Generator trips at half wattage?
 

My mom just got a 5000W generator and gave me her old one, claiming it couldn't run their fridge and freezer at the same time, it kept tripping the breaker. She claimed it was only 1000W, which made since that it couldn't run those items same time.

Once I got it home I found on the alternator itself it says it is 2500W with starting wattages up to 2800W. Engine is 6.5HP Chinese Honda "clone".

2500W should be more than enough to run both a fridge and freezer same time, so why would it keep tripping the breaker?

Simple. Plug both appliances into a Watt Meter, and see what they are drawing. Add them up and see if the total combined, is below 2500W.

:ThumbsUp:

Ok I asked her for more information and now she is telling me it wasn't tripping the breaker, it was bogging down the engine with both fridge and freezer plugged in. Does that indicate a problem with the governor? Or something else going on?

I tested it with a small "pancake' air compressor and it seemed to work fine but I don't have anything high wattage that is outdoors I could test with it.

Maybe I'm just chasing shadows and they didn't know how to operate it?

You could look up the amp draw on the fridge & Freezer and that would tell you what they draw, but do know starting amperage is always higher than running amperage of most all motors.
2500W will do the job keeping a few lights on in the house and run the furnace blower and the refrigerator.
I did it for years before I got a bigger emergency power plant.
She possibly was trying to start everything @ once.:bigthink:

Yeah that's what I'm thinking they were trying to start everything at once and it was too much starting watts. I'm going to try to get some higher wattage items to test with it and see how it fairs. I don't have a watt meter to know for sure lol

When a refrigerated piece of equipment starts, it experiences Locked Rotor Amperage (LRA) which is about 8 times greater than Running Load Amperage (RLA) for the brief second it takes for a compressor to come up to full RPM.

Does it say anything on the generator about how many amps max where you plug into 120 receptacle? Let's say if you plug a single extension cord into a socket that is rated for 15 amps, and run the cord to both freezer and refrigerator, you could be maxing out on the amperage which would be about 1800 watts. I would think you have two sets of 120 receptacles or a single 240 receptacle. You generator may be 2500 watts but that would be 1250 watts each receptacle times two make 2500 watts....I'm just thinking, not sure.:bigthink:

You know you might be onto something there? This generator has a single "duplex" 120v outlet and a single "round" 240v outlet. There is a switch to choose between them it won't run both 120v and 240v same time.

But there are ZERO amp markings on the outlets so I don't know if the 120v side is 15 or 20 amp. I'm wondering if you can only get the full 2500w of you use the 240v side?

One can easily tell a 15 Amp Duplex from a 20 Amp Duplex, in a 120V supply. See attachment.

Ok yeah then it's definitely the 20A outlet. Unless there is some kind of limitation on wattage on the 120v vs 240v side within the generator itself. I can't find any model markings on this thing other than the alternator itself and the engine. Its one of those Chinese knockoff Honda generators so specs are scarce...

It is called a "Circuit Breaker".

As Roland said, your compressors will pull higher amperage on startup which will cause the voltage to drop and it snowballs from there.

Get a voltmeter that records high and low and see what the voltage drops to when the refrigerator starts.

Another good test is plug a heat gun or hairdrier in it. If the gen doesn't stumble when either of those are turned on your machine may have an issue with the inrush of current at startup. There is no inrush current with a heat gun or hairdrier.

Older generators make crappy power. I wouldn't run anything with any type of electronics in it off of a non-inverter controlled machine.

It appears you have a 2500 Watt or 20 amp available @ 120 volt.
or 10 amp at 240volt.
Use it and enjoy it.
If you plug something into it using an extension cord, remember to size the cord properly so as not have a voltage/amperage loss.
A good extension cord would be one that is at least 12 gauge wire, and remember the longer the cord is, the more voltage/amp loss.
A 100' cord is not good if you only need 20 feet of it, the loss it still there.
You plug your pancake air compressor into it and it runs it, but i'm betting if you use a 100' extension cord it will struggle.
----But you prolly already know this.:bigthink:

Thanks everyone, I'll continue to mess around with it some more. I suspect it's that they were trying to start up everything at once and it was too much for the old girl. I'll try some stuff and measure voltages. This generator also has its own volt meter built in as well.

Just stagger plugging them in. Odds are against them both starting again after.

As Farmall 450 says , stagger your startup , it would not be a 15amp 240v as that size generator needs some decent grunt to power it
I have a 3800watt generator and starting a fridge and freezer at the same time causes it to complain a bit , but stagger start no worries
Oz

Yeah I'm betting that's what my mom was doing, starting everything at the same time.