Ryobi 700/900 Propane Genset

[Rabbit]

Has anyone here actually used a Ryobi 700/900 propane generator to power a Frigidaire 5000 BTU air conditioner, or any other 5000 BTU air conditioner? If so, how well did it work? I know the Frigidaire has a soft-start and a very low draw, but would still feel better knowing someone else has actually done this before buying one.

Also... Though the forum once had a very long thread on the Ryobi, it was a while back and this was still a new product at the time. Has anyone had long-term experience with one of these? How are they holding up?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Gypsy Freedom]

cool, i had missed these. if anyone else wants to check out the mentioned thread here it is
https://vanlivingforum.com/showthread.php?tid=29721&highlight=ryobi+generator

some good info there

i like the idea of a propane from the factory lil mini generator. no worries about stall fuel if you dont use it often. have not started mine in a couple months. probably should run em a bit

i just wish this could handle 1000 watts continuous like my honda 1000 inverter gen (i know it is not rated for continuous at 1000 watts but i run it for an hour or 2 at that regularly during the winters with no issues 3+ years now)

has anyone thrown a kil-O-watt meter on one of these ryobi propane jobbies to see what they actually put out before tripping or stalling?

if anyone near me has one, i would be happy to help test it with meters to see what it actually can do

thanks for bringing this up

 

[B and C]

Altitude and propane will play a big part in what it can produce.

 

[Gypsy Freedom]

altitude effects all generators similarly, accept a turbocharged unit

this isnt a conversion, so the rating should be accurate with no need to derate due to the lower latent energy in propane

 

[B and C]

Maybe it puts out more on gas as it may be rated on propane. The combustion chamber size does not change and the BTU's available between the two fuels are different.

 

[Gypsy Freedom]

Maybe it puts out more on gas as it may be rated on propane.  The combustion chamber size does not change and the BTU's available between the two fuels are different.

what 2 fuels? this is (unless i really missed something) a propane only generator. NOT a dual fuel, and NOT  gasoline generator with a propane conversion on it. why would the manufacture rate the out put based on any fuel other than what it runs on from the factory?

it is a propane generator rated at 700watts continuous, and 900 watts for starting surge. i would expect it to do that, within reason while running the fuel it was sold to run on.

 

[B and C]

Ah.  You caught me assuming.  Thought this was dual fuel as that is what is talked about mostly in other threads.

I'll bow out now.

 

[Gypsy Freedom]

no worries my friend, happens to us all

 

[Rabbit]

Thank you both very much!

 

[Mrcap]

I had one of the Ryobi propane generators. I would be very surprised if it could run any air conditioner. It puts out less than 6 amps.

I had it for about a month and it got harder and harder to start so I took it back and got a refund.

I ended up buying an open box Honda 1000i and put a $179 propane conversion kit. It has never run gasoline since and is easy to start.

 

[Rabbit]

I had one of the Ryobi propane generators. I would be very surprised if it could run any air conditioner. It puts out less than 6 amps.

I had it for about a month and it got harder and harder to start so I took it back and got a refund.

I ended up buying an open box Honda 1000i and put a $179 propane conversion kit. It has never run gasoline since and is easy to start.

Thank you!

 

[66788]

I ended up buying an open box Honda 1000i and put a $179 propane conversion kit. It has never run gasoline since and is easy to start.

Where did you find the propane conversion for the EU1000i?   Lots of them for the EU200i, haven't seen any for the EU1000i.

 

[DannyB1954]

I have the Ryobi 900 watt propane generator and it runs my 5,000 window Air Conditioner just fine. My A/C uses about 420 watts running, and the start up will not be twice that. The generator is rated for 700 watts continuous, so If you run a battery charger with it, check what it's max draw is. With low batteries my 40 amp charger would exceed this at it's start , and the generator would trip off on overload.

If you buy the generator off of Ebay, there will be no warranty even if they say there is. Mine died, (turned out to be simple fix The wires feeding the coil were tight in their loom and the vibration pulled them off the coil). Anyway when I took it to the warranty center they asked for the sales receipt. Those generators come off of Ryobi's garden tool section and Ryobi will only honor the warranty if it is bought through a Ryobi authorized seller, ( like Home Depot).

I don't use it much as my solar does most of the work.

 

[vangotransit]

I have one. It runs my 6000 btu air conditioner, my AC DC compressor fridge and my 10 amp battery charger. I tend to carry it just for emergency charging, I've only needed it twice.

 

[Rabbit]

Thank you both-- that's exactly what I needed to hear. Much appreciated!

 

[Rabbit]

For anyone who's curious--

I bought one of these and it works perfectly to power my 5000 BTU air conditioner, as expected and reported by others. It's so light that I can carry it effortlessly with one hand, starts easily, and the fuel is much easier to handle and store (if a bit more costly) than gasoline. The sound is so close to the same as an eu2200 that I can't tell the difference. While I've had the Ryobi less than eight hours, so far I love the thing. I don't plan to use it often, so I may never be able to report on durability.

As an aside...

I had a thought while considering this purchase and possibly limiting myself to such a low-output genny. If you have a larger battery and inverter setup available (as I happen to), my guess is that you could hook this or any other small generator up to an appropriate-wattage battery charger and actually run a much larger air conditioner than 5000 btu. The method would be to plug the air conditioner into the inverter, and let it and the batteries absorb the demand spikes of the air conditioner, while at the same time using the charger to maintain the batteries. That way the generator could provide, say, 700 watts of steady power, while the air conditioner (due to the compressor cycling off and on) sometimes draws more and sometimes less, using the batteries as a "cushion". While I currently have no need to do this, I bet it'd work. This method would definitely be inefficient due to inverting from AC to DC and vice-versa extra times, but it also ought to allow a small generator to deal with demand spikes that it otherwise could not.

 

[user 423]

Mine has never been used to run an A/C but I thought I'd add an update on how it's turned out for me:

It now won't run my battery charger. I've checked the output and it only puts out 24 volts.

I've only used it very lightly for the past 18 months and it has less than 40 hours run time on it.

It does have 5 months left on the 3-year warranty but the HD I took it too said because of COVID the turn-around time for repairs is 8 WEEKS.

Usually it's 'only' 2-3 weeks.