EU2000i, got one!

[Vaughn]

I got mine yesterday. (In case you are not familiar: it is the super
quiet, efficient Honda inverter 2KW generator) Just got around to running it
today. It started on the second pull and it is now on a test run to see how
many hours it will run my 'fridge on a tank of gas. If it does as advertised,
it should run that fridge for about 8 hours on 1.1 gallon of fuel.
http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/ModelDetail.asp?ModelName=eu2000i

So far, it is everything they say. I just now walked out in the back yard
to check on it. There was a light airplane going over my head at the moment and
I thought for a moment that the Honda had stalled. No! It was purring along
just fine, just couldn't hear it over that tiny Cessna 1000' over my head.

It is truly a class act; as it should be since I could get a larger
generator for half the price!

The best price that I found was $896.36 at Sun Electronics
http://www.sunelec.com/ in Miami, a name that is probably familiar to several
here on aeh.

Why did I buy one? Some of you here know that I have an old 5KW Onan pad
mounted out behind my house. Well it failed me following our first hurricane
last year (it was the points, I blame myself) and our tiny Honda "lunch box"
generator saved our bacon. More importantly, I was appalled at the fuel
consumption of the Onan and am looking for ways to run it fewer hours. The new
Honda will make a very capable "backup for the backup" and will fill in for
"light load" hours, which might be most of the day!

Vaughn

 

[Robert Morein]

I got mine yesterday. (In case you are not familiar: it is the super
quiet, efficient Honda inverter 2KW generator) Just got around to running it
today. It started on the second pull and it is now on a test run to see how
many hours it will run my 'fridge on a tank of gas. If it does as advertised,
it should run that fridge for about 8 hours on 1.1 gallon of fuel.
http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/ModelDetail.asp?ModelName=eu2000i

I wish they made them in diesel.

 

[Bughunter]

Yes, the EU2000 is a real fine machine. So quiet.

I'm on my third year with an EU3000, and my noisy generator does not get
much use now.
The EU3000 is just at the edge of being too heavy to move for a single man
The EU2000 beats it hands down for portability.
Unlike my 5kw generator, the EU3000 has rock steady voltage and frequency
under any load.

You should drain the gas out of it fully if you only use it for the
occasional hurricane. A gas can with stabilized gas would be a good
accessory to have on hand.

 

[Vaughn]

Yes, the EU2000 is a real fine machine. So quiet.

I'm on my third year with an EU3000, and my noisy generator does not get much
use now.
The EU3000 is just at the edge of being too heavy to move for a single man

Don't know about you, but I am not getting any younger and I find myself
thinking ahead about these matters.

The EU2000 beats it hands down for portability.

And you can buy two EU2000 generators for a price comparable to one EU3000
and have the portability plus the option of tieing them together to get 4kw
(actually about 3.5 KW max steady-state).

Unlike my 5kw generator, the EU3000 has rock steady voltage and frequency
under any load.

You should drain the gas out of it fully if you only use it for the
occasional hurricane. A gas can with stabilized gas would be a good accessory
to have on hand.

Good advice. I have the stabilizer and my gas cans are sitting empty,
waiting on hurricane season. I put stabilized gas in the EU2000 and intend to
run to until it is empty and then try the carb drain. That said, I have never
taken such precautions with my 600 watt Honda "lunch box". I have had gas sit
in that thing for over two years and had it start right up.

Vaughn

 

[Derek Broughton]

Don't know about you, but I am not getting any younger and I find
myself
thinking ahead about these matters.

I love mine. My wife wanted a 3000 for the electric start. It might have
been nice - especially since I could automate it, but the 2000i is (a)
startable by her, without any trouble; (b) really, really, quiet; and (c)
even this fall, when I had four months without sun & needed to run the
generator for an hour or so daily, I only needed to fill the 10liter gas
can once a week.

It doesn't come in Diesel, but there is a propane conversion available

 

[Vaughn]

It started on the second pull and it is now on a test run to see how many
hours it will run my 'fridge on a tank of gas. If it does as advertised, it
should run that fridge for about 8 hours on 1.1 gallon of fuel.

The results are in. It ran our big 2-door 'fridge for slightly over 9
hours on one tank of fuel.

I can't even begin to tell you how useful that would have been following
last year's hurricanes. I truly hope that we have no need for it this year.

Vaughn

 

[Robert Morein]

The results are in. It ran our big 2-door 'fridge for slightly over 9
hours on one tank of fuel.

I can't even begin to tell you how useful that would have been following
last year's hurricanes. I truly hope that we have no need for it this year.

