Trebor English said:
Actually the output waveform on a typical consumer or contractor grade genset is pretty messy...you can thank the AVR module inside the generator head for that.
The AVR, (automatic voltage regulator) applies some 'clamping' to the spikes of the sine wave to keep it at the desired voltage, and the result is a choppy waveform on most of them, at least at most load levels.
Inverter generators have an output similar to pure sine inverters....close, but not exact.
The gold standard for true sinewaves, is that multi-million dollar electric utility generating plant on the edge of town...but the majority of consumer level equipment for generating a true, pure sine wave, fall very short of the mark....yet for most of the things we plug in to them, it seems to be good enough.
