The Homelite Lightnin Bug Generator HG600 (Specs, Manual)
RV life is almost a different world than traditional home living. There are so many different pieces of equipment and brand names to figure out and see which is best for your new RV. Generators are one of those pieces of equipment.
This brand of generator is actually made by Yamaha out of Japan. It is supposed to produce 600 watts of start-up power and 500 watts of running time. Plus, it is the exact copy of the Yamaha EF600 which means that there should be plenty of parts available when you need them.
To learn more about this generator just continue to read our article. It has the specs and where to get the manual for this decent portable unit. Take a few minutes to read up on it and see if it will work for your RV life.
A Brief History
In 1921, Charles H. Ferguson invented the gas-powered generator. His purpose for doing so was to help rural farm families get electrical power to their homes and farms.
His generator also helped the troops during WW2. However, the company was sold to John Deere first in 1994 and then Tektronic in 2001. This last company seemed to have phased out any generator production over the upcoming years.
This is probably why Yamaha built generators for the company and just put the Homelite brand on their EF600 models. The company focuses on building consumer-level lawn and garden equipment and light-duty chainsaws and not generators. This is proven true by their website.
The Homelite Lightnin Bug HG600
This company does not seem to make or sell generators anymore. Their website does not list any no matter which search terms you use. In its heyday, the Lightning Bug generator did a good job at producing 150 volts at 70 Hz.
Plus, you could use a Phillips head screwdriver and adjust that production and lower it to 123 volts at 60 HZ or wherever you needed it. The unit was a 4-stroke motor that was very quiet and it seems to take 10 W 20 when cold and 10 W 30 when hot.
One3 complaint was that it started well but ran slowly even after replacing the air filter, spark plug, and other key parts. You may have to contact Yamaha instead of Homelite to get any answers if you have problems with this generator.
That is the company that made it and all they did was change the color of the exterior cover to red instead of the Yamaha blue. This is a Yamaha EF600 generator so contacting that company will be your best option.
Complete Homelite HG600 Specs
We could spend a lot of time listing all the specs here for you but it is better to see this information from the horse’s mouth. Here is a link to all the specs you want to know about for this model of generator.
The spec sheet is 5 PDF pages long and makes sure you know every technical detail about this unit. Those pages also provide you with torque information as well as a bolt tightening diagram.
We could not do it justice if we tried to reproduce that information here.
Download Homelite Lightnin Bug Generator Manual
This is going to be rather easy as there are a lot of websites on the internet today that offer this booklet to their readers. Even Amazon has a hard copy listed but no price is given for it.
This link provides one option for you and do not be surprised if there is a fee for obtaining a copy for yourself. You can try Homelite’s website to see if they still have copies of this manual. The link for their manual page is here and you can always contact the company if you do not see it listed.
One more link to try is here. If these options do not work for you, you can always try the Yamaha company or its dealers for a copy of their EF600 manual. It is said these two generators are exactly the same so their manual should work for Homelite models.
Finding Homelite Lightning Bug Generator Parts
One thing about being an exact copy of another brand’s generators is that parts should be easy to get. Like the manual, you can contact Yamaha itself or its dealers to find any parts you need.
Or you can do a quick search on the internet and come up with a host of parts and repair companies that sell Homelite Lightning Bug HG 600parts. There are too many to mention here and they are also easy to find.
Whether they are near you or not is another question. Homelite does have a service & support web page. You can contact them about spare parts. There is no guarantee that they will have them given they did not make this generator themselves.
Also, eBay has some spare parts for sale as they came up in our different searches on other topics. There is no guarantee those parts will be there when you look. Just keep trying till you find some for sale.
Homelite seems to have been sold through Sears so you can try their Parts Direct website to see if they have the part you want for sale. As a last resort, you can always buy a used Lightning Bug and get the parts you need off of it.
Some Final Words
According to our research, this was a good little generator. It was also quiet as well. But you may not find this model new anymore since it is a Yamaha EF 600. It would be best to go with that model as it should be easier to get manuals and parts for it.
There is a lot of information on the internet for the Yamaha version. Check it out as even a used model is still good.
