[TowerTalk] Low RFI diesel generator?

[Jim Brown]

On 3/26/2013 9:26 PM, R.Morris wrote:

> Make a list of all that "needs" to run and figure their start current. 

Yes.  I live in the Santa Cruz mountains, with several power failures a 
year, thanks to winter storms that drop trees and summer forest fires. 
We have a big Honda 6kVA generator (big brother of the 2000i, 
essentially a bigger motor and  two bigger inverters strapped for 240V) 
that provides 240VAC and can run my well motors. I also have a 2000i. 
I've rewired my home so that everything I REALLY need during a power 
failure EXCEPT the well is on the same leg of 120-0-120, and have a plug 
to feed that leg from the 200)i. I can run that leg,  which includes 
lighting, computers, stereo rig, and refrigerator, from the 2000i in 
econo mode. BIG saving in fuel, and a LOT quieter. When we REALLY need 
to flush, we fire up the big one, pump some water, do our thing, and go 
back to the 2000i.

My neighbor, W6GJB, has converted his 200)i to run on propane (what we 
have here in the mountains), and he's happy. I'm still on petrol. He 
used it on our California QSO Party Expedition last fall, and as our 
British friends would say, "it worked a treat."

Note also that these Hondas are rated for intermittent, standby use, NOT 
for long term, heavy duty use. Be sure to consider your needs when 
choosing a generator. They are NOT what you need to run 24/7 for two 
weeks at a crack. These Hondas are relatively quiet acoustically, 
especially when running in Econo-mode, and are FAIRLY quiet 
electrically, but they DO need RFI filters if you're serious. A 2000i 
parked under our tribander put about S7 on 15 and 20M.

Ordinary power line filters are NOT effective, most RFI from a generator 
is common mode, because what the power industry calls common mode is not 
what WE call common mode, and they don't filter OUR common mode. SO -- 
you need ferrite chokes on the power leads, tuned to the frequency of 
the interference. See http://audiosystemsgroup.com/publish.htm for a lot 
more on this. Our 2000i was dead quiet with the filter shown.  We also 
used a simple brute force common mode on the generator built into 
N6RNO's motor home -- something like 7 turns through five #31 cores of 
all the conductors -- 120-0-120 and green. You MUST choke green with the 
power conductors, because the noise is also on green. That's why 
ordinary power filters don't work.

73, Jim K9YC.