Boliy Generators? Too good to be true?

[pmclemore]

Walt,

Your initial post expressed a proper doubt about how a quality generator could be sold for so little. I think that for anyone to buy one of these is to either believe that the Hondas and Yamahas are overpriced for what they deliver or that the features that drive up those costs, thus omitted from the Boily units, have nothing to do with reliability. Or perhaps that the units are just overpriced and no additional value is there at all?

It may well be that the low-cost units can perform what you need if you don't demand much and are prepared to discard them as they wear out. However if you want to depend on the units and be confident they will be available when you want or need them you'd be better served to make the investment for the long term.

After all - wasn't it the quality of the unit that sent you to Airstream in the first place, rather than going for the cheapest TT you could find?

Pat

[Driver1]

Hi Overlander63 & pmclemore,

As I said in an earlier post in this thread, "Lew, I'd go with the Yamaha EF3000iS if it weighed 68 lbs. dry instead of 147 lbs.". The fact is, there seems to be no other generator that matches the specs of the Boliy Pro3600SI. Functionality, QUALITY, and price are all important to me. Isn't that why we research & shop? I don't assume a product new to the market is of low quality, though I try to keep a healthy skepticism and to understand any risks involved (There's even risk in breathing -- you can't eliminate risk).

I'll check back Monday. We're off to some higher elevation in the Cascades near Mt. Adams to escape the heat & meet some friends.

Walt

[lewster]

Originally Posted by Driver1

Hi Overlander63 & pmclemore,

As I said in an earlier post in this thread, "Lew, I'd go with the Yamaha EF3000iS if it weighed 68 lbs. dry instead of 147 lbs.". The fact is, there seems to be no other generator that matches the specs of the Boliy Pro3600SI. Functionality, QUALITY, and price are all important to me. Isn't that why we research & shop? I don't assume a product new to the market is of low quality, though I try to keep a healthy skepticism and to understand any risks involved (There's even risk in breathing -- you can't eliminate risk).

I'll check back Monday. We're off to some higher elevation in the Cascades near Mt. Adams to escape the heat & meet some friends.

Walt

Walt,

If the Honda, Yamaha AND Kipor 3000 watt units ALL weigh in excess of 140lbs, what makes you think that the Chinese have found the magic formula that will allow this new Boliy unit to produce the same 3000 watts from a unit weighing less than half of these weights.

This point alone would raise a lot of red flags for me.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by lewster

Walt,

If the Honda, Yamaha AND Kipor 3000 watt units ALL weigh in excess of 140lbs, what makes you think that the Chinese have found the magic formula that will allow this new Boliy unit to produce the same 3000 watts from a unit weighing less than half of these weights.

This point alone would raise a lot of red flags for me.

Lew, I know the "Tuners" are able to get 500 hp from a Honda Civic, more than almost any American iron. Why am I bringing this up? Have you ever been around a Tuner car that has been run that hard for 5-10,000 miles? They smoke, knock, rattle, and are basically worn out. I have a feeling this new generator is something like that. Short term, it probably can and will put out that much wattage. Long term, spit, sputter, shudder, thump thump, wheeeze....clunk.
I hope I'm wrong, it would be nice to have a low weight generator capable of running my a/c. I just want them to get some long-term operating under their belt.

[AirConditioner]

EPA label attached?? Interesting thread considering the increasing number of recalls of Chinese products. The Consumer Protection site lists a concerning number and type of dangerous and defective products from abroad. The trend isn't promising. I checked the EPA website to see if this is really a registered product, or if they just "attach" an EPA label, but it's down for service today. I'm also following up on the digital converter claim re not needing a flywheel. It's nice to see folks here as skeptical; a great protective behavior considering the trends!

[Driver1]

Hi,

Now back from a beautiful spot this past weekend & had a great time with good friends:


Will & Wellington in San Diego did provide a bit more information (Below) about the Boliy generator design & differentiation in response to my thank you for their earlier responses.

I'll continue watching this thread, but there's nothing more I can add at this time.

