POWER OUTAGE NOTICE - Need to prepare for my tanks' inhabitants' safety

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by zhasan

Hi All,

So I called home depot the other day to make a reservation and the gentleman there told me that the generator they have will end up frying most of my equipment as it fluctuates a lot and causes surges in current. He suggested I rent an inverter generator that provides constant level of power and will be better for use with component electrical equipment.

I'm wondering if any of have had some experience in running a normal (standard) generator to power up your tank or other electrical equipment other than saws and misc tools.

He also mentioned that the inverter generators are was the production companies use for their lights and camera and stuff and thats what I'd need to use on my tank equipment.

Anyone know where I can rent one of those from?

Sounds like a crock to me. Any half decent generator should run your gear no problem. Most of them have protective circuits to minimize any problems due to overcurrent, voltage etc. Should also have a governor of sorts to keep the AC frequency within reasonable range of 60 Hz. I've heard of these 'inverter' generators but not sure what that's about. A good quality, standard generator will produce a nice sine wave 115 VAC 60 Hz signal that won't harm any of your equipment. Some AC motors don't do well with modified (clipped) sine waves which is what many cheap inverters produce. Most other gear rectifies the AC into DC, so modified sine wave isn't an issue. Heaters & other resistive components don't care about modified sine waves, they soldier on regardless.