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Author Topic: Generator suggestions  (Read 14928 times)

Mike Monte

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Re: Generator suggestions
« Reply #20 on: June 14, 2019, 07:51:23 AM »

For years I’ve been renting 15-20kVa generators. Tow-behind type for outdoor concert series. 

Thoughts: 
If renting has worked for you all along, why the need for change?  (You are passing the rental/cartage fee on to your clients, thus "no skin off your teeth" as it stands now.)
How many gigs would it take to cover a new unit's cost?

Owning a tow-behind would be cool, however, storing the unit (when not gigging the unit) comes to mind.  How many outdoor genny gigs will you do during the winter months?

Does the amount of remote work make sense of the purchase?

For me, storing a tow-able generator would be a big issue...

In my local world an eu3000is generator works for most of my applications....and I store it in my garage for home use.   On the few times that I need more power, I rent another one (from Home Depot) and parallel them.

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Dave Guilford

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Re: Generator suggestions
« Reply #21 on: June 14, 2019, 09:45:53 AM »

Thoughts: 
If renting has worked for you all along, why the need for change?  (You are passing the rental/cartage fee on to your clients, thus "no skin off your teeth" as it stands now.)
How many gigs would it otake to cover a new unit's cost?

Owning a tow-behind would be cool, however, storing the unit (when not gigging the unit) comes to mind.  How many outdoor genny gigs will you do during the winter months?

Does the amount of remote work make sense of the purchase?

For me, storing a tow-able generator would be a big issue...

In my local world an eu3000is generator works for most of my applications....and I store it in my garage for home use.   On the few times that I need more power, I rent another one (from Home Depot) and parallel them.

Storage isn’t a big issue for me.

On average, I rent approx 10-12 times per summer, at $250-300 a pop (weekends are more). All in all, I spend about $3000 per summer.  After 5 years now that means I’ve spent $15k. 

As far as my wallet knows, I’ve already bought one, but have nothing to show for it !

I foresee myself doing this for another 10-20 years. 

As for eu3000- I need, at minimum, 40 amps at 120v. 
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Mike Monte

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Re: Generator suggestions
« Reply #22 on: June 14, 2019, 11:01:47 AM »

Storage isn’t a big issue for me.

On average, I rent approx 10-12 times per summer, at $250-300 a pop (weekends are more). All in all, I spend about $3000 per summer.  After 5 years now that means I’ve spent $15k. 

As far as my wallet knows, I’ve already bought one, but have nothing to show for it !

I foresee myself doing this for another 10-20 years. 

As for eu3000- I need, at minimum, 40 amps at 120v.

As with any large purchase, I am sure that you have thought this through before your purchase.
Your plan to be "in the game" for another 10-20 yrs makes sense for you to own..
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Ray Aberle

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Re: Generator suggestions
« Reply #23 on: June 14, 2019, 09:23:12 PM »

Don't kill me, but we bought our 45kW second hand in May 2012 for $6,500. There are deals to be had, if you look in the right places.
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Kelcema Audio
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Dave Guilford

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Re: Generator suggestions
« Reply #24 on: June 14, 2019, 09:39:29 PM »

Don't kill me, but we bought our 45kW second hand in May 2012 for $6,500. There are deals to be had, if you look in the right places.
Excellent!  What sort of places would you recommend?
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Tim Hite

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Re: Generator suggestions
« Reply #25 on: June 15, 2019, 02:27:34 AM »

Aggreko
Associated Power
Star Power

All take good care of their rentals.

My dad bought a 60kW Cummins/Onan Genset for $4000 from a hospital that was switching out  its backup generator . It had 43 hours on it and had been regularly serviced. Came with switchgear, too.

Excellent!  What sort of places would you recommend?
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Bad Quail
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Joshua Tree, California
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Mike Monte

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Re: Generator suggestions
« Reply #26 on: June 26, 2019, 07:19:17 AM »

For years I’ve been renting 15-20kVa generators. Tow-behind type for outdoor concert series.  They use the 50amp California connectors to a spider box.  I know my rig works on 50amps. I suspect less, but I always try to get as much power allocated to me as possible.

That said/ I’ve been generator shopping for years.  Tow behind style would be dynamite but I’m at the level where I’m ready to drop $15k on a generator.

I want inverter of course.  And ideally I’d like to get up to 50+ amps at 120v

I’ve seen a bunch of the smaller Home Depot type where you can link them for extra power.  Bonus points is that means 2 smaller ones for gigs that need them. Not often, but nice peace of mind.

Suggestions??

FWIW: When this thread started (on 6/15) I vaguely remembered an issue I had with a large (tow behind) diesel generator.

Peaking my interest, I found my notes from that particular gig 8 years ago.  BTW: It was prior to when I bought my Fluke multimeter...

I was tech'ing an outdoor show in my town where the stage power was supplied by a large tow-behind generator.
Everything on my end (sound and lights) ran fine from the generator except for the Crown XTI4000 amp in my rack...  On power-up, the amp kept indicating "fault" on the screen...while my xs4300 and IT8000 amps were fine. 
This was prior to the festival during the morning, thus no lights were in use.

Trying to check the issue, I ran a power cord to a "hard-wired" outlet and the amp started right up with no issues. 
I did the show as such for the rest of the day/evening without further power issues.

I suspect the XTI amp to be finiky....

Running that same rig on my Honda inverter generator = zero issues.




 
 
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Debbie Dunkley

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Re: Generator suggestions
« Reply #27 on: June 26, 2019, 09:40:40 AM »

Every time I have used either Honda Inverters or my own Yamaha Inverters, I have had zero issues. On the 2 occasions I have been provided diesel Whisper Watt units, they have worked but my UPS HATES them and will continually switch back and forth from mains to battery so I have to eliminate the UPS from the chain.
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Frank Koenig

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Re: Generator suggestions
« Reply #28 on: June 26, 2019, 11:43:15 AM »

On the 2 occasions I have been provided diesel Whisper Watt units, they have worked but my UPS HATES them and will continually switch back and forth from mains to battery so I have to eliminate the UPS from the chain.

Debbie, I find this surprising. A properly functioning big diesel should provide about the cleanest power you can get since there aren't any other non-linear loads to contaminate the power as there are with the line. I bet the voltage regulator was out of adjustment or kaput, the frequency was way off, or there was some ground/neutral/God-knows-what wiring issue causing the problem. Did they rent you the same funky generator both times? I once rented a big diesel from Cresco (to run a welder, not sound equipment) and it was pretty out of whack voltage-and frequency-wise. --Frank
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Tim McCulloch

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Re: Generator suggestions
« Reply #29 on: June 26, 2019, 11:55:30 AM »

Every time I have used either Honda Inverters or my own Yamaha Inverters, I have had zero issues. On the 2 occasions I have been provided diesel Whisper Watt units, they have worked but my UPS HATES them and will continually switch back and forth from mains to battery so I have to eliminate the UPS from the chain.
Sounds like a line frequency problem due to a broken or misprogramed voltage/speed regulator.
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Re: Generator suggestions
« Reply #29 on: June 26, 2019, 11:55:30 AM »


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