Big Blue 400 pro AC waveform

[SkidSteerSteve]

Well, its been a few years since I've been on the forum, but I have a topic that I haven't seen discussed while using the search function. I still have my Bobcat 250. It's still doing everything I need it to do, but I'm starting to look at changing the lineup. While I don't need any more capacity for the sake of welding, I'm looking at upgradin3g for the sake of the generator side. The Bobcat is fine for short outages, but keeping and getting gas is always an issue plus the oil change frequencies have to be evaluated on long run times. Above all that is the general noise the unit makes. At one point in the past I hooked up an O-scope to the AC output to evaluate the waveform characteristics. Lets just say it was fine for general eloctromechanical tools you'd find in the field, but not anything I'd like to hook electronics up to. My question is, has anybody done the same to a current model 1800 rpm diesel unit? I'll be going with a diesel prime mover no matter what route I take, simply for the availability and storage of fuel and long term durability. As I've done in the past, I'd like to just have one piece of equipment so I'm not overrun with maintenance and upfront capital investment. If I have to, I'll keep the Bobcat and buy a dedicated generator (looking at cummins power generation for emergency only or Multiquip for backup and portable).

Thanks,
SSS

[ryanjones2150]

I would be curious to see the waveform on any of the generators that aren't pure sine wave inverters. Even then, it could be interesting to scope an inverter generator. What sort of electronics are you looking to run?

[cruizer]

Basically picture a normal 60 HZ sine wave, than add a whole lot of twisted hairs to it (Dirty Power). Unless the generator is a dedicated auxillary generator, that contains many balancing capacitors, then you'll never get a proper clean sinewave. and like I mentioned several posts ago, the only welder was a Thermal Arc Predator, or Thermal Arc T-Bird.. They actually had clean 230 and 460 power. So what your looking for in a generator is micro wire wound, and a pack of balancing capacitors

[ryanjones2150]

Do you think that we'll see this sort of clean power in a miller or the like any time soon?

[SkidSteerSteve]

My biggest concern will be the electronics associated with variable speed motors. I'll have a Yaskawa drive on my water well and then a few ECM motors in hvac AHUs. The heat pump will have a drive in it, but system capacity would probably not support its operation. There is also the considerations of the drives pushing harmonics back into the machine and how well they would handle them. I doubt the 400 would be the best choice (or any non dedicated for that matter) but I figured I would bring it up to get opinions on it.

As a side note, I put my Honda 2000 inverter on the scope just for kicks. I was very impressed. It made the power company's supply look like trash.