Bought a portable generator. Any do's/don'ts, tip etc?

Soldato
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Bought this generator to provide emergency power for my old dad and his electric recliner chair cannabis farm. If it can't be powered up he is buggered as regards getting up out of it. So, only ever going to be used occasionally now and again, though they do seem to be having power outages quite frequently at the moment, but it is not normal.

Any general tips on use, tips on maintaining and storing it? Empty and run dry, leave fuel in etc, etc? Have done some youtubing and the like, fuel stabilizers seem to be a thing, any recommendations on type, or what to do with fuel when it is only going to be used now and then? Was advised to get one with a Honda engine, so got that covered.


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Forgive my ignorance, wouldn't he have to get up out of his electric recliner to be able to turn the generator on?
Would it be suitable to get a jackery or similar power box, or a ups, for the chair. So that it remains powered, and then the genny can be turned on etc for longer periods of power outage.
 
Wow, that's a horrible idea for this use case. A small UPS would be all you need for this.

Edit: I can't link elsewhere, but something like below will be perfect for this job. It could even run a lamp or something too so he's got light still at night. It will automatically take over in a power cut.

 
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Forgive my ignorance, wouldn't he have to get up out of his electric recliner to be able to turn the generator on?
Would it be suitable to get a jackery or similar power box, or a ups, for the chair. So that it remains powered, and then the genny can be turned on etc for longer periods of power outage.

No, that would be me and other members of the family who take turns to look after him.

A UPS might have been a good idea, but genny is bought now and of course could be used for other things for more extended power cuts, they live out in the sticks.
 
Wow, that's a horrible idea for this use case. A small UPS would be all you need for this.

Depending on budget I'd have leaned towards one of the lithium ion power stations, though not critical in this situation if people are on hand to change over the supply ideally one which has UPS/fail over functionality, though a bit more expensive the batteries typically last far longer than the average UPS both in duration they can provide power in a failure and lifetime of the battery.

From some Googling unless running heating functions, etc. these chairs generally only require 20-50 watt when operating, though motor start up might spike 2-3x that.
 
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Depending on budget I'd have leaned towards one of the lithium ion power stations, though not critical in this situation if people are on hand to change over the supply ideally one which has UPS/fail over functionality, though a bit more expensive the batteries typically last far longer than the average UPS both in duration they can provide power in a failure and lifetime of the battery.

From some Googling unless running heating functions, etc. these chairs generally only require 20-50 watt when operating, though motor start up might spike 2-3x that.

Yeah that's another good shout. It would mean transferring the power over, but as said if there's people around to do it then not so much of an issue.

The generator is just a ball ache to be honest. I cannot fathom how spending £600 on a generator to power a chair in a power cut can be a good idea.
 
Yeah that's another good shout. It would mean transferring the power over, but as said if there's people around to do it then not so much of an issue.

The generator is just a ball ache to be honest. I cannot fathom how spending £600 on a generator to power a chair in a power cut can be a good idea.

Approx. £600 (depending on deals) will get you the 1000watt Renogy power station which while not a substitute for a UPS (6-12ms typical) has ~20ms standby power switching which is fine for stuff which doesn't need to ensure constant online power.

Even their £150 one would probably be fine for this use.

EDIT: Or a similar device - some of the reviews of the Renogy ones say they are unreliable though that hasn't been my experience of Renogy stuff in general.
 
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