Get More Power From a Smaller Generator
Power management is the best way to get to the most out of your generator. Effective power management can help you to:
- Use a smaller, less expensive generator to meet your needs.
- Use the generator more efficiently and economically.
Power management simply works because it is not necessary to power everything at the same time. Switching from one appliance to another will help to minimise the amount of power needed.
When you are using your generator, think about this;
- What is most important to power?
- Does it have to be run continuously?
- Don't try to run everything at once
Our generators offer dependable power and keep on running year after year. Remember: If you buy cheap, you will buy twice.
Example Use Cases
Take a look at this example. You want to run some lights, a refrigerator, an electric fry pan, a television, and a microwave.
Appliance | Starting Wattage | Running Wattage |
|---|---|---|
Fridge | 1700 | 200 |
Electric Fry Pan | 1400 | 1400 |
Five room lights | 300 | 300 |
Flatscreen TV | 200 | 200 |
Microwave | 1600 | 1600 |
Total | 5200 | 3700 |
In the above scenario, you would need an EU70iS to run everything at once. However, if you chose to run the fridge, lights and TV only you could get by with an EU30iS - but you will have to turn off some things when you want to use the microwave.
If you only look at the total watts, you would need a 5200 watt generator to power your home. But that's not really the case.
Here's how to make the most of your generator:
- Don't start all your appliances at once. Start those with high starting wattage requirements at different times. E.g if you start the refrigerator and the fry pan individually, you don't need 3100 watts of power - you would only need 1700.
- If you have an appliance that is only being used occasionally for short periods, run it by itself. Turn off the fridge and other things for a few minutes while you use the microwave - a small trade off like this saves you lots of power.
- Turn less important appliances off. If you don't mind turning off the lights and TV, you could buy an even smaller model. Some Honda generator owners don't want the hassle, and so they buy a larger generator.
Here's another look at the power example.
Continuous Power Need | |
|---|---|
Running fridge | 200 |
5 lights | 300 |
TV | 200 |
Total | 700 |
Occasional Power Need | |
|---|---|
Starting fridge | 1700 |
Microwave | 1600 |
Max | 1700 |
In this case, a 3000 watt generator (EU30iS) would be able to run everything easily. And you don't need to make any sacrifices at all.
You could get away with 1600 watts (EU22i) - if you are willing to turn the fridge off at separate times, and turn off the TV and lights when you start up one or both of these larger appliances.