I picked up one of the harbor freight 9500 watt inverter generators and first tests indicate it's a winner. One problem I've noticed however is the neutral is bonded to the ground in the generator and I'm not having any luck finding an easy way to separate them. Has anyone seen anything on this particular generator?
Harbor freight 9500 Watt Super Quiet Inverter Generator
- Thread starter Brett V
- Start date
Lt.Dan
Solar Wizard
I saw it the last time I was there. I dont have any experience but I am interested here you opinion on the unit and load testing etc?
Found it! I'll be removing the neutral jumper tied to the ground wire and put a piece of heat shrink over it.
@Lt.Dan I ran the generator for an hour feeding the house. It performed very well, the power was clean and voltages very steady as loads changed. The "ESC Throttle" switch does lower the RPM and noise, but didn't respond quickly enough when my well pump kicked on and the voltage dropped low enough to throw a shutdown fault on the Growatt. I didn't expect it to be that good but wanted to try it, I will not be using that feature. It's not nearly as quiet as a Honda but it doesn't cost $5k either. Overall it's a nice step up from the Smarter Tools 9500/7500 watt non inverter generator I have.
@Lt.Dan I ran the generator for an hour feeding the house. It performed very well, the power was clean and voltages very steady as loads changed. The "ESC Throttle" switch does lower the RPM and noise, but didn't respond quickly enough when my well pump kicked on and the voltage dropped low enough to throw a shutdown fault on the Growatt. I didn't expect it to be that good but wanted to try it, I will not be using that feature. It's not nearly as quiet as a Honda but it doesn't cost $5k either. Overall it's a nice step up from the Smarter Tools 9500/7500 watt non inverter generator I have.
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LVLAaron
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Same. The comparable Honda is a ton of money. The new horrible freight inverter generators seem really nice.. We'll see what their longevity is.. We know their honda clone engines are outstanding.
Flagship model. I've read a lot about them. None in my local store but I couldn't justify having it. I'm fine with my little predator 3500.
Very nice, best of luck.
LVLAaron
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I looked at one in store yesterday. Would be a nice upgrade to my big noisy open frame I use as a whole house backup.
It's one of the only inverter generators that has split phase 240
offgriddave
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$2000? You're getting up to the price of surplus diesel military generators.
Yea its a nice one. Honestly I'd go for the size down thats still 220 but open frame and still an inverter for $800 less or so.
That are complete trash, I worked for the DOD as a inspector troubleshooting these. Square wave, over priced, no redeeming qualities at all.
Military stuff is just made by the lowest bidder, you could buy 5 eu2200is for the price of one "Military" 2k and they'd last infinitely longer and are far superior in everyway. They may start out as decent quality but I've had to code out $10k 3000w gen sets with 60 hours on them while guys are pushing 3k hours on $800 predators.
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LVLAaron
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67 vs 75db - big difference. 75 isn't TERRIBLE but.... 67 is pretty quiet
Yea its definitely considerably louder but for me it doesn't really matter. I run whatever I have in my detached garage with both doors open. Building absorbs most all the noise.
I love mine but I wish I got the Duramax 9000. Basically the same thing in blue but it has remote start, multi fuel, better meters and better warranty. However, it’s more money too. Looking for a propane conversion for mine, but the ones I’ve found are really for a smaller engine. As for the performance, mine is flawless. Starts instantly even when it’s be ran out of fuel for storage. When my 2 ton old Freon whole house AC starts the generator barely grunts in Eco mode so it’s actually overkill for my needs. Heck I bet it’ll run the AC, clothes dryer at the same time. Noise? You can hardly hear it in the house and can’t hear it at the street when it’s in the side yard. Much quieter the rattle can Generac.
acdoctor
Solar Enthusiast
If you are powering a inverter off grid and have neutral bonded at inverter is ok. If you are using this as backup if the grid goes down Ground and neutral should be bonded at the power source. Where are you bonding the neutral at?
Neutral from the generator is connected to the neutral bus in my sub panel which is fed by the inverter. The ground is tied to the ground bus in the sub panel. The only place in my system where neutral and ground are bonded is in the main breaker panel.
acdoctor
Solar Enthusiast
Your transfer switch doesn’t disconnect neutral then.
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