Generators OK for TV's (televisions)?

D&D Farm · Jan 8, 2011

Real short; but important for me..........We have a storm coming and I wonder if the newer TV's can be used with a regular ol generator. Seems I have read that the cycles or something will ruin a flat screen/hd type tv........I also have a Honda 3K inverter that causes them NO problems but is made to do this...........We have used it exclusively for several years with our Airstream trailer which is our Video business traveling studio with no problems; but here at the house my Genset is just the plain ol type of 8K genset......thoughts??????.........thanks and God bless......Dennis

Doc · Jan 8, 2011

I had never considered this Dennis. I run a regular genset on my houseboat and run the flat screen there okay, but I only bought the flat screen last season. Plus I will need to know for when I have to use my genset at home.
I hope some of our members are in the know on this. Good thread.

bordercollie · Jan 8, 2011

We used one of the Uninterruptable power supply units by APC on the electronics during last days of Katrina on our old generator. We don't have one of the new TV's though. The good upc's seem to help with power spikes as they act like a surge suppressor. I hear the sine waves can spike on the older generators and damage sensitive stuff. This is my experience so just adding my 2 cents which may be all it's worth. I will also be adding to the wood pile today as we will get hit by it tonight and tomorrow.Good Luck. Bordercollie

urednecku · Jan 8, 2011

bordercollie had my suggestion, use a good-quality UPS. I also use the APC brand. When the last couple hurricanes of "Charlie & gang" came thru in '04, I hooked the new gen to the house. The upc started whistling at me, so I knew something was not right. A voltage tester showed only about 100 volts from the generator. That would have messed up the refrigerator as well as the computer, etc.

bczoom · Jan 8, 2011

I'm with Bordercollie but will add another warning.

Spikes are bad (thus the use of the UPS) but so is a "Brown-Out" which is a low-voltage situation. If your voltage drops more then about 10% (about 12 volts for basic household wiring), that's a brown-out and can ruin electronic equipment just as easily as a spike.
If you're going to have your TV on, avoid using high draw items that can put a quick, heavy load on your generator. This is things like stove, hot water, electric dryer...

Good luck!!

jwstewar · Jan 8, 2011

We had an ice storem here a couple of years back. I bought a diesel generator at Lowes (I took it back afterwards because something wasn't right with it and they didn't have any more). But I ran our 52" Samsung LCD on that generator along with the surround sound system and the satellite box. They were on a surge suppressor but not a UPS. The TV didn't seem to suffer any ill affects from it. It worked fine until this spring when we took a strong power surge and that damaged it "beyond repair."

Red Beard · Jan 8, 2011

I've got an old Onan welder gen. Last time I hooked it up, it sounded like the fridge was going to take off! It's got three throttle settings, idle, power and weld. It was on the power setting, but when I checked the voltage it read about 200v, and the Hz ( frequency ) was about 80! I dropped it down to the idle setting and got about 60 and 120 and everything was happy but lost a lot of KW's. I think if the voltage and frequency are right and you run it through a UPS, it should be fine.

ki0ho · Jan 8, 2011

Check the voltage and the cycles. A good multi-meter will have both and you will be just fine. a good UPS will help a lot also

urednecku · Jan 9, 2011

bczoom said:
I'm with Bordercollie but will add another warning.

Spikes are bad (thus the use of the UPS) but so is a "Brown-Out" which is a low-voltage situation. If your voltage drops more then about 10% (about 12 volts for basic household wiring), that's a brown-out and can ruin electronic equipment just as easily as a spike.
If you're going to have your TV on, avoid using high draw items that can put a quick, heavy load on your generator. This is things like stove, hot water, electric dryer...

Good luck!!

That's what the ups was tellin' me, "low voltage". Directly protected the computer, & by hollerin' protected the rest of the house!

Doc · Jan 9, 2011

What kind of UPS do you have that warns of low voltage. Mine does not do that.

urednecku · Jan 9, 2011

APC brand....the 'whistle' signals it's using battery power.

Jim_S · Jan 9, 2011

urednecku said:
APC brand....the 'whistle' signals it's using battery power.

Same here, APC "Smart" series. Doc, it has a Sonolert in it for alarms. It also has a connection to plug into the server and log alarms. I had Smart 700's on the servers in the basement before leasing virtual servers became so inexpensive.

We had some Best full time ups's at work with the same features. The main site had a Liebert system but that is out of reach for a home installation.

For a TV a full time power conditioner rather than a ups would be better just for protection but it wouldn't keep you online if the generator failed. A small ups is reactive rather than proactive, it switches in AFTER the problem (brownout, blackout) begins.

Jim_S · Jan 9, 2011

Here's APC's line of power conditioners.

urednecku · Jan 9, 2011

And as for dealing with APC, I've had mine replaced twice--with NO cost to me, except for shipping one to them. The first one died saving my computer from a close lightning strike. After I called them, I had a new one in less than 24 hours. The second time, Dell tried to tell me I had a "dirty signal" coming thru my phone line that was killing the dial-up modem. (Dell replaced I think 4 modems in less than 2 years.) I asked APC to check it.....they just replaced it with no comment.
EXCELLENT service!

Oh yea, and the one I have now will shut your computer down properly before the battery dies if you're not around to do it.

bordercollie · Jan 9, 2011

And APC recycles the old batteries too .What model does the auto shutdown Urednecku? Thanks, Bordercollie

urednecku · Jan 9, 2011

I have the "back-up ES 750".
On their web-site they have a section that'll help you determine which one will fit your needs. http://www.apc.com/tools/ups_selector/index.cfm?

Jim_S · Jan 10, 2011

Doc, I'm running Smart 700's. They were new in 1995 and on their third battery.

The current model is the Smart 750. Comes with the rs-232/usb cable for the server and a cd with the interface software.

If anyone is interested I still have one of the Cubix computer rack units. Hot stuff, 6 P266 computers and redundant power supplies in a 5ru cabinet. No storage, the raid array went to another project years ago.

Jim

Doc · Jan 10, 2011

Thanks for the info guys.

I had the cheapest APC one for the last few years but it never did work right. Then all it would do is beep, even with the power on. It drove me bonkers. I think it was the battery gone bad, and a new battery cost as much or more than the APC. Sounds like I should have contacted APC and had them take care of it. I bought the unit from Circut City when they were closing down at a closeout price, so I did not value it much. :hide:

dumb on my part.

urednecku · Jan 10, 2011

Yep....they'd have made it good.

bordercollie · Jan 10, 2011

Thanks for the information. We lost power last night - went to get the trailblazer welder/ generator -backed it up to the hookup with the RTV and somebody had gotten the end off of the transfer cable! Oh well , the power is back on now- We were out feeding the cows most of the day anyway . Really glad to be indoors and dry now . Not much ice left,mostly just cold mud out there - what's wasn't brought in on the clothes. Bordercollie

Generators OK for TV's (televisions)?

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