I would appreciate recommendations for the best air-cooled, gasoline powered generator for the price these days. Quietness, efficiency, compactness, and reliability are important. Thanks
Pete
Pete
Best generator
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I would probably go for a 2000 primarily due to size and weight. It would be used primarily to charge house batteries with occasional use of AC appliances such as microwave.
Pete
For Your Boat
I assume you will use yours like I do mine. A Honda 2000 inverter genset is definitely the way to go. There are knock offs for a couple of hundred less. However, where I have a mooring, there are lots of full time live aboards. Some of them tried the knock offs but replaced them with Hondas, so there's a good lesson. Good luck.
realize that the honda 2000 is NOT 2000 watts. It has a peak load of about 16 amps for a few minutes but continuous duty is only about 12 or 13 amps. I have a lot of items that are around 8 amps. I can only run one at a time, wasting the excess capacity...
I'd love a 2500 model that can handle continuous load of around 16 amps. Anything bigger I've seen is MUCH bigger & heavier.
I'd love a 2500 model that can handle continuous load of around 16 amps. Anything bigger I've seen is MUCH bigger & heavier.
Honda and Yamaha lead the pack on those with Honda taking the lions share of the market. We have a Honda 2k but don't & won't use it on the boat.
????
Do you use it in a camper or something? So what's the objection to the boat, noise, gasoline or esthetics?
Noise & lack of need... I use it on boats where the owner does not have power run to it in the off season and to power sensitive electronics when we lose power at home. Our Generac puts out quite dirty power so the Honda serves that purpose at home..
It gets awfully quiet in some of the idyllic Maine coves in the evening, pin drop quiet, and I've been on the receiving end of many a "quiet" Honda 2k before so won't do that to others as I don't enjoy it done to me. Also we just don't need it. With solar, a 375Ah bank and a 50A alt we have never run out of power. Our bank is rarely below 70% state of charge. LED lighting was the biggest energy saver...
Thanks for the great feedback. I've decided to go with the Honda EU2000i. I now have another question that concerns charging time. Unfortunately, my new battery charger is only 40 Amps which suggests a quite long charging period. Has anyone used the DC output of this generator to achieve a faster charge? Is it possible to set the DC output voltage for this purpose. The specs say it's only 8 Amps so maybe it's not enough to make it worthwhile. I have 4 golf cart batteries.
Pete
Pete
What I did 'cause I thought we needed 110 AC on the boat was replace my 30 amp charger with a 2000 watt inverter charger capable of 100 amps DC. Turns out that unless your golf carts are dead flat, they won't accept more than 50 amps or so. Very glad I didn't spend the money on a 100amp alternator and 2 belt pulleys.
All the experts suggest not running your battery bank below 50 % of capacity. Same experts say it takes for ever to reach 100% charged. ? Can you live with the 30% between 50 and 80? To support my new electric windlass, I added 2 golf carts under the v berth for a total of 6 and 600+ AH. 30% of that is 180+ AH, about 3 days for me. If anchored for longer, I run my Honda 2k for one tank of gas, about 3 hours, and put 100+ AH back.
Like Maine Sail, I enjoy quiet evenings, so I run my generator afternoons, maybe 1 to 4
It is our experience that a day's motoring with a 50 amp alternator charges the bank to 100%.
All the experts suggest not running your battery bank below 50 % of capacity. Same experts say it takes for ever to reach 100% charged. ? Can you live with the 30% between 50 and 80? To support my new electric windlass, I added 2 golf carts under the v berth for a total of 6 and 600+ AH. 30% of that is 180+ AH, about 3 days for me. If anchored for longer, I run my Honda 2k for one tank of gas, about 3 hours, and put 100+ AH back.
Like Maine Sail, I enjoy quiet evenings, so I run my generator afternoons, maybe 1 to 4
It is our experience that a day's motoring with a 50 amp alternator charges the bank to 100%.
I have a yamaha 2000IS. I went with the Yamaha due to it being a little better with the specs, at least it was two years ago.. not sure if any changes between the two were made since. Its very quiet, and is able to run my 9000btu air conditioner unit on board. I bought it for the house when we had all those terrible snow storms in 2010/11.
Its very quiet, starts easily, and has enough power to run anything i need. i'd prefer to have both a 1000 and a 2000 since the 2000 is a little heavy and i don't need all that power all the time.
Pete
The DC output is 12V which cannot be increased. Consequently, current will not flow TO the batteries. In order to charge the batteries, you need closer to 14+V to charge which the generator cannot supply.
Billyk, I guess we may agree that Honda is #1 and that you are making a case for Yamaha to be 2nd. If they would improve their availability of products, parts and service the brand would make a serious contender. As of now the number of testimonials of satisfied customers is quite small. It takes time to build a reputation and there are no short cuts. Like I was told in this posting, "there are no seconds" at least up to now.
If I were to buy again I would probably pick up the honda for the exact reason you mentioned.. The yamaha is a great little machine though. It sounds like it will run forever it's so smooth and quiet.. I love the independence you get with these little powerhouses...Benny17441 said:
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