Generators
sawmill
Solar Expert Posts: 93 ✭✭✭
How may one determine the quality of electricity coming from a motor driven AC generator? Is it necessary to use a scope? I realize that many things are forgiving of exact voltage and frequency but the square wave in sensitive electronics seems to be a no-no.
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Re: Generators
Conventional generators put out sine wave; they can't do otherwise.
Inverter-generators put out sine wave. It's possible there's some really cheap ones out there that don't, though.
Most everything has a good tolerance for Voltage, perhaps less so for frequency. The actual wave form is a matter of harmonic distortion (Total Harmonic Distortion or THD) which if given at all will be shown as something like +/-5% (which is about the acceptable limit for most things).
A square wave, such as the output from an MSW type inverter, will 'look' like a sine wave with large THD (depending on exactly what sort of waveform you're looking at).
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