Portable Generator

Rays

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Jan 7, 2016
14
Hunter 306 Marina San Carlos, SON MEX
Hi - I have a 2003 hunter 306 and am considering purchasing a smaller portable generator to power the onboard battery charger and possibly a TV & DVD player. I was thinking the Honda EU1000i which is a 1000 watt generator. In looking at my manual it says the inverter on my boat provides 1000 watts. Can someone tell me what exactly that means? Does that mean I need at least a 1000 watt generator to use the inverter? Will a 1000 watt generator be enough to do what I need or do I need more? I’d like to stay small for size, weight and noise considerations but I want it to be useful. Anyone have experiences they can share? Thanks for the help folks
 
Feb 20, 2011
7,990
Island Packet 35 Tucson, AZ/San Carlos, MX
The inverter on your boat should convert your DC bank (battery power) to AC power, without the use of a generator.
But the conversion eats up your bank's charge pretty quickly, so you will need to recharge with something, gas powered generator, solar, wind generator, towable generator or combination.

The wattage you'll need to power whatever appliances you're running should be listed on the appliances themselves, in little tiny numbers. Bust out the lighting and a magnifying lens. o_O
 
Sep 25, 2008
7,077
Alden 50 Sarasota, Florida
Inverter 1000W is a production rating (at 120 volts) I.e., it supplies 1000 w. The more important consideration is that, at that output, it draws approx 100 amp-hrs from your 12 v batteries. The generator doesn't feed the inverter but rather the batteries supply the power. The generator is used to recharge the batteries at the rate specified by your charger which you didn't mention.
 

Rays

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Jan 7, 2016
14
Hunter 306 Marina San Carlos, SON MEX
All makes perfect sense. I didn't see anything in the manual that details the specs on the charger. There might be something on the charger itself that details this but I will not be able to confirm until April. Anyone else know by chance? Also so with only having a 1000 w inverter does that mean I can only support up to 1000 w of power even with a larger size of the generator...say 2000w?
 
Nov 6, 2006
9,884
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
Gen and Inv are pretty much separate power sources. Think of gen as a weak source of shore power. When it is running and plugged into your shore power inlet, it provides up to its constant output rating. The Honda 2000 can provide a constant power of 1600 watts at 120volts. (your shore power when plugged in can supply up to 3600 watts) The Inverter pulls power from your 12 volt (direct current, DC) batteries and "inverts" it to 120 volt alternating current (AC) .. Usually, an inverter is wired so that when there is a source of 120 V at the shore power inlet, the inverter is locked out and cannot provide any power to the system. (it may have a single outlet on itself, however) Running both together could total both units.. The charger, which may be incorporated into the inverter supplies power to charge the batteries when 120V is available either from the generator, or from shore power. Example.. a Honda 2000 could power your electric water heater since it probably uses 1200 watts to heat water. With the heater on, you could only power something else that pulled less than 400 watts .. Hope this helps..
 
Oct 24, 2010
2,405
Hunter 30 Everett, WA
Your 1,000 watt inverter because it runs on 12 volt power will suck the batteries down in a hurry. Think of it this way. If your inverter puts our 1,000 watts at 120volts Ac it will actually draw more than 1,000 watts from your battery because some of that energy turns into waste heat. Amps = watts/voltage so at 120 volts, 1,000 watts = 8.33amps Depending on efficiency of your inverter, the same 1,000 watts of AC coming from your 12 volt battery may be around 100 or more amps. We use our inverter to make coffee if the engine is running (then turn it off as soon as the coffee is done.) to keep the batteries up. Still the inverter drains the batteries faster than our engine can charge them depending on how big a load we put on it. Most battery chargers I've seen on boats are between 10 and 30 amps of charge rate. (Look at the model number of your battery charger and google it to see what it can do.)

Use the generator connected to your shore power connector if you can. The inverter is only for times when AC power isn't available and you have lots of battery reserve. As an example: if I'm spending the night on the hook, I don't usually run the inverter. I need to save some battery to run the furnace and refrigerator.

