ETQ TG1200 1,200 Watt 2 HP 2-Cycle Gas Powered Portable Generator
by Eastern Tools & Equipment
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List Price: Category: Lawn & Patio See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of ETQ TG1200 1,200 Watt 2 HP 2-Cycle Gas Powered Portable Generator
Customer Review: My bargain Generator - like it, but needed some work ...
Summary: 4 Stars
Received my $118 (incl shipping) bargain "Chinese" generator from Amazon, NIB. Found it had been dropped, the foot had sunk (smashed) thru the styrofoam packing. The front panel including the air cleaner area was cracked with a piece broken off. Started and tested OK - actually runs very well. Called Amazon, "she" asked me "if I send the parts at no charge, can you fixit yourself?" I said yes.
BTW, Purchased the generator to power LiPoly battery chargers - charge RC airplane batteries at the flying field - many, of not most flying fields do not have electricity.
1) after one "run", the fitting attached to the fuel tank (above the petcock) started leaking. The connection was not tight enough. This is a straight ttread (not pipe thread) with a rubber "compression" bushing. After removal, I wound teflon tape around the threads, and under the place where the rubber compression grommet goes, so that when fitting was screwed into the gas tank, the threads were very tight fitting (because of the teflon tape) when hand tightened. When all was aligned, tightened with wrench to apprx 8 or 10 ft-lb.
2) Replacement panel was not exactly the same - had to fabricate new mounting for the capacitor, and power plug cover, and several other tweaks to get all to fit.
Disturbing Discovery; the wiring was not packed/secured properly - wiring was in contact with several vibrating parts, causing the wiring insulation to begin wear away (chafe) - this would eventually cause a "ground out" (cause a short to ground).
Once the front panel was repaired, and in place --- read on
** repairmans "pro" tip **. Remove the gas tank so you have access from the top. Cover the power wires with large shrink tubing (so it fits over the power wire(s) connectors) and tie wrap (somewhat loosely) - be sure that no wires touch the engine/generator or fuel tank (protect insulation from chafing), Then put gas tank on last. Inspect wiring using flashlight to double check that no wiring is touching anything where vibration would wear away the wire insulation.
Finally, I'm still pleased with the generator considering the price. I just had to finish the "quality".
Customer Review: neat little thing
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a nice generator for the cost. The unit arrived broken, which seems to be an issue with these. The packaging left a lot to be desired. The factory packaging is likely designed to have the unit strapped with other units on a pallet, not well designed for UPS/FEDEX shipping. Amazon took care of the problem and I am pleased with their response. Be sure to inspect for damage BEFORE putting gas in, from their questions I believe I would have had to deal with the manufacturer had I done so. The unit started flawlessly and runs well. The unit is rated PEAK at 1200Watts which means 1000watts is about it's best performance level. It is very quiet, about as much as a leaf blower or shop-vac. One of the nicest features a 2-cycle engine is there is no oil or oil filter to change. One of the worst things about a 2-cycle engine is that you have to mix the gas with oil. This means you cant just fill it with plain old gasoline, which might be confusing for some.
I purchased this unit for my camper and the camper runs mostly on 12VDC. The model that amazon sells has not been made with the 12VDC output! if you search the web for a manual for this model, you can find it and it shows the 12VDC output. This one came with a manual that had this information removed. Amazon is somewhat short on this type of info and does not specifically state anything about it. Kinda sly of them not to post that info, but I cant fault them. Its kind of like buying a different model with the same model number on it.
Also, the unit was a but bigger than I expected. Its still quite small, just not what I thought it should be.
overall: not bad for a foreign made cheap disposable generator.
4 stars: You loose a star for selling a different product than everyone else but you all have the same model number :(
here's the (has 12VDC) manual
[...]
Customer Review: This one's a keeper!
Summary: 5 Stars
Bought this on Amazon.com for $119.00 with free shipping....the lowest price I could find for this. Plus the free shipping was the clincher.
This is a good machine. Well made and comes in sturdy shipping carton packed in styrofoam. Comes with a small tool set for setup and maintenance, A DC charging harness and the owner's manual which is well laid out and clearly written.
This machine requires a 50:1 fuel mix which translates into 2.5 OZ of oil to 1 gallon of gasoline.
