The intricacies of powering your speakers effectively as we explore the differences between inverter-style generators and conventional generators.
Loudspeaker systems exhibit varying current demands, characterized by peaks and valleys. Inverter-style generators, operating via capacitor banks, offer rapid power delivery, independent of generator speed. In contrast, conventional generators struggle to match the dynamic current draw of music, as their throttles constantly adjust to demand fluctuations.
To determine the ideal generator size, consider the power ratings of your subwoofers for optimal performance.
Hi, I'm David Lee from BASSBOSS. One of the questions we get a lot is what kind of generator does a person need to run their system? And the short answer to that question is an inverter style generator. The long answer to why an inverter style generator is basically because it's a much more stable power source for audio, particularly audio electronics, because they draw current in a peaking fashion.
Because when the music peaks, when the bass hits, they draw a lot of current. And then when the music between the beats and between the bass hits, there's a valley and so they don't demand as much current. So the draw is very non-linear. Peak and then nothing, and then peak and then nothing, and an inverter style generator is more immune to that kind of cycling because it works by charging up a bank of capacitors, and capacitors can deliver power quickly, but they're not dependent upon the speed of the generator to get the voltage, and they're not dependent on the rotation.
The RPM of the generator to get the frequency. So basically the generator runs by charging this bank of capacitors and then it has a 60 hertz sine wave generator that brings you your outputs. And when there's a big demand, it draws down on the capacitors, but it doesn't sag down the voltage, and it doesn't slow down the motor.
And then when the draw stops, it doesn't then overrun because the throttle has been opened and you get a spike in voltage, and you also get an overrun in frequency. So it's much more stable. You get a nice 60 hertz sine wave and you get available power for these peaks and valleys. Conventional generators have the problem that they do react to how much current is being drawn off of them, and the throttle is constantly chasing the current draw demand. And usually it's not fast enough to keep up with the music. And so you end up with it bogging down when the bass hits, and then over-revving and over-voltage when you don't need it.
And it just becomes a very messy situation that really limits how much output you can get out of a given power rating for a generator because it's rated for that power as a constant draw. And so if you turn on a motor, an air conditioner, a bunch of lights, they draw current, and the generator sort of reads that and goes, okay, I need to have this much throttle and that'll hold my RPM, my voltage.
When you turn it off, when you turn the lights off, the generator will run high and then it'll come back again. But what's happening with sound is it's constantly going up and down, up and down. It's like on and off, on and off. So conventional generators really struggle. What happens is you ask it for current, it revs, and then it drops back when the note stops.
But then when the next bass hit comes, it's low and it can't catch up in time. And so you can't get the full capacity of its rated output for the purpose of running audio systems. Short answer again, inverter style generator. Now, how do you know how big of an inverter style generator you need to be able to run your system?
Essentially, you want to look at the subwoofer power ratings, and most of the time the power ratings for mid and high cabinets are very short-term duration draw requirements. The higher frequencies don't put a long enough duration of demand on the generator to pull its capacity down. But for current or voltage subwoofers, on the other hand, and the nature of bass notes, they last long enough that they do that.
So look at the power in watts of your amplifiers, of your subwoofer amplifiers, and get a generator that is at least as much power in its rating as the total number of subwoofer amplifiers that you're going to be plugging into it. That's the simplest math you can do to get a relatively good combination of rating and output.
The tops are going to draw a negligible amount. You want to have more if you can get it. If you can get more power than you need, it's always a good thing. You don't want to run into a situation where you're asking for too much from the generator because even an inverter style generator will brown out. I mean, it will pull it down to a point where it can't deliver enough voltage, and your equipment will go, I can't do this anymore, and it'll cut off.
So those are the things that you need to watch out for. And the simple math of picking a generator to run a sound system. And the other thing that you've got to concern yourself with is, you know, why? Why is it more important, or what do you have to worry about when it comes to using a generator as compared to using grid power?
Because when you go into a venue and you see a wall outlet, you can be fairly certain that that wall outlet will be able to provide you with 120 volts at 60 hertz and that it will have at least a 15 amp capacity because normally US wall outlet sockets are 15 amp rated. A lot of times the way the wall outlets are installed by virtue of the codes is that you can put multiple 15 amp sockets on a 20 amp circuit, and so many of the time that circuit breaker that's behind that set of outlets is a 20 amp breaker, and yet you'll still have 15 amp outlets.
Point being that power is there. I mean, it's coming from the grid, and it's really generally at least here really stable. When you ask it to deliver more than 20 amps, more than 2400 watts on that plug, it can do that for a period of time. And the more you ask it for, the shorter the time it can do it for, based on when the breaker is going to trip.
But the capacity of the grid is vast, and so a 20 amp breaker can give you 40 or 50 amps for brief moments. That way you can hit it really, really hard, get that big drum hit, and it won't trip the breaker. But if you're connected to a generator and its maximum output is, let's say, 20 amps, as you would think it was the same in terms of an outlet on a wall, it doesn't have that excess capacity that the grid has.
So once you go over that 20 amp limit, the generator can't go to 30, 40, 50, 60 amps for that moment. It just sucks down the voltage, and that's why you have to be a little bit more concerned about how those ratings work out with generators. Then on grid power, it's just the fact that there is such a huge sort of storage capacity on the grid that if the power is there, you can draw honestly, you can draw 100 amps through a 20 amp breaker for a very short moment.
It will trip. But if you do it very briefly, it won't. And, you know, if it's 50 amps, it'll be longer. If it's 40 amps, it'll be longer still, and so on. So you can definitely get 30 amps or 20 amp breaker for a period of time. Whereas on a generator, it just doesn't have that sort of excess capacity, that headroom that the grid has.
So you have to be concerned that you don't ask or demand too much from a generator when running high-demand audio systems used.