Onboard generator?

Hermit Scott · Feb 23, 2009

I wish I knew someone that has one. I would just try it. The worst that could happen is it trips the overload. I am going to get a generator because, my YSM12 is too noisy to be starting up all the time just to charge the batteries. A wind generator is $600 and isn't enough alone. Solar panels are about $600 and aren't enough alone. I'd like to have them all but, one at a time.

Ron20324 · Feb 23, 2009

Hermit Scott said:
I wish I knew someone that has one. I would just try it. The worst that could happen is it trips the overload. I am going to get a generator because, my YSM12 is too noisy to be starting up all the time just to charge the batteries. A wind generator is $600 and isn't enough alone. Solar panels are about $600 and aren't enough alone. I'd like to have them all but, one at a time.

Hermit, you ought to be able to rent one.

Hermit Scott · Feb 23, 2009

That is a great idea Ron. Has anyone owned a honda 2000 for a long time? How many hours do people get out of those things.
Ron I notice that your Beneteau had the helm seat positioned at the top of the cockpit? Am I seeing that right in the picture? In my picture you can see a coleman cooler I am sitting on. I am only 5'3" so seeing over things has been a problem all my life.

RECESS · Feb 23, 2009

I do not know anyone that owns a 2000 over a long period of time but I do know a few house painters that own a Honda 1000 that they have treated horrible and it has taken all the abuse and still kicks ass.

Benny · Feb 23, 2009

We have a Honda 2000eu that is left to run out in the weather and it does't miss a beat. Not long ago it got dunked by a following sea wave as we keep it on top of the stern port locker and after a hosing with fresh water, some WD40 it started right up and kept on ticking. One day I was driving behind a pickup truck that had an old beat up Honda unit with half the cover missing and apparently it was still in use as there was a small gas can next to it on the bed. They are sturdy.

Benny · Feb 23, 2009

Kevin a generator may have two outlet plugs for convenience but the full power will be directed to either one which may be in use or divided among the two if both are in use. Just plug in a pigtail to one outlet and leave the second unused. There is no need or advantage to combine the outlets.

Ron20324 · Feb 23, 2009

Top of the cockpit? The helm seat folds up, but I do have a 5 or 6-inch thick helmsman's cushion on it in this picture.... Also, I found it a good idea to take the side-rail swingup seat and clamp it to the stern rail instead. It works great when on auto, but still have to look ahead for the crabpot floats..

Benny · Feb 23, 2009

Stu you may not own a generator by choice but someone other may need one and not be able to justify spending $700 for a 1000eu. You get no argument from me on the quality of Honda as we own two 2000eus and a 3000eu which has electric start.

Stu Jackson · Feb 23, 2009

Benny said:
Stu you may not own a generator by choice but someone other may need one and not be able to justify spending $700 for a 1000eu.

HUH??? Benny, all I asked was what folks with 25-26 foot boats USE a generator for. That's ALL. The answers were:

1. when I get a bigger boat (which made NO sense to me, but helpful anyway)

and

2. for air conditioning. I had little realized that folks could do that on such small boats.

Thanks,

Stu

kloudie1 · Feb 24, 2009

The reason I suggested using both plugs is because of the voltage drop across the 15/20 ampere normal male prongs of the plug. When you are trying to get as much power as you can to the compressor to start it, you don’t want to be passing more than design amperes through the connection. Another option might be to hard wire the pigtail into the generator. That would require removing the panel and Honda might take a dim view of that if you have a warranty problem. Wouldn’t do that while it is still under warranty. Does anyone have any real experience data (not opinions) on the imitation Honda generators like these ? http://cgi.ebay.com/Kipor-Sinemaster-Portable-Generator-KGE-2000Ti-NIB_W0QQitemZ160316593694QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item160316593694&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50
Or this one? http://cgi.ebay.com/DIGITAL-3000-S-...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:3|294:50

Ross · Feb 24, 2009

kloudie1 said:
The reason I suggested using both plugs is because of the voltage drop across the 15/20 ampere normal male prongs of the plug. When you are trying to get as much power as you can to the compressor to start it, you don’t want to be passing more than design amperes through the connection. Another option might be to hard wire the pigtail into the generator. That would require removing the panel and Honda might take a dim view of that if you have a warranty problem. Wouldn’t do that while it is still under warranty. Does anyone have any real experience data (not opinions) on the imitation Honda generators like these ? http://cgi.ebay.com/Kipor-Sinemaster-Portable-Generator-KGE-2000Ti-NIB_W0QQitemZ160316593694QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item160316593694&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50
Or this one? http://cgi.ebay.com/DIGITAL-3000-S-...5|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:3|294:50

If you have a voltage drop at the outlets then either the outlet or the plug needs to be replaced. If the devise is rated at 15 amps it will carry 15 amps without getting hot. Just a 2 volt drop at 15 amps is 30 watts and that is a lot of heat.

