UnitedPower 1300w generator - loud?

racer51

racer51

Active Member
More generator questions....

I just bought a UnitedPower generator from Canadian Tire for $169. 1300W peak, 1000W rated.

It shows a dB rating of 93, which seems high compared to the Honda at 56. I'm thinking this is at full throttle.

Has anyone used this gen set? Are they loud? I'd like your feedback before I crack open the box, so if it's a bad choice...I can return it.

Thanks for your input.
 
A

Arctic Donkey

Active Member
dB is logarithmic dude, so 66dB is 10x louder than 56dB and 76dB would be 10 x 10 = 100x louder than 56dB. Bottom line is that 93dB is very loud and with a set of warmers on it that genni will be screaming away most/all of the time, dump it. Aren't you a gerbil wrangler? Just hook some of their exercise wheels to power you warmers :)


racer51 said:
More generator questions....

I just bought a UnitedPower generator from Canadian Tire for $169. 1300W peak, 1000W rated.

It shows a dB rating of 93, which seems high compared to the Honda at 56. I'm thinking this is at full throttle.

Has anyone used this gen set? Are they loud? I'd like your feedback before I crack open the box, so if it's a bad choice...I can return it.

Thanks for your input.
Click to expand...
 
jetfixer15

jetfixer15

Active Member
I bought a generator from Canadian Tire once and it never started. They refused to refund my money, but sent it out for repair. It came back in the same state and has never started (it has spark, fuel, air and enough oil in it). They still refused to refund my money. It sits in my garage rusting away. I discourage people from buying anything with a motor from there. The generator I bought at Walmart has worked great for 2 years however.
 
racer51

racer51

Active Member
Sold the Gerbil farm

Arctic Donkey said:
dB is logarithmic dude, so 66dB is 10x louder than 56dB and 76dB would be 10 x 10 = 100x louder than 56dB. Bottom line is that 93dB is very loud and with a set of warmers on it that genni will be screaming away most/all of the time, dump it. Aren't you a gerbil wrangler? Just hook some of their exercise wheels to power you warmers :)
Click to expand...

LOL...I sold the Gerbil farm when I realized the little buggers wouldnt' stay up my arse long enough to generate any excitement..let alone electricity...:eek:

I think I'll return the generator based on your scientific research regarding gerbil power.

$2000+ for Honda is enough to make me choke on my Gerbil stew! My new race bike was 25% less than that!!! I may just pit at the back of the pits and use my 5000 watt generator.
 
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Arctic Donkey

Active Member
If you already have a good, but perhaps loud, genny you could go ghetto and fab a cheap car muffler onto it. I can't remember where, but I saw a pic where someone fabbed some kind of mount over the existing exhaust and then used some of that flexible exhaust stuff and then had the big old muffler just lying on the ground. Parts wouldn't cost you much, just need a friend with a welder to mount the housing or maybe you could bolt it all together. In any case it would be by far the coolest setup in the pits :cool:
 
F

FrozenInCND

New Member
Has anyone tried a power inverter? Just turn your vehical on, plug it in and a way you go, quiet, nothing to haul, no fuel to mix. They have a 1750w at Crappytire for $299.99. You could get fancy and add a deepcycle batteray if you wanted too.

Just a thought
 
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Arctic Donkey

Active Member
It would work, but idling a gas engine all day wouldn't be a great idea. Maybe if you had a little diesel powered something-or-other. If you want to run tire warmers off of a deep cycle battery I think you will find you will need a lot more than 1 and good batteries ain't cheap.
 
racer51

racer51

Active Member
enough power?

MyTTwin said:
Wouldn't a 1000W inverter gen be the best, quiet and least expensive choice??
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Inverters seem to run about 10 times more expensive than a generator. The inverter needs to have a "rated capacity" of at least 1000W to run a set of Suzuka warmers. The rated capacity describes how much power the unit will put out over an extended period of time. It's actually more important than the "peak power" output which is the value used to market products. By example you'd need a 2000w Honda inverter to obtain 1300w rated capacity.
 
M

MyTTwin

Active Member
racer51 said:
Inverters seem to run about 10 times more expensive than a generator. The inverter needs to have a "rated capacity" of at least 1000W to run a set of Suzuka warmers. The rated capacity describes how much power the unit will put out over an extended period of time. It's actually more important than the "peak power" output which is the value used to market products. By example you'd need a 2000w Honda inverter to obtain 1300w rated capacity.
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Oh, well I hope the Kipor that came with my bike and warmers will work as a back up then. Too bad because it was so quiet......and inexpensive.
 
D

Dean

Active Member
It also all depends on your warmers. Mine will run just fine on 800 watts, and really only draw about 650 watts. The warmers that Blair carries, Tyresox, are even lower than that. Your Kipor should do just fine. We have a lot of kipor 1000 and 2000 units at Mission.
 
M

MyTTwin

Active Member
Dean said:
It also all depends on your warmers. Mine will run just fine on 800 watts, and really only draw about 650 watts. The warmers that Blair carries, Tyresox, are even lower than that. Your Kipor should do just fine. We have a lot of kipor 1000 and 2000 units at Mission.
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Good to hear, I'm sure the guy I bought them from in Calgary ran this 1000 Kipor for one season..
That being said, depending on the tire warmers, these 1000W Kipor inverters are fairly inexpensive, quiet and don't seem to be that thirsty either.
 
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YZF1000jon

Well-Known Member
Having a 1000w limits what else you might be able to do with it. I went slightly bigger so I could use it for camping and other fun stuff. By the way a yamaha 2000w inverter is only $1500 and I'm sure a deal could be had.
 
racer51

racer51

Active Member
who sells yamaha inverters?

YZF1000jon said:
Having a 1000w limits what else you might be able to do with it. I went slightly bigger so I could use it for camping and other fun stuff. By the way a yamaha 2000w inverter is only $1500 and I'm sure a deal could be had.
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That's about $500 less than a honda. My Suzukas require 1000w steady, according to the specs that came with the warmers. I think my old sox required only 750, at least that what last years debate seemed to settle on.

Wouldn't logic dictate that if the tire warmers only draw 650w, they can't be getting that hot compared to a type that draws 1000w? Doesn't the wattage translate into a reduced "time to temperature"?

Where are these "Kipor" inverters found?
 
L

Limbo

Member
The 2000W kipor can be had for US$699 at adventureRV.net, but I'm not sure about shipping to Canada. I know, before I get flamed about buying US stuff, that supporting Canadian dealers is a priority...But I also value my $$$. Anyway I bought the 2000W kipor and it is not enough to run two sets of chicken hawks, but is quieter than one of those cheap 3000W genies 75+ feet away, and the fuel consumption is minimal.
 
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Dean

Active Member
Don't forget that you can get a Yamaha clone, the Boliy from www.campgen.com for $1500 and it's a full 3000 continual with 3300 watt surge. Yamaha parts can be replaced should anything go wrong after the warranty period. I'm still running mine just fine after 2 seasons with no issues.

for camping applications, it can run a 15000 BTU air conditioner on your RV unit with no problems.

edit: and it runs 1 set of Pirelli Flack Jackets, 1 set of Chicken hawks and 1 set of Bickles as well as a fan in our pits in mission, and is STILL not running at full blast. A full tank of gas on this will run the full 9 hours too at this load.
 
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racer51

racer51

Active Member
Kipor is sold at three dealers in the Edmonton area. Selmac sales on Highway 16 is the closest west-end location
 
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