Advice

Yamaha produces a range of generators, from very small “barber shop in the park” petrol machines to substantial three phase diesel machines for use in bigger applications such as light industries, schools, conference centres and so on.  How does one decide on the size of generator?  This section is intended to give the ordinary home owner, or businessman, an idea of what size of Yamaha generator will be required.  It is assumed that the reader is not highly skilled or knowledgeable in the field of electrical power.  Furthermore, the advice in this section should only be used as a guide.  A qualified electrician should be contracted to install the bigger generators in homes and factories.  We can refer you to excellent electricians in the Gauteng area.

The electrical power used by any electrical appliance or light is measured in a unit of power called a watt.  One thousand watts are known as a kilowatt (kW).  So, a single bright light bulb in your house may require 100 watts.  Ten of these bulbs, switched on simultaneously will require 1000 watts, more commonly called 1 kW.   Some of your appliances require an extra spurt of power (start-up load) just when they start up.  For instance, a typical fridge motor requires 200 watts while it is running but it may require as much as 1200 watts for an instant just when the motor switches on.  This is because the fridge motor drives a compressor that needs additional power to get started.  As you know your fridge motor switches itself on and off automatically as the temperature in the fridge varies.  In this case the fridge motor will have a small tag on it saying “Power requirement:  Rated 200 watts, Maximum 1,2 kW”.

In a similar way Yamaha generators are specified in terms of their power producing capability. i.e. Rated Output 5000 watts, Maximum Output 5500 watts.  The maximum output can only be sustained for a short time. These ratings are typically specified at sea level and the power a particular generator can produce reduces with altitude.  As a rule of thumb a generator will produce about 15% less than rated power in Gauteng.

EXAMPLE OF ROUGH CALCULATION

Say a home owner wanted to be able to run the following items simultaneously on a generator:

Generator choice for the above example:

The Yamaha EF 12000E is rated at sea level  8500 watts       10000 (max)

In Gauteng this output will reduce by 15% 7225 watts       8500   (max)

This generator will cope with the required load.

Please note that the above calculation is only an example.  The real power requirements in your house or business may be totally different.

We also supply an AMF (Automatic Mains Failure) that can start certain generators automatically when the mains fail.  You may need to supply power to certain circuits or even install an automatic load distribution device that redirects the available power to prevent an overload on the generator.

Our advice is that you discuss your power requirements with an experienced electrician and then choose a generator.  We can refer you to excellent electricians in the Gauteng area who will advise you on your power needs and then install the appropriate generator professionally.