Generators?
- Thread starter Bsmith
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Re: Generators?
An Edison plug is the term for an ordinary household electrical plug in the United States and yes most work lights are Edison plugs (except the few that fall in the 220V range)
Dead head is a term used to describe a generator that is running, but not powering anything. If you have the power circuits running on the genny make sure you are running something for it to power. If you have no lights on, but still running the genny than it can possibly ruin the generator. If you have just a normal 65 W light bulb plugged in running at all times then you will not need to worry. However this isn't necessary (and you lose power from the genny) so if you remember just to keep the genny off when you aren't using it (which you should anyway) then this step isn't necessary.
An Edison plug is the term for an ordinary household electrical plug in the United States and yes most work lights are Edison plugs (except the few that fall in the 220V range)
Dead head is a term used to describe a generator that is running, but not powering anything. If you have the power circuits running on the genny make sure you are running something for it to power. If you have no lights on, but still running the genny than it can possibly ruin the generator. If you have just a normal 65 W light bulb plugged in running at all times then you will not need to worry. However this isn't necessary (and you lose power from the genny) so if you remember just to keep the genny off when you aren't using it (which you should anyway) then this step isn't necessary.
GenJerDan
Veteran
Re: Generators?
Edison (I think) means the normal US spade plugs.
The other thing...running a generator with no load (nothing connected to it) is a Bad Thing. Effectively, it presents infinite resistance to the output, and plugging that infinite resistance into Ohm's Law at 120 volts gives you...um...er...well, it's just a Bad Thing.
(The same goes for some audio amplifiers. No speakers connected = kaboom.)
All that being said, decent equipment should have protection for things like that built in.
Another thing to consider: getting the gennies far enough away to keep the noise out means looooong cords. Get some good ones. Heavy duty. Cheap extensions = high resistance, and you're back to where you started vis a vis too much of a load. (And they'll get hot, too).
Dan
Edison (I think) means the normal US spade plugs.
The other thing...running a generator with no load (nothing connected to it) is a Bad Thing. Effectively, it presents infinite resistance to the output, and plugging that infinite resistance into Ohm's Law at 120 volts gives you...um...er...well, it's just a Bad Thing.
(The same goes for some audio amplifiers. No speakers connected = kaboom.)
All that being said, decent equipment should have protection for things like that built in.
Another thing to consider: getting the gennies far enough away to keep the noise out means looooong cords. Get some good ones. Heavy duty. Cheap extensions = high resistance, and you're back to where you started vis a vis too much of a load. (And they'll get hot, too).
Dan