Generators OK for TV's (televisions)?

[DennisArrow]

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

 

[brin]

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

Dennis...I am waiting for the same storm you are..I have Plasma tv but I have it plugged into a surge suppressor strip so if I have to fire up my PTO generator it should protect it fine..against any spikes . I would guess if you get a surge suppressor and plug your tv into that you would be fine - they are not expensive. I hope we don't get Ice...snow OK

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I don't know of any modern electrical equipment that has trouble with wave forms. They have almost universally gone to solid state switching power supplies that will swallow almost anything. The old step-down transformer and rectifier power supplies used to let some noise through if the power wasn't a perfect sine wave.

If you don't think your generator puts out a sine wave, you might add an autotransformer line conditioner. This just puts about 35 lbs. of copper and iron core between the source and the load, stabilizes the voltage and chokes off any spikes with massive inductance. If your generator is the common rotating field brushless type, it probably puts out a better sine wave than all but the most expensive inverters. The surge protector you already use with your TV should be all you need.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Seems like TBN is becoming EBN: ElectricalByNet. :thumbsup:

 

[/pine]

FWIW, I do not trust my sensitive electronic equipment to run of the mill surge supressors...to fully protect the equipment it is recomended that a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) be used...

 

[brin]

FWIW, I do not trust my sensitive electronic equipment to run of the mill surge supressors...to fully protect the equipment it is recomended that a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) be used...

Pine ...I have a whole house surge suppressor and in addition I have individual plug in surge suppressors that I plug all of my electronics into..I bought the surge suppressors from our local power company and they come with $25K insurance should damage to the appliance occur..Don't you think that is good enough ?

 

[Yoitslo2]

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

Yes it's fine I do it all the time when I go "city camping" haha

 

[DennisArrow]

Ok........I am kinda ignorant and slow about some of this stuff as well as dyslexic.......SO.......I go down to Radio Shack and ask for what??????????

Thanks........Dennis

 

[pdp11]

Surge suppressors really only protect against high voltage transients (like lightning). The big concern with portable generators and electronics has to do with frequency stability. Switch-mode power supplies that are used in every type of electronic device are very sensitive to line frequency, since they pull power only from the peaks of the sine wave. If the line frequency wanders, it will shorten the life of the power supply.

Bigger generators with electronic governors tend to be very frequency stable. That's not to say that a smaller generator can't be frequency stable, but your milage will vary, especially if the load on the generator varies.

 

[reb]

My DeWalt commercial generator won't operate my microwave oven, so I won't try it with my TV, computer, etc. I haven't bothered to figure out why. I got a Yamaha inverter generator which does the job quite well.