A/C and generator

[Chuck Creel]

I have a honda 2000EU and a central a/c unit. When the compressor kicks on , the gen bogs down a bit but the compressor never kicks in and holds.I also have a 2000 watt inverter but not hard wired the output into shore power plug yet.Seems like the honda generator is right on the borderline of running the central unit.Any suggestions?ThanksChuck Creel

 

[Ed Schenck]

Honda 2000 and A/C

You do not say what size your A/C unit is or, in other words, what the amp draw is at startup. I think that my Mermaid 12K unit draws 18 amps at startup. It will start and run off of the Honda 2000EU so long as nothing else is drawing 110v ac.My method is to have shorepower plugged into the Honda and the Link 2000 set so that the 110 outlets are drawing from the generator and not the batteries. If you have a 16K unit you may be out of luck. But you could try delaying the waterpump, just unplug and then plug it back in if the unit cycles up. I also remember reading about a device to help the startup, basically a big capacitor. Sorry but I do not have time to do that research right now.

 

[Jim Seamans]

Chuck, Will be trying on mine this coming weekend

My Honda just doesn't have the power to turn my over either. Well in the heat of last week when my house AC blew, the guy fixing it (blown capacitor) showed me a temp fix until they could get the part. Its called a 'Super-Boost - solid state relay and Hard Start Capacitor' Model SPP6. He told me to wire it in parallel with the existing capacitor and will have that little kick the compressor needs. I was looking the boat this last weekend and plan on trying this coming weekend when I bring the Honda down. Will let you know if it works or whether I need a new boat. I found it on ebay and payed $9.96 for it, you might find it local but I didn't try to.JimS/V Java

 

[Benny]

A different option.

Purchase a 5,000 btu window unit for around $90 for those nights you may stay at anchor. It also can be used as a cooling booster when hooked to shorepower. We had our A/C unit fail one evening at a transient marina last summer. A quick check did not reveal the problem so face with the prospect of having to get a hotel for the night and cutting our trip short I got on a taxi and went to Wallmart for a window unit. The following day we were able to determine that a plastic ice bag was blocking the water intake when the pump was running. So now we had two working units. That afternoon we docked at another marina and decided to run both units. The results were outstanding, the boat got real cool, real quick that we decided to leave it on overnight. That night we froze and that is a hard claim to make in the middle of summer in the Gulf.I'm interested in Jim's experience with the Hard Start Capacitor as I have heard some reports that they get awful hot and will not restart until they cool down. That if the A/C compressor cycles before the booster has had a chance to cool down that it wont work. These units were developed for home central a/c units, hopefully they may work better in smaller marine units.

 

[Jim Seamans]

Update: Honda 2000 and A/C

I placed pictures and explanations in the Photo forum.I hooked up the 'hard start capacitor' as stated in previous post. Un-hooked the shore power, put the Honda in place and started it up. I put the Honda in full run mode to insure it was running a full blast before turning the A/C on. Forgot to check if it would run in econ mode - another day.Well, we turned on the A/C and after its normal delay, it kicked over. It seemed to be running but Joan was yelling we were getting no water out. I could hear the A/C unit cycling trying to run. The generator did not trip out, which would indicate it had to big of a load and that was encouraging. On the third try, the compressor kicked in and the water pump started squirting water. In a few minutes you could feel the cool air flowing. It just took a couple of cycles to get things running. I imagine you should NOT have a bunch of other things running pulling from the generator at the same time, but there is enough power from the generator to make this work.IT WORKED....JimS/V Java

 

[ed]

what kind of unit are running Jim?

Not enough data to be much help, what unit do you have who made it and how big is it. Thats what we all need to know.thanks.

 

[Chuck Creel]

another option

another option is to run the raw water pump off 12V dc or through an inverter from the house bank.My unit is a 16700 BTU and running current is 11.5 AMPS. Roughly 20 AMPS start up surge. " 11.5 x's 1.8= 20.7 AMPS at start-up".THe raw water pump is abt 2 amps so taking it out of the equation helps.I am also considering dropping back to a 12000 BTU unit which is more energy efficient but undecided at this point. When I reach port on July 4th, " i am at work untill then, " , I will post more info and results.