Best Regards,
Walt

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In a message dated 7/16/2007 9:33:52 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, XlsWalt writes:

Hi Will & Wellington,

You might have noticed some interest in dual fuel, Propane/Gasoline carburetion in a couple of the posts to the thread I sent you. More RV users than you might think would like to have this option. Since you're working closely with the factory on the design & features of the next models, it might be profitable to have them include this as a standard feature. If included as a part of the standard production model design, something like this can likely be added with a trivial incremental cost and much greater added value to the customer.

Best Regards,
Walt

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In a message dated 7/13/2007 1:44:10 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, sales@xtremegadget.com writes:

Walt,

Thanks for your posting. After you order one, you will like that. As far as it is a knockoff of Yamaha, many of the Boliy generator are different. They invented the digital signal processing (DSP) inverter technology with the help of a German firm first and want to put it into a generator. Instead of start from scratch, they copied some of the layouts of the Yamaha EF2400i. It is a way to reduce the design time greatly. However, Yamaha's chassis is metal and Boliy is all fiberglass plastic. The inverter is digital and Yamaha is only analog. In this case, Boliy is actually has a more advance technology. An American firm offered them a lot of money to buy their DSP technology. They are actually worry that the Japanese will copy the DSP from them. I think Honda and Yamaha will saw the benefit of DSP and start to work on their own DSP inverters.

We are working closely with the factory on the 2000W, a 5000W generators, and a wind generator. We told them not to copy the look of any existing generator or otherwise people will say knockoff again.

Thanks

[memartinde]

With the integrated inverter of the hondas and yamahas I envision a "pseudo-hybrid" solution:
A lot of RVs have inverters aboard to provide AC energy while boondocking on 12V DC. Modern inverters (some at least) have the potential to "boost" an existing grid power..
sooo
The genset is running (e.g. a convieniently small honda 2000) the microwave and maybe some small lights - then the AC kick in and starts. The start up current is what overloads the little honda - but the onboard inverter (battery powered) in the RV synchs to the honda's unit - et voilá: a small gen can run a relativly big load - or in other words:
The need for drastically oversizing the gen-set just for that fraction of a second when ACs kick in with their big start-up current would be gone / reduced.

best of it:
one would not buy anything new/extra - just some smarter firmware on the inverter (at least if it is a true sine type) would to the trick.

Any electronics gurus tried this before - could not find anything similar so far as a product...

M

[Driver1]

Hi again,

9% to 15.9% energy conversion efficiency (gasoline to electricity)
I nearly forgot to mention a post I came across that went through the numbers to identify the efficiency of some generator sets on the market. The numbers are worse than I'd thought:

Posted: 07/11/07 04:49pm by Wayne Dohnal (3rd on this page)
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fu...6.cfm#19978686

Walt

[lewster]

Originally Posted by memartinde

With the integrated inverter of the hondas and yamahas I envision a "pseudo-hybrid" solution:
A lot of RVs have inverters aboard to provide AC energy while boondocking on 12V DC. Modern inverters (some at least) have the potential to "boost" an existing grid power..
sooo
The genset is running (e.g. a convieniently small honda 2000) the microwave and maybe some small lights - then the AC kick in and starts. The start up current is what overloads the little honda - but the onboard inverter (battery powered) in the RV synchs to the honda's unit - et voilá: a small gen can run a relativly big load - or in other words:
The need for drastically oversizing the gen-set just for that fraction of a second when ACs kick in with their big start-up current would be gone / reduced.

best of it:
one would not buy anything new/extra - just some smarter firmware on the inverter (at least if it is a true sine type) would to the trick.

Any electronics gurus tried this before - could not find anything similar so far as a product...

M

The Yamaha EF3000iSB already uses this technology to provide a 'boost' for motor (air conditioner) starting by utilizing the gen's battery thru the inverter for a boost in starting amperage.

[ppkfink]

Do any of you guys have an opinion on Onan propane generators? Are they as reliable as the Hondas?