Hi Guys and Girls
Looking to change my house back up generator that is cabled via a 100 amp change over box.
Its 21 years old and is just a raw powered genny so the LED lights flicker in the house if on generator.
Looking at changing for one about 6-8000 watts
Question is do i go for
Copper wound ?
AVR?
Or pure sinewave as not sure there is anything such as PURE sinewave ?
Im beginning to think AVR may be enough.
I preferably want to go for a dual fuel although you do drop power output.
Champion make a dual fuel about 5500 on LPG or 6000 on fuel
Hyundi do fully encased 6500 output and only 55db
My current one is 90db
Anyone else has a home genny with recommendations or ideas ?
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Freelander 2 GS manual 2013 only time will tell !

LED's are DC devices and they are powered via built in chips and rectified by either the same chip or a separate built in circuit, if your LEDs flicker it is due to under voltage, two ways round this, buy dimmable LEDs or improve the voltage regulation of your generaor, it is possible that it either can't produce 220 to 230v under load or you are overloading it or the engine is no longer producing enough power.
Does your generator have both frequency and volt meters, ideally you should have all three meters, Amps, volts, and frequency. I assume it's a single phase alternator type generator which will produce a pure sine wave with a simple built in AVR which are fairly crude and after a number of years may not be performing well.
I presume it is a petrol generator.
You don't say whether it is manual or automatic change over, but would assume manual, when switching to generator does the generator drop in rpm and recover, or does it run slower than its offload speed. my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

definitely undervoltage if the LEDS are flickering - they will die fairly quickly if run for extended periods undervoltage.

Pure sinewave tend to be inverter generators, and a lot more expensive per KVA than standard alternators, but better for equipment with delicate electronics. Standard alternator generators will keep on running when overloaded - they just drop the frequency and voltage until the breakers drop out or the generator stalls.
Inverter generators tend to stop producing electricity long before they stall.

My point is if your generator is say 5KVA and when you load it up it drops voltage / frequency then you are actually overloading it and you should probably go for a 7 or 10KVA, at which point I personally wouldn't waste the extra on an inverter model just go for extra capacity. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
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If you need to power a combi boiler, then ideally you need pure sine wave to avoid problems.

Has your geny auto speed control, and do you have smoothing Capacitors in circuit to take the "Bump" on changeover? We used to run a big Diesel Genny years ago, and had to cater for bumps in the Grid due to Phasing the Power Gen set-up. One hundred amps is quite a kick to smooth.

He's only got a 100Amp incomer change over switch, the generator doesn't have that capacity, so I think it's a manual start and change over, I'm assuming the 100Amp is for the grid supply, one assumes the generator is protected by its own breaker feeding the C/O switch. my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

I bow to your superior knowledge on that one. I have seen people putting a small resister between terminals to create a load, what do you think? I have two generators in the garage, but I only use the 3 phase one on my milling machine.

Well some very interesting comments and great input.

To clarify the current genny is a petrol running 3300 w and 3800 max. I normally only run lights, boiler, fridge and TV etc. ( regarding the flickering LED lights before we changed the whole house over to LED normal bulbs did flicker badly when Gen was in action )
Gen doesnt struggle at all and revs very constant and Voltage output is bang on 230v even when we load it up, once its on maximum voltage does drop. It doesnt have a hertz frequency output display.

However having been doing a lot of reading im not sure we have it connected correctly.
I have read about a considerable amount of gennys that have dual output they run to 13 amp outputs into one 16 amp or 32 amp connector which is what we have on our 100 amp switch over box.
Has anyone come across this and does it means to get max power out of genny I need to plug in both 13 amp outputs into a single connector plug?
Im considering 8-10,000w as has been suggested as then it will only eun about 30% load and should be more stable which sounds sensible, might be able to run washing machine then as well. Jaguar x-type sport gone
Jaguar x-type 2.2d sport one of my best cars ever sadly gone
Freelander 2 GS auto 2008 most unreliable ever ! gladly gone
Freelander 2 GS manual 2013 only time will tell !

Hi my newer generator has instructions to put a load on both 240 volt outputs. I believe it is wired off of two phases only. I only use it for the three phase outlet. I think one would have to plug each output into an oscilloscope to check for phasing, as it probally has an eddy current problem using one phase only. Some three phase converters use a large condensor to smooth out the anti-phasing. I think this is what your LED's are sensing. I used to convert ex-MOD stuff many years ago, probably electrically unsafe the way it was done in those days, like ex tank transformers to welding sets.

You may have a 32A connector but your maximum current draw is only 14.3A at 3300W at 230v, so you haven't got much spare if any when all your units are drawing current. The 32A connector is an industry standard connector in generic generators with standard O/P switch panels you can't achieve that output, bit like 140 mph speedometers on 1000cc cars, it's a cost saving exercise, not an indication of performance.
3.3kW generators are quite small and I suspect that though you won't notice it it is hunting and though your meter indicates an apparent stable voltage it isn't, if when measuring the voltage you notice small changes about 0.1 to o.3 volts this is a smoothed measurement in the meter and can be in reality as much as 10v and this is your cause of flickering, as Jagracer says an oscilloscope will show a more true waveform possibly more frightening.
The engine is a small single pot engine and they are not smooth, therefore the electrical output is not smooth, capacitors can be used to smooth the output but these will reduce the output voltage which will require an increase in engine power to compensate though if the AVR circuit is good enough won't cause an actual speed increase. my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

Many thanks for everyones input.
Some very interesting points raised so made adjustments accordingly.
Now purchased a 7000 watt Geny, runs on LPG, so clean with electric start.
Starts and runs a dream.
Electricians popping in to fit 32 amp connector to switch over panel and setting up ground earth. Jaguar x-type sport gone
Jaguar x-type 2.2d sport one of my best cars ever sadly gone
Freelander 2 GS auto 2008 most unreliable ever ! gladly gone
Freelander 2 GS manual 2013 only time will tell !