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A few dumb genny questions

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467 views 6 replies 5 participants last post by  bung  
#1 ·
Ok Heres my situation:

Rated for 3000 Watt generator (probably too small)
Plugged in: 6x 500w Halogens and 2x 250 watt halogens. (yes I know thats more than my genny is rated for..)

Even when most of them are off, its shorting out . I probably should just replace some of those Halogens with some LED shop lights(on sale right now @ Menards btw) instead to bring down the draw, no? Anyone run a mixture of LEDs and Hallys and run into issues?

I'm not certain that its only the number plugged in that is shorting it out so I have a few dumb q's

1) I have a charred power cord, could that impact the draw on the genny? I'm guess it would right....

2) a- Do I need to use all the plug-ins on my genny (like evenly spread em out) or can I just split it multiple times and be fine
b- If it matters - it has 4 places to plug into, should I try to keep it around 750w per plug in?

3) Is there a proper way to 'break in a generator? Or is that even a thing? Its a newer, but off brand genny and I'm wondering if it being a newer genny might be causing some of the problems.

4) I have the wires split several times. I'm guessing the fewer splits the better, so is it worth it to grab some new power cords and running them to the genny instead of using 2 surge protectors to split the connections.

I have minimal experience with generators/electricity so I'm assuming these are pretty dumb questions that should be easy for you fellas. Thanks in advance
 
#2 ·
Sounds like you have multiple problems, one a foremost being too much light for the generator. If its a 3000 max it's probably about 2600 continuous. Too small of a power supply cord can and will cause it to "burn" or overheat the protective sheathing. This is caused by too much amperage in the cord. Depending on how the generator is setup ie how its breakers are arranged you will also need to split up the lights per outlet. One section of outlets or individual outlet(depending on how your genny is configured) will also have a max amperage rating, if you surpass this that will also cause the breaker to kick. Watts / volts = amps
 
#3 ·
Try 300 watt halo bulbs in the 500 watt halo lites and see if that will work. Or turn on one at a time to see what load the gennie will carry and what Gbollom said..the gennie will only carry max 2400-2500 watts. And yes "charred" cords are bad.
 
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