as Honda vs Yamaha? It's easier to add an extended run tank to the Honda, but the Yamaha is slightly quieter. And as far as all of these quiet generators go, yes they are all very quiet when running in Ecco mode, but once you run them in full load mode to power large loads they all get noisy, and need to be put behind something to help block noise to set.
 
Thanks David. One more question. Just to get it straight, from the two quotes below, you and Chris are saying that as long as all I am powering are lights then any generator is fine correct? Being fairly new to film making, I cannot YET think of any "sensitive electronics" or anything else for that matter besides lights I would want to plug into the generator power while on location. I'm sure I'm missing something I just don't know what. And even if I do acquire some "sensitive electronics" down the line that would need to be powered then maybe I can invest in a low wattage inverter generator when that time comes just for those to save money and use the cheaper higher wattage ones to power the lights? I'm assuming most of these "sensitive electronics" don't draw that much. Correct me if I'm wrong please.

David W. Jones said:
If you are powering electronics then you will want to use an inverter generator. For what it's worth, Champion also makes a low cost inverter model which you can buy 2 of for the price of a single Honda. I currently own a couple of small quiet Yamaha generators.
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I would definitely steer clear of powering sensitive electronics with the non "true since wave" power.
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Well it depends.... Some generators have clean sinewave, some have crystal sync, and some run unregulated and could possibly be out of sync with your camera and cause flicker that you won't notice until you get back to post. If going for one of these low cost units it might be better to try and test shoot before you invest in one.
 
jamani said:
And even if I do acquire some "sensitive electronics" down the line that would need to be powered then maybe I can invest in a low wattage inverter generator when that time comes just for those to save money and use the cheaper higher wattage ones to power the lights? I'm assuming most of these "sensitive electronics" don't draw that much. Correct me if I'm wrong please.
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Tungsten lighting will work fine with a non "inverter" (or - modified sine wave) type generator. Tungsten filaments are pretty simple and you could even power them with DC current or AC at alternate frequencies as long as the voltage is close to correct. I've heard that computers will work fine with "modified sine wave" power due to their switching type power supplies, but if you do decide to power "sensitive electronics" later on with the cheaper (non inverter) generator, you could just use a UPS (you should be safe powering a laptop, however).

As for how much "sensitive electronics" draw, generally not much, but certainly HMI lighting does when they strike.

Powering fluorescent or HMI from a "modified sine wave" power source may result in flicker and I wouldn't risk it.
 
bclighting said:
David,
How do you like the Yamahas? I was looking that getting either that or the Honda. I know the Honda has the reputation but I've always been a Yamaha motorcycle.guy.
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An advantage to the Honda EU6500is over the Yamaha 6500 is that the Honda can be modified by the guy legrevedotcom mentioned above to generate 7500W in a single 60A/120V circuit that will enable you to power larger tungsten and HMI lights.

Mike Morgan
 
How many feet away from your "set" are you placing the generator in order not to pick up its noise, and any other sound baffling considerations? I have a shoot coming up and the use of a generator has come up but I am not condoning it.
 
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