A friend living in the country bought a Ryobi RG-950 generator. She wants to run 1 of her 2 computers or a TV 1 light at night and asked my advice. I told her that running any electronic equipment off a generator could be problematic but without seeing the specifications, as to whether it has an AVR or a pure sign wave output I couldn't say. I searched the internet and the main Ryobi website for specifications but found nothing. The Ryobi site returns nothing for "generators"!!! In the interim I advised her to only use the TV and computer with a UPS (if it will work with the generator supply) Can you comment and/or point me to the specifications, user manual or data sheet for this generator please? Much appreciated & sorry this was a long story! Mike Cape Town South Africa

It's best to run all electronics through a UPS and surge protector. Small generators like the RG-950 are really for small power tools and lighting. The Ryobi RG-950 is only rated 650 watts which really means about 450 watts (70%) for continuous use. In general, a basic desktop or a laptop should be OK. A TV up to 25 inches and a 100w lamp, should be OK. If you try doing both at the same time, expect smoke followed by lights out. A UPS and Surge Protector are a must on small generators due to their poor voltage and frequency regulation. The UPS should be a good quality one that deals with Brownout, Overvoltage, and frequency deviation. ALWAYS USE A SURGE PROTECTOR!

Hi, While browsing the net for a answer to my Ryobi 950 Generator problem i came across this site, hope you can help.
I tried running my Ice making machine (400 watt on specs tag) of this 950 generator....it runs the water pump BUT as soon as the freezing cycle kicks in the generator increases in revs which is quite normal...but then the ice machine "kicks out" ...stops the freezing cycle. I don't understand as the gen is suppose to effectively supply 650 watt and the ice machine is marked well below that.
Any explination?

Hi there.
We live on a farm without power. We use ryobi generators bought from game, warranty is excellent with game. We've had 5 so far, 2 currently broken, they last about 3 months with continual use (7 till 11 every day).
We run our pc's, tv, hi fi, lights and washing machine off a RG-950, alternately as to not go over the max wattage. We haven't had anything blow up or break due to it, 2 years now... The problem with a ups is the power it requires to charge, so make sure its fully charged if it has a battery fitted. A little advice on any ryobi, even a 4 stroke motor, use sthill two stroke only, do a 1:100 mix on a 4 stroke, we squeeze 5 months out of a 950 doing that.