GG1200 gas generator

[Marc]

After the severe winter storms we experienced on the Island this past fall and winter I decided to pick up a small generator for hunting/camping or keep the freezer running when the power goes off at the house. I'm not sure if it will work on the freezer (5 amp) as of yet but I did trial it on the camper.

I had 6 2 amp camper lights on, the stove fan, the furnace, and the stereo playing all at the same time. I also had one of those small ceramic heaters plugged into the 115v receptacle in the camper at low/med setting and it was heating the camper. I had a power converter plugged into the dc outlet and it was still showing 13.5 volts on the battery. If I tried to put the heater to the second position it tripped the breaker. I doubt I’d ever have this much of a load on it at once but I wanted to see what it could handle.

I know this isn’t a Honda generator, you pay for what you get, I asked how long it would last and the guy I bought it off of said around 2000 hrs. I guess it all depends on what type of oil you use in it as well but for $340.00 taxes in I didn' think that was such a bad deal. It doesn’t have an oil filter so the recommended oil change is 50 hours. Not too bad as it takes less than a half liter of oil to fill it.

It's forced air cooled and I was surprised at how cool it actually stays. The only problem I’ve had with it so far, and was my fault for not checking, was there was one screw and nut loose on the outlet and it fell off when I was breaking the motor in and I had to find a replacement screw and nut for it.

I’ll be leaving the solar panel at home this spring while I try this generator out. 4.5 liters of gas should last 4-6 hours depending on the load. The output is 10 A. So six hours at 10 amps that’s 60 amp/hrs per tank full. I'll keep you up to date on how it works. Eventually I plan on permanently mounting the solar panel to the top of the camper instead of having to take it out and bring it into the camper every time I go anywhere with it. I'll add more to this post as I try it out this spring.

Marc.

[ruger#1]

Marc use synthetic oil, and for all the use your going to use it . It will last a long time. I use mid grade fuel in mine. Nice little unit, sounds like a good price. i paid $800. for my 6500 watt with a thirteen horse and electric start. the reason i use high to mid grade fuel is that it lasts longer, what i mean is it doesn't break down as fast as low grade if it is stored for long periods of time.

[Marc]

I was planing on putting fuels stabilizer in the gas can if I wasn't planing on using it in the near future. I was also told to shut the fuel supply off and run it dry so the carb doesn't get gummed up.

A little more about this generator, it's 2.8 hp 1200w.


Marc.

[mntman]

nice little unit wouldn't mind having having 1 for the small trips beats carrying around the 6500

[ruger#1]

Marc i have drained one out before. This is what happened. The gaskets shrunk and when i fueled it up i had gas leaking from the carb. Your best bet would be fuel stabilizer or high octane fuel and no Mohawk fuels. your gen would be 1000 watts continuous and 1200 peak. Not to bad for a small generator.

[Marc]

Good to know, was the one you're talking about the same make as mine? I think I'll go with the fuel stabilizer and higher octane fuels as it supposedly runs cooler as well.

Marc i have drained one out before. This is what happened. The gaskets shrunk and when i fueled it up i had gas leaking from the carb. Your best bet would be fuel stabilizer or high octane fuel and no Mohawk fuels. your gen would be 1000 watts continuous and 1200 peak. Not to bad for a small generator.

[Marc]

I hear you there, it would mean not having to carry around a second battery or the solar pannel when it's cold or during the rainy season wich is from Oct-June on the Island Saves you from having to plug into the truck and runing the truck to try and top off the battery.

nice little unit wouldn't mind having having 1 for the small trips beats carrying around the 6500

[ruger#1]

Mine has a motor that looks like a honda. But it isnt. i also think that my father used to use a high output batterie charger with his generator, As it didnt charge as fast as he wanted to. My gen has a high output charger. It is Fast. But to heavy to carry around.Mine is a HY-SPEC Hydrrulik It weighs 86kgs.

[Seth]

I just bought a Honda 1000 watt fo all the same reasons, but where abouts did you pick that up? Doesn't look like that bad of a deal from the picture. Is it as quiet as the new Hondas?

[Marc]

The way I plan on using the generator is pluggin in the 115v cord from the camper, it has a built in charging system. So at night wneh I get back from hunting I'd just fire up the generator while I was making supper ad let it run for a couple of hours to top off the battery from what I used the night before.

The Camper is actually not that bad on the battery. It's just a small import camper.

I'm planning on changing out the camper lights with high efficient LED clusters that only use about 1/10th of the power with roughly the same light output.

This generator with a ful tank of fuel weighs about 50 lbs.