Mixed the fuel and it started right up out of the box. No backfiring, no blue smoke, no nonsense. Just set the choke, open the fuel valve and pull.
So easy a kid could do it.
It weighs 46 lbs and the sound level is acceptable, you can hold a conversation near it, that's for sure!
Keep in mind that this is a basic generator. You get 1 AC outlet and 1 DC outlet. That's it. Strickly no frills but it does it well.
On the AC no load after it stabilized 123VAC @ 60HZ and 18VDC.
Over the course of 1 hour I powered a 250 watt worklight, a 100 watt table lamp, a small refrigerator, a portable B&W TV, a portable AM/FM radio, a 18" box fan and a small space heater.(not all at the same time).
All worked properly with no flickering,voltage fluctuations or noise. A little static on the TV picture and AM radio but still acceptable.
I then connected the TV to the DC output and it performed well there too.
Under load I obtained 120VAC @ 60HZ steady and solid, The DC drops to 14.4 volts under load. You can charge a battery with the included DC wire harness but I have not tried that yet.
Basic and simple for light duty work. And over the course of 1 hour the fuel level hardly dropped.
So what are you waiting for, try it, you'll like it!
Customer Review: bargain backup gen
Summary: 4 Stars
Background: I had a Chinese clone of a Honda gen rated at 3000/3500 that i bought local in Houston from Pep Boys for $359 nearly 2 yrs ago. During hurricane Ike, we ran it for 10 days straight (stopping only to refuel every 12 hrs and 1 oil change), running the fridge, a few lights, fans, and big screen TV, AND... all that same stuff simultaneously in our neighbor's house once we threw a cord over the fence to him. I figured 1) i had more generator than i needed and 2) i had probably used up half the usable life of the one i had. I sold it, w/ full disclosure about operating hours, for $200 a week after our power was back on.
I ordered this small gen mostly on the favorable reviews. When it arrived (more/less on time), packaging looked good and no damage once i got it out. The AC outlet looks a bit flimsy, but it held the power cord in for my 30 min test run, so no biggie. I was getting worried after 10 pulls and no start, then re-assessed the choke: the legend is counter-intuitive, to say the least. Moved it all way closed, and fired right up and ran fine. Hooked up a hedge trimmer and trimmed my shrubs, about a 15 min job, and no probs. I shut it down & restarted it 3-4 times, and no probs.
I didnt attempt to find out if this will run a traditional residential refridgerator, or what all it could handle w/o tripping. I mainly wanted something to run at night to power fans, and/or perhaps a small window AC unit. This might be all the backup gen i need if i economize on what i run, and dont try to power the neighbor too. Seems like dirt cheap insurance to me. I will prob buy another 3000W gen and keep this for night-time use.
Customer Review: HAPPY WITH PRODUCT
Summary: 4 Stars
We bought this small generator to take on camping trips. We used it while camping for a week at Lowes Motor Speedway for the Bank of America 500. It worked great! I read the reviews before buying it and knew there might be a problem with the spark plug. So before taking it with us, we bought a spare spark plug and a good quality 2 cycle oil. We tested it in the driveway. It started on the 2nd pull. It seemed a little loud, but we could still hear each other talking without having to yell. While using it for the past week, it powered a 120w light, my laptop, a coffee maker, a radio and several chargers (for cell phones, batteries, ect..). The only time you could here it working hard was when the coffee maker, lap top, radio and 2 chargers were on at the same time. Just the laptop, light, radio, and 1 or 2 cell phone chargers would not make it work to hard. Plus it lasted 6-8 hours before running out of fuel, much longer than the 4 hours stated. Plus the noise was not bad at all, but we were near the road and there was a lot of traffic which masked the generator noise. It started up every time on the first or second pull. I did have two problems with it though: 1st, my husband had to start it for me. It is a little harder to pull the start cord than on a lawn mower. I wasn't strong enough to start it, but my husband had no trouble at all. 2nd, I broke the "grip" part of the knob that turns the gas on and off. I was turning it in the wrong direction and didn't realize it. The knob was stiff all week and hard to turn. I just thought it was stuck. Glad I paid an additional $20 for the warrenty. All in all, we are very satisfied with this purchase.