The Camping Forum

[Teuchter]

Hello there,

OK - so our current portable cheap-and-cheerful generator has snuffed it (good riddance, some of you may say :-) ). Thing is, we're going to a motor-rally campsite soon - where generators are more 'accepted'... and we're looking at a possible replacement.

As s newbie to camping in general, I just wondered what forumites' thoughts were with regard to 'inverter' generators - such as the Clarke IG1000 ? From the blurb, they are supposed to be safe to use to charge laptops, phone chargers, etc.... So I wondered whether peeps have had any experiences - are they happy to risk powering 'sensitive' electrical good on these ? Any horror stories - or should we be looking at say, a power-surge protector as well , just in case ?

Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated :-)

Cheers.

[nutgone]

Well, I'm a sparky, & like to think I'm pretty well up on my camping gadgets, but I've never heard of them.

I'm guessing they're an engine, coupled to a 12v or 24v alternator, which then runs an inverter???

I've always run my laptop from a normal, cheapo inverter, plugged into my car. & I've never had any problems.

Do you have any links to these units so I can have a look? I'll soon tell you.

I would've thought if they claim to run these things then just go ahead & use it. If it damages anything you'll just have to claim against the manufacturers.

But you can get normal 1kva gennys for pretty cheap these days.

[nutgone]

Too late! I've found it.

They are pure sine wave technology anyway, so will run anything, regardless.

I reckon they are actually quite expensive when compared to normal generators. But these will give you a much more stable supply by far. The A.C. sine wave will be regulated by the inverter, so won't be likely to change with engine speed, like a traditional generator possibly could.

I say go for it. They are probably a lot quieter than a cheaper "normal" generator, so better for a camp site.

[nutgone]

All your answers can be found here;
http://www.justgenerators.co.uk/pages/FAQ.htm

Skip down the page a bit, past the other FAQs, they go into things in a little more detail.

Hope this helps.

[Teuchter]

Hi Nutgone for such a comprehensive answer - and the link - it really is much appreciated !!

The deed is now done; just gone out and bought the base-model Clarke Genny.... I think it will be ideal for our purposes.

Cheers !