Honda Generator Billboard: Be Prepared

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I was driving Northbound I-75 around Saginaw, and saw a billboard ad for a Honda generator. Aside from the Honda logo and dealer name/phone, the only other words that appeared were "Be Prepared."

Anyone notice similar billboard ads in their area?

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), August 17, 1999

Answers

How dare they spread fear and engage in such doom-mongering! This will cause unnecessary upset to the great American populace, who know very well that all the best experts are working on any and all problems, and that all shall be well and all will be well in this best of all possible worlds!

In case it's not obvious: 8-}]

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), August 17, 1999.


I've got a Honda 2500 watt generator and I like it very much. I have not needed it yet but my parents have had their electric go off three times in the last year and it sure came in handy.

I figure I'll run it only one or two hours each morning to pump water to an upstairs water tank (that will then gravity feed down to faucets for the rest of the day), take showers, run appliances, and charge a small bank of deep cell batteries. At that rate of usage, I won't be guzzling the gas.

I know a guy who bought a 6500 watt generator for Y2k and his power went out for three days. He kept the thing running all day long and realized that he's going to need a VERY big gas tank to keep it going for as little as a month. Doesn't want to do away with his need for electric stove, freezer, fridge, and electrically dependent furnace.

I tend to think that life will not be the same after Y2k, and to try and hold on to the current consumptive standard of living is a mistake. Simplify. And start now to avoid the difficult transition later. I have backup plans for if I run out of gas. Ya gotta have contingency plans for your contingency plans.

You can go wrong with a Honda (when talking gas powered gens).

Have a nice day :)

Herrick kimball

-- H. Kimball (herrickkimball@sprintmail.com), August 17, 1999.


Ahhh... make that "you CAN"T go wrong with a Honda"

Thank you

HK

-- H Kimball (herrickkimball@sprintmail.com), August 17, 1999.


Greetings...My comments follow the quoted text

"I know a guy who bought a 6500 watt generator for Y2k and his power went out for three days. He kept the thing running all day long and realized that he's going to need a VERY big gas tank to keep it going for as little as a month. Doesn't want to do away with his need for electric stove, freezer, fridge, and electrically dependent furnace."

I hear this same story all the time. It would be humorous if it weren't so sad....

So, you have somebody running a genny all day using maybe 5-10% of it's generating capacity, burning up gas, incuring maintanence cycles (oil changes, misc. service) and having to listen to it and possibly smelling it's exhaust. Yuk, wasteful and annoying.

The better model would be to have a battery charger (fed by the genny), a couple deep cycle batteries and an inverter. The genny would operate more efficently, powering AC loads AND charging the batteries. When the genny was shut down the inverter takes over and supplies AC power as required. Less wear and tear on the genny, less fuel and maintanence, less noise, etc.

I'm installing a Trace 2.5kW inverter (www.tracenegineering.com) for a neighbor shortly. It has built in transfer switch, genny start and shutdown controls, a built in battery charger and clean sine wave AC output. It will operate as such: I set the inverter to switch on the genny when the batteries reach a certain voltage level. At that point it turns on the genny, switches the AC house loads to genny power and charges the batteries. When the batts are recharged it shuts down the genny and resumes feeding the AC loads from the inverter stage. Darn near all functions are programable. It can also be grid intertied and use grid power (if/when available and of sufficent quality) to charge it's batts. If a sufficently large AC load is switched on (exceeding it's inverter capacity) it will turn the genny on. The genny is only on when it's absolutely necessary. In my friend's case he also has a rack of solar panels reducing the genny run time even more (the genny is an Onan 6.5kW run off of a 500 gallon propane tank).

Sure, it's not cheap but if used as a long term solution it's very cost effective....more so than running the genny 12-14 hours a day. It also allows using a smaller genny (since the inverter will start the genny and feed loads in tandem with it).

Ain't technology wonderful?

Regards, Don Kulha Home Power Magazine http://www.homepower.com

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), August 17, 1999.


I have dealt with the problem of no electric for over 10 years and while I do have 2 generators I have found that using battery power --12 volt-- is much cheaper. The common auto battery from Wal-Mart costing about $30 will last at least 4 years. I use a combination of antique single cylinder engines driving a modern alternator which cost about $45 and will last indefinitely. My experience has been that the antique engines are cheaper to run than the newer Briggs engines. I use the engines every day for charging the batteries. Anyone else out there do this? If you want additional information just e-mail me.

-- Gary Schopp (gschopp@adams.net), August 17, 1999.


Yes,posted just off the side of I-5 north is a sign for hand pumps for wells saying to be prepared for y2k.

-- y2kme1 (y2kme1@hotmail.com), August 17, 1999.

I ordered a 5KW Honda generator in January and I am still waiting for it to be delivered. The local dealer's order has been delayed for months. Honda keeps moving the deliver date back. Currently they have it scheduled for August 31st but I am not holding my breath. This is a propane generator which may explain why it has been more difficult to obtain. We ordered this generator for our summer cabin which has no commercial power-not for Y2K. We are currently running a 10KW which we installed during the construction of the house. We don't need that much power to run this house, in addition to the fact it is very noisy and irritates the neighbors. Since this house is in a very remote area which is inaccessible during the winter months except on a snowmobile or snowshoes, I'm leaving the 10KW in place and keeping the smaller one at my bug-out location as long as it may be required.

I learned on Saturday that a number of people are planning to go into this remote area for the rollover. We're talking 7,500 ft. elevation and possibly as much as 20-25 ft. of snow on the ground. Someone told me they were not concerned until they learned that a person from Silicon Valley in a very technical occupation was planning on hiding out in the remote location. That should give the pollies a clue! It was reason enough for several DGI's at the party on Saturday to make plans to bug out to this remote location along with the techie. If I didn't have a business which must be manned on January 1, I might have planned on joining them.

-- Sharon L (sharonl@volcano.net), August 18, 1999.


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