Ken
 
Jun 6, 2006
6,990
currently boatless wishing Harrington Harbor North, MD
your charger is probably not more than 40 amp (dc) which would need (P=v*A). P=14.4*40=576 watts. The TV and DVD may draw an additional 50 watts and probably less. So if the those are the only AC loads you are using your honda 1000 watt will genset will do fine. needs an selector switch for two or more sources though and those are kinda pricy
your inverter would supply those 626 watts by draining the batteries at (P/v=A) A=626/12.0=52 amps every time you use them.
You have a another option, use 12votl DVD and TV. They probably already run on 12 volts and just need have the power plug wired to the ships mains. Check the wall wart for out put voltage to be sure. doing the batteries-inverter-wall wart-load power supply is much less efficient as you are doing dc to ac then ac to dc conversions vs just using the dc directly. if you are only running the dvd and tv (50ish watts) then (P/v=A) A=50/12=4 amps. Run them for an hour and you use 4 amp hours from the banks, 2 hours --> 8 amp hours etc.
 
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Sep 3, 2012
195
Hunter 285 Grand Rivers Ky
I use a Honda 1000 portable with a cable I made and plug the output of the generator into the shore power connector during spring/fall/winter.

And, I also purchased the heavier 2000 watt Honda Companion with the shore power connector on it that I use if I know I will be running the AC at anchor in the hot summer. The 2000 is heavier so I prefer to carry the 1000. The 2000 companion is setup to allow you to run two generators hooked together, but I have never needed that much power.

just what I do, not saying you should.
 
Feb 8, 2014
1,300
Columbia 36 Muskegon
And note the Honda 1000 is only about 700 amp continuous. The 1000 amp rating is peak for start up loads only and will only run that rate for a very short time. The 2000 is only 1600 continuous as noted above. I'm running a 1000 on my boat, I found it used, almost brand new so cheap I couldn't pass it up. It's ok for the most part, but will not run my water heater. I do sometimes wish I had the bigger one.
 
Feb 8, 2014
1,300
Columbia 36 Muskegon
I have a little side deck next to the cockpit. I bolted a couple padeyes in for a cable and lock that I run through the generators handle. It's about 4 feet from the shore power connector and I made up a cable to reach.
 

Rays

.
Jan 7, 2016
14
Hunter 306 Marina San Carlos, SON MEX
Lots of great information and advice. I appreciate everyone's posts. I'm thinking the 2000 is the way to go. Thanks again
 
Jun 4, 2004
392
Hunter 31 and 25 and fomerly 23.5 Stockton State Park Marina; MO
And note the Honda 1000 is only about 700 amp continuous. The 1000 amp rating is peak for start up loads only and will only run that rate for a very short time. The 2000 is only 1600 continuous as noted above. I'm running a 1000 on my boat, I found it used, almost brand new so cheap I couldn't pass it up. It's ok for the most part, but will not run my water heater. I do sometimes wish I had the bigger one.
CJ , that's " watts " for those ratings, NOT " amps ". 1000 watts/120 volts equals 8.33 amps of output.
 
Sep 3, 2012
195
Hunter 285 Grand Rivers Ky
What I like about the Honda brand generator, I can start the 1000 and sit next to it and talk to someone. It is so quiet. So very quiet. The cheep units vibrate a lot and are more noisy.
 
Feb 8, 2014
1,300
Columbia 36 Muskegon
When it's running at full load it's quite a bit louder. Their "Ecothrottle"system runs the engine at the minimum speed needed to produce the required watts. The cheaper ones probably don't have that feature and are louder anyway.
 

druid

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Apr 22, 2009
837
Ontario 32 Pender Harbour
One other thing to consider (something I got caught on...) - in AC, power is NOT just volts x amps: there's a "power factor". So my 40 A TrueCharge charger drew (40 * 14 = ) 560W, but it drew about 11 Amps at 120 VAC because of the 0.4 power factor. So it LOOKed like a 1000W charger could run it, but it couldn't.

Just something to consider...
druid
 
Sep 3, 2012
195
Hunter 285 Grand Rivers Ky
You said your inverter is 1000 watts. That is its output is 1000 watts. Power factors aside, if your happy with the power you get out if your inverter when your underway, then yes, i think you will like the Honda 1000i output when you are underway. No air conditioning with that size. But it will be good for what you said.
 
Oct 23, 2013
11
Catalina 380 ABYC
Related question, what is the most effective way to charge your batteries with a generator? Connect the DC output of the generator to your batteries, OR have the generator convert to AC and plug in the boat's battery charger which converts it back to DC. Or, option 3 may be to connect both the AC via battery charger AND the DC to the battery.

The 2nd sounds safest since I have more faith in the battery charger feeding my batteries properly. Curious if anyone has compared the 3 ways to see what is faster. If I only want to run the generator for 1 hour, what gives me the best short term charge?
 
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