Honda 1000 Generator/ Heart Charger/inverter OK?

[Rick D]

pardon the ignorance here, but I was contemplating purchasing a Honda 1000 or 2000 generator, but a friend who has a Heart 2000 said that it is incompatible because of the inverter technology. He said he had to put a bypass curcuit in his to use the generator, both a 1000 and a 2000. Anyone here had a similar experience, or not? Also, the 1000 looks attractive because of its lesser weight, and since a prior poster had indicated that he could use the Power Share feature of his Heart remote to limit the input to (5?) amps, and could thus use the 1000 for all his needs including the hot water heater. I don't understand, tho, since it is 1500 amps? What am I missing? Thanks for your responses, Rick D.

 

[Don Alexander]

I tried it!

Hi Rick,I tried to run a similar generator to the Honda with my Heart Freedom 1000. The sequence of events went like this:-Plug generator into shore supply socket. Start generator. Switch on. Switch Heart to "Charge". Lights come on okay on Link 1000. Charge current starts at 5 amps then ramps up in stages to about 15 or 20 amps. Then the charger trips out.Then it all starts over again.I contacted Heart and they advised the SMALLEST generator their unit could tolerate is a 3KVA machine. I do not have the space to install such a brute, nor would I want to carry the weight so I refitted the old 25A charger which came with my 376 and so now have two chargers. I made a separate circuit to feed the original charger and can now charge at 15 - 20 amps from the generator.The Heart is a no no. It monitors the incoming waveform from the generator and it really doesn't like it.Regards,

 

[Rick D]

Thanks, Don.

That matches my friend's experience. I'm just surprised I hadn't heard of it more often since it would be a pretty common combination, I would have thought. Guess I'll just continue running the engine with my Balmar every four days or so. Rick D.

 

[Dave Emery]

Honda EU2000I With Heart 1500

I have a Heart 1500 Inverter / Charger. I use my Honda EU2000I on a regular basis to run the Heart 75amp battery charger. This combination allows my to recharge batteries or heat water without running my engine.Thanks, Dave

 

[larry w.]

generators and chargers

Rick; Based on info in this site and responses from users, I just bought a Honda EU2000i generator to use with my Freedom 2000 invertor/charger. I've only tested it at the dock so far, but everything seemed to work. The Freedom has a power-sharing fuction that will allow the user to select a current setting for the incoming power and will alter how much juice it sends to the charger and any other AC load, such as a water heater. I'm looking forward to using mine this summer. BTW, I didn't know there was an MDR in LA.

 

[Mike]

I have my experience;

I had a heart 1000 inverter and power share panel 5-30 amps. The 5 amps not to small and 10 will overload the 1000. The 1000 cannot run the water heater 1200 or even 1000 watt element. yYur best bet is the EU2000 it will drve your charger and your hot water heater. Just make a plug so you can plug in like shore power and adapt your powerr share to your incoming amps.

 

[Rick D]

Thanks: Mike, Larry and Dave.. (PS to Larry)

.. I think the smart thing is to borrow one and try it. I have a 2500 watt Heart unit, so the charger output is large. There apparently is something going on with some of these units relative to compatibility. A friend offered the use of an 1800 watt non-Honda unit to try. And, Larry, there is a MDR in CA, but probably not in LA.Unless you mean that MDR is not in the city limits of LA, but then OTOH, it is in the County of LA.Of course, some people would contend that MDR and LA are not from this earth at all.BTW, I just split two weeks in LB (CA, not NY)between the downtown marina and Alamitos Bay. Great city, good facilities and wonderful weather. Rick D.