safe to run a pc and tv from a generator?

ShinerBark said:

I've been running a sony lcd and a samsung lcd for 2 days now off of a generator. No problems at all. Been doing the same thing with both of them for 3 years now on the same husky 5k generator. Ran my old tv off of the same generator the first year here, but sold those and got the new flatscreens. I think ya'll are over complicating things.

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Not over complicating things at all...

Generators do not run consistent and even or "clean" power. The only way they run even clean power, is by way of an inverter. Some generators have inverters built in them. True you might not have issues now or this time; however, it will happen.
Think of it this way, all of the drilling rigs run off of generator power and every one of them also uses those UPS inverters. Ask any electrician that works offshore and they will tell you this...

nickatnite said:

Not over complicating things at all...

Generators do not run consistent and even or "clean" power. The only way they run even clean power, is by way of an inverter. Some generators have inverters built in them. True you might not have issues now or this time; however, it will happen.
Think of it this way, all of the drilling rigs run off of generator power and every one of them also uses those UPS inverters. Ask any electrician that works offshore and they will tell you this...

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Agreed some stuff might be sensitive to it, I have just yet to see it myself. There are probably more people that do it without a problem, and will never see a problem than those that have or will. I can see what everyone is saying though, and if I had really high end electronics I would probably worry more about it, but I don't so I won't. I have been wanting a new bigger tv in the living room though so maybe it will go out.

SVTFreak said:

It's possible, but generally a power supply failure happens instantly.

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That's only in extreme cases. Most commonly you will burn out the power filtering circuits (the capacitors) or introduce unfiltered noise into sensitive 3.3vdc circuits that keep your processor alive and ticking.

For instance, my standby generator is accurate to 1/10th of a Hz. It will do a dang good job of holding power output to 60.1Hz even when being stepped on by hard hitting AC compressors. However, just because the load sensing lag time is only 50ms, there is a very short burst where the generator will do 59.8Hz or 60.4Hz. That change may look small, but it means a lot when an electronic device is calibrated to operate on 60Hz all the time. Medical equipment, for instance, is INCREDIBLY sensitive to Hz fluctuations.

charlie12 said:

Back during Andrew I ran a old type tv on a generator and it tv worked but the remote wouldn't. Soon at the power came back on the remote worked fine. Why?

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This is a case of where it's all about the Hz. The generator probably did not make an even 60hz and the internal clock on the TV screen probably was out of sync for the remote's code flash rate or was flat out supressed by RF noise transmitted through the power cable.

Muddy45 said:

...read a book

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What does this mean????

guys, i've been running everything off my gas generators at two differant camps since i was a kid. [43 now]. matter of fact, the generator that is powering my computer right now probly has several thousand hrs on it. as long as u check the voltage/hz and adjust the throttle accordingly, i don't see a problem. i've burnt up a ac unit one time, but the rpm's had dropped some and low voltage killed it.


i wouldn't think twice about running tv's and such. yall sound like a bunch of wemon. lol

Not this year cause even w/Isaac we only lost power for 2 hrs () but last season I ran our GE side by side fridge, a direct-tv stb box, 50" vizio and a small fan all on this and its prefect from pc's too.



Quiet and ez on gas too. Been thinking lately of buying a second one for a small window a/c unit for the sleeping bunker.

Inverted generator.

A couple of you guys seem to know your business on this topic, so please weigh in on this. Do you still have the dirty power issues if you have a portable generator connected to your panel with a switch? Professionally installed of course.

Pacioli said:

A couple of you guys seem to know your business on this topic, so please weigh in on this. Do you still have the dirty power issues if you have a portable generator connected to your panel with a switch? Professionally installed of course.

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Yes because there's no inverter in your panel. All that does is reroute through your breakers (which only flip when the amperage exceeds rating. Most are 15 amp except gfci which are normally 20) More than likely it will work fine but a there is risk involved.

Pacioli said:

A couple of you guys seem to know your business on this topic, so please weigh in on this. Do you still have the dirty power issues if you have a portable generator connected to your panel with a switch? Professionally installed of course.

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Yes, because you haven't solved the problem of the rotation speed inside the generator. Any load causes it to drag, slow down and drop both voltage and Hz until the governor corrects speed.

CrkdLtr said:

Also - if you happen to own a UPS you can use it to filter the dirty power most generators make.

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That's the key. I've run a considerable amount of computer equipment including monitors and Ethernet switches off my RV generator post-storms, but everything is always connected through APC UPSs, whether generator or line power.

always connected through APC UPSs, whether generator or line power

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Just to be sure I understand...

I've got a UPS on my desktop PC, so (next time) I could plug that UPS into the generator and plug my TV and PC into that without worry about dirty power?

This has been a very informative discussion, guys.

Thanks for passing along the info.

PPBart said:

Just to be sure I understand...

I've got a UPS on my desktop PC, so (next time) I could plug that UPS into the generator and plug my TV and PC into that without worry about dirty power?

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Answer: Yes...

PPBart said:

Just to be sure I understand...

I've got a UPS on my desktop PC, so (next time) I could plug that UPS into the generator and plug my TV and PC into that without worry about dirty power?

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Possibly. It depends a lot on the internal design of the UPS. If it's got a line quality monitor and can transfer to backup in the event of dirty power, yes. If it is like the REALLY expensive UPS's and charges the battery with line power and then powers the computer from the battery all the time, then yes. If it's the type that simply senses voltage dropout and transfers to battery, then no.

Most mid-range ($150-$200) computer UPS's will monitor line quality and transfer to backup in the event of Hz instability, Undervoltage or Overvoltage. The el-cheapo $75 "backup power strips" most commonly DO NOT filter power whatsoever and usually only transfer once line power drops below 94 vAC.

There are 3 major types of UPS and a bunch of design variations on those themes

Standby UPS

The inverter only starts when the power fails, hence the name "standby." High efficiency,
small size, and low cost are the main benefits of this design. With proper filter and surge
circuitry, these systems can also provide adequate noise filtration and surge suppression.

Line interactive UPS

When the input power fails, a transfer switch opens and the power flows from the battery to
the UPS output. With the inverter always on and connected to the output, this design
provides additional filtering and yields reduced switching transients when compared with the
standby UPS topology.

On-line UPS

With the on-line design, failure of the input AC does not cause activation of
a transfer switch, because the input AC is charging the backup battery source which
provides power to the output inverter. Therefore, during an input AC power failure, on-line
operation results in no transfer time.

Depending on the design of a UPS, the power coming from a residential grade generator will but be poor enough to shutdown the AC filtering and surge suppression. The UPS will then run off its batteries until they are exhausted at that point you still have no power.

One of the big problems with residential generators are failures of the voltage regulators which cause most of the damage to home electronics. The reason modern electronics seem to do okay on generators is globalization... yes GLOBALIZATION. Most power supplies designed today are for a global market, look at the voltage and frequency ratings on them, most will be 100-240 volts and 50-60 hz. Plus manufacturers selling in 3rd world ****-holes have to contend with poor power regulation on the grid and try to design around it. So as long as the voltage regulator holds up and the generator speed (HZ) is close, a universal electronic switching power supply will handle some pretty crappy power. (imho)