Portable Electric Generators-suggestions?

[Double_A]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and comments. I will probibly go with the Honda EU2000i.

It seems to be capable of powering what I need it to, it's power is very clean for electronics, it's fuel economy is good and it is whisper quiet which is important to my needs.

GregR

 

[turbodog]

I have done a lot of reading on it. Looks like mayberrys.com has the best price. They have even been known to pricematch lower-priced places (that were out of stock naturally).

 

[LitFuse]

I got my EU1000 from Mayberrys, and got a great price. I was going to recommend them to Double A, but after I went to their site, it appears that they no longer carry Honda anything. Looks like they are a Yamaha dealer now. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thinking.gif


Peter

 

[cy]

For output the Generac 5kw unit at home depot will smoke the Honda 2kw at 2/3 of the price. A drawback is the 5kw unit will by a pain to move around VS Honda is very portable.

Keep in mind the truth in adverising for different mfg's. Honda is bad about using peak power for sizing. Yamaha's are pretty conservative in claims, a 3KW unit may have a peak of 5.5kw. MOre typical for 5kw units have a peak of 6.5kw.

1.6 KW for the honda is kinda pricy for $1,000. But it runs real quiet. RV people will run two in parallel.

 

[J_Oei]

We just went through our own research for camping generators. My wife is a girl scout leader and believes that although the girls should get the 'true' experience of camping, she needn't suffer. So, we have the little Honda EU2000i that powers a portable AC unit, microwave, and TV.
(Plus providing power for the air mattress, etc)

We are thinking of getting a second one to combine them for hurricane standby power. A real nice unit.

 

[Draco_Americanus]

I read on this thread that people run two generators in parallel with one another. How is that posible ? If they are not running in phase with one another your bound to have problems.
I can see some one useing 2 generators with each powering a seperate circuit thats not directly connected to the other circuit, but having them connected in parellel could cause phasing problems and end up being a fire hazard at best.

now for the cheap generators that wake the dead I have seen them modded with a car muffler and boy it was purring allmost like a honda powered kitten, granted it was butt ugly with the muffler hanging off the side but it seemed to work well.

 

[paulr]

The Hondas have some special feature that lets you connect two of them together. It's not just a matter of slapping two generators in parallel; the feature synchronizes the generator electronics somehow.

I had the impression that the Hondas were more expensive because they use inverters, but maybe there's more to it than that. I see old-fashioned 5 kw AC (non-inverter) generators for sale at under $500 all the time. That's a heck of a lot more watts per buck than the Hondas give, but you get a bigger, noisier generator with less voltage and frequency stability.

 

[turbodog]

Honda, expensive? Really? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I have a honda eu1000i. I don't know if the cost is justified or if they are exploiting a narrow segment of the market. Was it worth it? Heck yeah.

 

[_mike_]

Honda's are nice pieces of equipment.

Mike

 

[Brock]

Yes, since the Honda's use an inverter to make the power you can sync up the electronics and use one inverter as a base to control the second inverter. Actually you can then get the waveform either in sync or 180 out so you can get 240 from them. It is called "stacking" to get 240 vac at the same amperage and "paralleling" to get twice the amperage at 120 vac. It is a neat trick really. I am really curious what voltage these inverter are running at. My guess is 12v and that basically the generator is just like a huge alternator in a car charging the 12v battery that supply the power for the inverter. It really makes a lot more since then an alternator direct driving the supply, and obviously give you the ability to slow the engine down and produce less power when needed.

 

[paulr]

I think it would make more sense for the inverter to be running at a higher voltage than 12V. That would mean the current would be lower and they wouldn't need as heavy wire. Also, the generator can provide 12 volts at 8 amps but if it were making 12 volts to begin with, it would be able to supply much more current, like 100+ amps for the 2kw generator.

I'm surprised the generators don't have a way to make 220 volts directly without needing to connect two together. Maybe there's a 220 volt version for the European market.

 

[Double_A]

Brock-

Your description sounds very close to what the salesman was telling me.

B-T-W Honda also has a relatively new model the EN2500AL, 2.5kw max output and it was $599 at the same shop. The price difference was loss of portability (71 lbs v 46 lbs) noisy (76db @ rated load v. 59db) throttle was not load dependent, output was not as clean for electronics. So I guess you do get what you pay for in some respect.

GregR

 

[Brock]

Paulr I agree it would make a lot more since to go with a higher voltage inveter. BUT 12, 24 and 48 volt inverters are very common and they could use an existing inverter rather then make their own. The other reason that makes me think it is a lower voltage is the 3000w one has a "power boost" that takes power from an internal battery to help with motor starting. I guess the cool thing would be if it were 12v you could charge a car battery in a minute, or practically jump start it. Although if I had to guess I would say either 24v or 48v based.

 

[star882]

"Paulr I agree it would make a lot more since to go with a higher voltage inveter. BUT 12, 24 and 48 volt inverters are very common and they could use an existing inverter rather then make their own. The other reason that makes me think it is a lower voltage is the 3000w one has a "power boost" that takes power from an internal battery to help with motor starting. I guess the cool thing would be if it were 12v you could charge a car battery in a minute, or practically jump start it. Although if I had to guess I would say either 24v or 48v based."
My friend Caitlin Williams has helped with an installation at an IT site, and they use 48v battery banks (you just got to see them; they're HUGE) to power the equipment. Normally, the batteries are kept fully charged by a charger unit (actually 3, to provide redunduncy) that down converts 3-phase 480v to 48v to charge the batteries. However, if the power fails, it is sensed by a tiny computer in the power distribution system (actually 2 computers, since the power distribution system is divided into two sections) and the whole system just runs off the batteries. If the outage lasts long enough to cause the batteries to drain too much, generators automatically start (from small, separate batteries, so as to not disturb the main 48v line) to keep the system running.
P.S. The batteries are so big that one is more than enough to instantly vaporise a wrench if it was shorted across the terminals. For obvious safety reasons, therefore, plastic caps are kept on the terminals until it's time to actually connect the battery to the system.