ITMaster · Feb 24, 2009

Hermit Scott

I have one, the eu2000i I think is the nomenclature. I have had it for two years and will swear by it. I have a portable window unit that is rated at 10,000 BTU's, I am not sure of the amp draw. I can start up the a/c and run it to the point where we are comfortable and then I back down the rheostat to hold the temp in the aft and main cabin at about 72 to 75 degrees. The main thing is the reduction of the humidity. The fuel capacity is under one gallon on the Honda. I can fill it at about 11 PM and with the a/c running, it will go until about 5 ish, sometimes when the OAT has been in the low 90s to high 80s, it has run about 6 to 7 hours before running out. I plan on setting up a fuel tank like for an outboard this year that will allow it to run longer without me having to refuel during the night, if I go to bed earlier. The autothrottle feature will ram the RPMs up and down as the load is called for.
In the winter, I use it to heat the cabin, charge up the batteries, supplement the electric water heater ( water temp to cold in the low 50s and down into the upper 40s ) since the engine just doesn't get hot enough to heat up a 20 gallon tank. If starting your cabin 16K BTU A/C unit is a concern, you can get a hard start capacitor that will get that compressor jump started, I'm sure you know. Once going, you will find you have enough amps to keep it running.

I see run times anywhere from a little over 4 hours up to 7.5, not quite 8. I love it, I wish I had gotten it sooner, and it is so quiet that when it is running and the a/c is going, all we hear is the a/c.
BTW, @ $72.00 per night for a slip fee, after 14 visits, your genset is paid for. I don't mind transit slips, but prefer the seclusion of being off the beaten path. I know people that have an anchor that has never been splashed in the water, I'm trying to wear mine out

. No one has ever bitched about the noise. But then, when I anchor in a quiet spot, I don't go in somewhere and anchor on top of someone else. Once I had someone come in to our anchorage and they bitched about something and I told them that I was there first and if they didn't like what we were doing, to pack it up and move the *&%k on. Their gripe was the amount of swing that I had due to the amount of rode and scope that I had laid out. They left shortly there after when I told them that if I came close enough to hit them, that I would pull their hook and set them adrift.

ITMaster · Feb 24, 2009

Ross

If I didn't know better, I would swear that the Kipor is made by Honda. I almost wonder if it isn't. The case looks identical, the exception being that it has a different colorant added to the injection moulding process than the stock Honda Red. The front panel looks identical, the fill cap, everything I could see makes it look like a Honda. I used to work for Hewlett Packard and we manufactured product for Olivetti and put their label on an HP product and put it in a box with their label and shipped it out the door to them. We didn't care since our objective was to turn inventory and move it out the door.

That thing looks just like the 2000 Honda, has the same run time, the price isn't far from the Honda, I just wonder if it looks like it, smells like it, sounds like it, tastes like it? Oh, well, I already have a Honda, so I wouldn't be in the market for something else.

Hermit Scott · Feb 24, 2009

Where can you buy a hard start capacitor and how is it hooked up? What farad rating would a 16000btu AC need? My AC is still kicking but if it goes I am going to get a new more efficient portable AC. Since this thread is also about AC, does anyone have a portable AC, not a window unit, but the kind that has an exaust vent hose like a clothes dryer has?

RECESS · Feb 24, 2009

Stu Jackson said:
2. for air conditioning. I had little realized that folks could do that on such small boats.

Thanks,

Stu

Go down to some of the state parks in the Florida Keys during summer. You will see small AC units monted to a piece of plywood in the doorway of a tent. People like to vacation comfortably even if it is on a budget.

ITMaster · Feb 24, 2009

Scott

You may want to give these jokers a try, I just geegled them up and this was just one of the sites that fit the bill.

http://arnoldservice.com/compressor_hard_start_boosters.htm

Maybe give them a holler and see what they say. If when you contact them, if you have the start up amp draw on your 16K unit, and you have the amp load capacity of the eu2000i that is cited herein, they can get you steered in the right direction pretty quick.

Maybe you can find some one on E-Bay with one of these Hondas or even someone in your local community that is hard strapped for some cash and you walk off with one for a song, tweet tweet, that would be sweet

Good luck man!

kloudie1 · Feb 24, 2009

Not to belabor the point but I am talking about a normal plug being designed for 15 amperes or thereabouts. The contact area between the male and female parts is not big enough to carry any more than that without excess heat and power loss. That is why the 30 AMP connector looks like it does, it needs much more contact area to pass the current and keep within a reasonable amount of power loss. Splitting the current by using both sliding connections on the generator will reduce the loss (even though it is small) by almost 4 times (non-linear) .. The design of these temporary connections has more to do with convenience and low cost than for ideal current transfer; they all have a power loss. Does it make a difference?? I don’t really know but if I wanted to be sure that my compressor had the best chance of starting, I would hardwire the 30 ampere connector in, or if I couldn't do that, I would use both of the “standard” 110V connectors. When running smaller loads, the dual plug would make less difference.

Hermit Scott · Feb 24, 2009

For a generator, I think it is something I would feel more comfortable buying new. Unless someone was nearly giving it away. Really I didn't want red bottom paint. I wanted blue. But I got red micron csc for $60 a gal, so...the bottoms red.

ITMaster · Feb 24, 2009

For 60 bucks a gallon, I wouldn't care if it was chartreuse or pink or monkey vomit brown

for that matter Hermit. You got a pretty good deal since it is usually more than double that. I got my genset new, but I wanted to get it when I did to use on a trip and it was late in the summer and HOTT and HUMID out.