Next Thursday aldi have a generator on for £60 . Has anybody on here got one and are they any good. Phil...
2007 TD4 HSE Stornoway Grey
1969 Series 2a now gone

I've been looking on the 'bay today at generators. Honda do a very nice one but it aint cheap. So, what are you getting with the Honda one over tha Aldi one for that extra £675? http://www.justgenerators.co.uk/pages/HondaEU10i.htm Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

The Honda is a 4 stroke so not as smelly as the 2 stroke and will probably last a lot longer than the Aldi job but at £60 it's worth buying just to smoke out the neighbours! - 2007(57) XS Auto, Rimini Red, Alpaca Leather.
- GCS Hawke - Sports, BRG, Vulcan 2.1 inj'. My toy - built it myself in 2001.

Aldi 3 year guarantee HSE TD4 Stornoway Grey ★ Rear Spoiler ★ Black Leather Interior ★ Panoramic Roof ★ Navigation with Bluetooth ★ 19 " Alloys ★ Alpine Stereo 10 Disc Auto changer and Ipod connection and lots of other nice toys ★

Don't know anything about the spec of the Aldi generator but for that price its unlikey to produce sine-wave mains. I.e. it will be dirty, spikes electric which WILL fry sensitive electronics connected to it such as the battery charger in a caravan. Its also likely to be smokier, noisier and smelly.
As with most things, you get what you pay for. I have a Clarke 2kW pure sine wave gennie that cost about £500 and its okay but the Hondas are very nice bits of kit. Very quiet and start first pull. £1100 is a lot of money though. Keep it chained-up !! FL2 2007 57 GS
D2 2005 Td5 - gone and not missed
FL1 2005 Td4 - gone and missed

I use one of these when we go caravanning where there's no hook up & my pal plugs in too & we run both vans & heating on 1kw each & boost with Gas if its very cold

Runs brilliant and runs everything else in the vans ok . Been brilliant bit of kit, I think technically its rated at 2.3KW but my Pal who is a sparky ran a check and we were good for 2.7-2.8 before it started really loading the engine and the supply going unstable.

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Old Gezzer,

Do not want to teach "my granny" to suck eggs but I hope your change over switch COMPLETELY isolates the whole supply into your house as I know of at least 2 cases in the last 20 years of supply company engineers who have been killed and several others who have been seriously injured by "back feeds" down the mains from badly installed generator C/O switches.

Bill T. Life Honorary Member of Wallasey Motor Club.
Licenced MSA Radio Operator for 35+ years.
Rallying is the only sport.

you need an auto change over, which flicks the switch and starts the engine when the power fails, then reverses the switch and stops the engine when power returns At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

We started at sixty quid, and now we're into the thousands

As for the aldi genny, Machine Mart do one with similar (but not identical) specs and appearance for just under £100, so £60 doesn't look bad if it'll do what you want. But as above don't expect a clean supply, and I'd think twice about plugging anything electronic into it. On the other hand, for charging a battery to power the electronics it might be ideal. Other point, of course, is that it's a 2-stroke, so you'll need to run it on a petrol/oil mix, which is a bit inconvenient.

how about a 110 kw rolls-royce 6 cylinder diesel - ex hospital backup power genny. At least I can say that I managed to buy a rolls in my lifetime. At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

Bill Turner wrote:

Old Gezzer,

Do not want to teach "my granny" to suck eggs but I hope your change over switch COMPLETELY isolates the whole supply into your house as I know of at least 2 cases in the last 20 years of supply company engineers who have been killed and several others who have been seriously injured by "back feeds" down the mains from badly installed generator C/O switches.

Bill T.

Yeah thank you Bill, system definitely isolates the mains from the grid side & the box has an alarm fitted if the power comes back on.

I would of liked a fully automated system but then we are talking serious dosh. Mines good enough that when we have a power cut it confuses the neighbours cause our house is lit up like a christmas tree when everyone else is in darkness
TBH we don't really suffer with cuts in the West but when I lived in Sussex they were a weekly event.

OG,

That is good to hear, we also suffered a great number of deaths (somewhere in the low hundreds) and injuries in the industry at the time of the great "Michael Fish" storm due to guys being electrocuted as linesmen were drafted in from the whole of the UK and there were no standardised switch on and isolation procedures.
People moan about the cost of electrical energy (and they are right to do so) but a large percentage of the cost is maintaining a safe and reliable supply.

Bill T. Life Honorary Member of Wallasey Motor Club.
Licenced MSA Radio Operator for 35+ years.
Rallying is the only sport.

Bill
I remember it well ! I lived just outside 7 oaks when the storm struck ! we suffered quite some damage & my other half worked as BT engineering manager & spent weeks away on site with engineers from Scotland & Ireland trying to repair the damage !
It was a frightening experience & to see whole roofs come of houses and sheds going down roads airborne at 6-20ft high was unbelievable. Didn't have phones with camera's then either

OG