If you need reliable 240v power for either at home or in the bush, then you need to figure out exactly how much power you are going to need to keep your campsite or home essentials running smoothly, particularly when you are off the grid.

When calculating the capacity of your next generator you need to work out the approximate wattage figures of all of your appliances, factoring in your essentials first and adding a buffer for any additional accessories you may not have in mind now, but could add to your setup later.

Whilst a generator will have it’s MAXIMUM load displayed clearly, many times this MAXIMUM load is designed for the peaks and surges encountered when devices are switched on and will not be adequate for long term usage – when selecting your petrol generator you need to plan to have a large safety margin factored into your power supply.

All 240v appliances within Australia are typically fitted with a placard on the side that advertises the voltage and wattage requirements of the device – with devices such as toasters capable of drawing 780-850W & a typical hair dryer being capable of using around 2000W of 240v power.

The range of Adventure Kings 4 Stroke Generators produce AC voltage, very similar to the voltage available in your home, being a pure AC power form.

The amount of power that a generator can produce is typically rated in watts (power) and within the Adventure Kings petrol Generators are both a 2000W output and a 3500W model of generator both are capable of running sensitive 240v accessories because of the integrated sine wave inverter which prevents dangerous voltage spikes that can damage delicate circuits.

RATED POWER AND MAXIMUM POWER

Although the Adventure Kings 2kva and 3.5kva generators are rated to have a maximum output of up to 2000w and 3500w respectively, no petrol generator should ever be operated at its maximum output for more than approximately half an hour.

When gauging the required output of your next generator, you should typically refer to the rated continuous output figures supplied by the manufacturer. These numbers are a much more reliable figure to reference, how much power a generator can safely operate without overheating or failure in the long term. The RATED power of Adventure Kings range of 240v generators is around 90% of the maximum output possible and with the Adventure Kings 2KVA Open generator this figure is 1800W and on the Adventure Kings 3.5KVA Open Generator is 3200W of continual loading!

CIRCUIT LOADING
There are 2 types of circuit loading that are possible to put on your portable 240v generator, the first being a resistant load which is typically “unchanging” or static with the wattage measured, a resistive load, although it might bring the generator near its highest end of rated output, it is a lot easier for the internal circuitry to manage a resistive load, it is typically found within devices that contain no electric motors, like toasters kettles, campsite lighting and many other styles of ‘static’ or stable loads.

The other common type of power load typically found in a circuit is what is known as a reactive load, these reactive loads is usually found in systems that have electric motors in them. The reactive load will change as the rotation of the motor starts, the initial startup load having a huge amperage spike which is possibly requiring a short burst of power that can be over 3 times as much as the maximum rated load displayed on the appliance placard.

A good example of the peak wattage “spike” can be found with a typical 2000w caravan air conditioner, which can demand anything up to 3000w whilst starting up, whilst drawing as little as 1000W whilst running. In this case you may find that the Adventure Kings 3.5KVA Open generator is a much better option particularly when you factor in your LED Lighting AC-DC charger and your sound system’s power draw at the same time.

AC/DC
We aren’t talking about one of the greatest bands of all time here – it is important to be able to distinguish the difference between AC and DC power and what they are capable of!

DC POWER
DC power is pretty simple, and when looking at circuits pretty much covers most setups using a battery.

DC power has a single direction of electricity flow and is typically represented as a loop between the +ve and –ve terminals on the battery or DC power source. This is what ALL vehicle circuits and battery powered devices like phones and laptops are.

The output found on many generators without inverters is a DC output with voltage between 10- 18v and these circuits can be regulated using an MPPT or PWM regulator to enable smoother DC power delivery and would be a primitive setup resembling a lawnmower attached to a cars alternator.

AC POWER SINE WAVES

The development of AC power had massive advantage of being able to transmit power long distances (from a power station) by using pulses of power back and forward along the power line and by pushing and then pulling electrons through a conductor dramatically reduce your voltage drop over long distances of cable (the mains powerlines).

The added advantage of being able to use a transformer to step voltage up and down easily means you can power just about everything with AC power.

The pulses found in an AC system are extremely high frequency and Australian mains are typically tuned to around 50HZ which is 50 pulses every second. This is the electricity sound you hear when powerlines crackle or when welding with a cheap welder.
When looking at the AC power that powers our tools at work or toys at home it fluctuates like a wave in both +ve and -ve and can be seen as a smooth calculated sine wave arc when viewed on an oscilloscope with 50 peaks and 50 troughs every minute.

 With inverter technology, the objective is to turn DC power from our Generator or 12v batteries into the positive and negative pulses of standard AC POWER mimicking the sine wave – this is where PURE SINE WAVE TECHNOLOGY comes in.

All Adventure Kings Generators take advantage of high tech integrated inverters which output AC power in a clean and spike free  sine wave to prevent any unexpected spikes of power damaging sensitive circuitry. When looking at Sine wave outputs from inferior inverters, you tend to find the that when viewed on an oscilloscope the wave looks more like a sawtooth or square wave and can hurt devices.

Make sure you don’t get the wrong tool for the job, get your hands on the right generator for the task by grabbing an Adventure Kings Open Generator for clean and powerful camping setups!!