Generators For Racing - Power Choices

enerators can be purchased in a variety of locations that many racers frequent. The popular home improvement warehouses and the larger chain auto parts stores sell them. You need to be aware of the quality of the product, though. If you have never heard of the brand name or the generator is styled to look like one of the more popular high-quality models, you need to ask some questions. On the other hand, just because you have never heard of the name does not mean the quality is not there. You may want to be a bit cautious, however, if you are buying a 3,000-watt generator for under $200.

A night at the races is just that: a time we spend in the dark. More often than not, the pits you are working in may not have enough light to help you see what you are doing when working on the car.

Stumbling in the dark and feeling around in the dirt for a tool or a part is not fun. It might be nice to have both hands free to work on the car instead of holding a flashlight in one hand and a tool in the other. Even if someone else is holding the light, it's a pain to always ask the helper to move the light one way or another.

It would be nice to be able to concentrate on just working on the car. And it might be a good thing to be able to run a power tool or an air compressor, or possibly a welder if the need were to arise. All of those things take power.

Where do you get power when you are in the pits, away from the comfort of your shop? A generator is the easiest solution for these problems. Unless the race promoter is planning on supplying power to each pit spot-and that is not likely to happen anytime soon-we have to take care of ourselves.

When it comes to generators, the selection is as broad as the range in prices. Prior to buying a generator, remember that making a decision based on price or brand alone is a bad move. We should ask questions and make sure we get what we need, nothing less and nothing more.

A new design for a new era in generators. This is a Yamaha inverter generator. This style is quieter, more fuel efficient, and generates better electricity than past generators. Honda, Mitsubishi, and Subaru-Robin also make portable generators that utilize inverter technology.

Big Or Small?

Start with the size you need, and remember to temper your needs and wants within your budget. There is a wide range in prices, so let's look at the amount of power the generator will be making to determine the size you need.

How much power do you need? What do you plan on running? What kinds of tools will you use? Will you be running lights only, or will you be running drills, grinders, or possibly a welder? Do you need that type of surge capacity? If all you will be running is a set of lights and maybe a battery charger, the selection is fairly easy and the cost relatively low. If you will be running lights, a battery charger, an air compressor, some electric tools, and a tire-grooving tool, the decision is more complex and costly.

How many of these tools will you be running at the same time? Let's say you need at least 1,500 watts and surge capacity to 2,000 watts. This range of power requires a small generator. This segment of the market is full of possibilities, with generators priced from $250 to $2,000. With a price range like that, you can be assured there is a huge difference in the quality of the generators and the power generated. We will address both of those issues.

While welding at the track is not always a viable solution for the Saturday night racer, you will need a large generator if you plan to run a welder. The size of the generator depends on the type of welder you own, but we will not discuss the power concerns of running welders here.

Make sure that you are not overloading the generator, which is easy to do. A good rule of thumb is don't do it at the track if you don't do it at home (at least in reference to how many electrical units you plug into a single socket). Some generators have very good circuitry that protects them from a careless owner or an overzealous pit crew.

Now that we have a size in mind, we need to look at the type of generator you will want to buy. Not all generators make power the same way. The older generators use a gas or diesel engine to spin an armature inside a set of coils (usually copper but sometimes a mixture of aluminum and copper in the really low-end generators) to produce an electric current.

One of the problems with this type of generator is its weight. It is heavy because of all the required copper and large magnets. Second, this generator is usually turned at crankshaft speed, and in order for the generator to work it has to be spun at a constant speed. So, as you need power, the engine cycles as soon as a load is placed on the generator. This constant speed is about 3,600 rpm, plus or minus 300 rpm. That results in serious noise issues and even more serious fuel consumption numbers, depending on how well the generator was designed and if a generic industrial engine is powering it. This generator had a low purchase price when it was popular, but it was louder and used more fuel.

Many of the generators on the market today are made by companies that did not design the components at all. They may make a frame that holds a generic industrial engine and generic generator together in a pretty package, but the components were not designed to work together. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but this type of package is full of compromises. The engine may be underpowered and not designed to run for long periods of time under full load, and this shows up in the durability and fuel economy department. The generator may make power, but the quality of the power generated is mediocre. Another downside is that the quality of the electricity generated is not that clean from an electrical perspective. This is not a big deal if only a drill or lights are involved, but if you are powering a computer or any other sensitive electrical equipment, the power surges created by this type of generator may damage the components.