Vaughn

The endurance/efficiency champion is, however, the Yamaha.
It must be either a better alternator or a better throttle control system.

 

[Steve Thomas]

I really don't think that old gas is that big a deal for 4 stroke engines.
Just put some gas from a sealed can in with the old when you want to start
it.
I bought a used lawn mower with a Briggs and Stratton engine over 20 years
ago and it still runs fine.
It spends the winter in a snow drift and starts right up, no problem, by the
time I get around to cutting the grass the following spring..
I know that this is not ideal treatment for a lawn mower, but I only paid 75
bucks for it in the first place.
I have had to weld the deck and replace the wheels, and other odd parts, but
the engine itself just keeps going.

 

[Derek Broughon]

Were you using it for charging batteries through an inverter? I've
heard from quite a few places that the Honda inverter generators don't
work well for that, something to do with the output wave form.

A little context would be helpful - I'm not sure which post you're
responding to, and I don't have my "sent" messages on this account...

It seems to work perfectly for charging batteries through my Outback
inverter/charger. Maybe the charger's more important than the
generator.

 

[Bughunter]

DJ,

I use my EU3000 to charge through a SW4048 inverter. It works fine. I just
have to tell the SW4048
to limit the current to about 20 amps for charging. Sometimes I drop that
down a bit if I will be using
a few appliances off of the SW AC switch.

The voltage and frequency on my EU3000 is so much more stable than my other
5kw propane generator that
it actually is a more foolproof way to charge my batteries.

 

[Bughunter]

In the US, Gasoline additives vary by region and by season.

Therefore, depending on region and the time of year, gasoline may be more
prone to
gumming or going stale.

True, 4 stroke is less susceptible than 2 cycle. Well anyway, that has been
my experience also.
I had a 2 cycle boat engine that really gummed up. After 4 very through carb
disassemblies and cleanings,
I had to rebuild the carbs to get it to run right. The gum was invisible,
but still there was enough if it to prevent the engine from running at
anything near full power. Since then, I have been very careful to use gas
stabilizer in anything that sits for a while. Better yet, I drain the tank
and run the carb empty.

I have had problems with 4 stroke engines as well, a motorcycle that sits
all winter, and
also a couple ATV's. They would start, but really ran bad until I was able
to get some fresh
gas in the tank. So, now I dump a little stabilizer in them if they will be
sitting for longer than a month or so.
Maybe it's just a problem in the north east US, where they load up the gas
with MTBE and god knows what else. It hasn't always been this way. Prior to
the 90's I never worried about stale gas!

Stabilizer may not be needed in all regions or in all seasons. But, for my
area, it's cheap insurance against engines that will not start or run right.

I suggested it because the last thing you want to be doing in the middle of
a hurricane is trying to
clean out the carburetor in your generator. Especially because you will
probably be trying to do it in the dark.

Emergency generators have a tendency to go unused for long periods of time.
But, when you need them, you need them bad. An ounce (or a small squirt) of
prevention is worth a pound of cure.

As they say, "Your mileage may vary".

 

[Landline]

We repair these small generator sets. Hope you have a savings plan for the
repairs on the Honda EU10i/EU1000i and EU20i/EU2000i
Great bit of gear while they are going, but ouch when they stop. Essential
to change the oil every 50 hours

Overall the Yamaha is the better generator, more reliable and major inverter
failures are low and do not cost as much as a new generator like Honda.

 

[Robert Morein]

We repair these small generator sets. Hope you have a savings plan for the
repairs on the Honda EU10i/EU1000i and EU20i/EU2000i
Great bit of gear while they are going, but ouch when they stop. Essential
to change the oil every 50 hours

Overall the Yamaha is the better generator, more reliable and major inverter
failures are low and do not cost as much as a new generator like Honda.


system.

Where do you see the most common failures?
In the motor, the alternator, or the inverter?
The engine is an industrial model. Do you attribute the engine failures to
bad maintenance, or weak design?

 

[Derek Broughon]

In the inverter as the previous poster said ! Most likely people
trying to run 50 tons of reefer or 6 burners on the electric range.
Honda will kill you on anything electric for your spares.

Great. Shouldn't be any problem then for anyone like me with minimal
electrical loads to begin with.

If you look at marine engines and people who use them arround the world
Yamaha really is the one to own if you need repairs. You can go into a
fishing village in central america and parts for a Yamaha are resonable
and available.

I don't see any problem with availability for Honda - that's the prime
reason I bought a Honda and not a Yamaha. There was no sign of Yamaha's
in my neighbourhood.

 

[Robert Morein]

The problem does exist with the Yamaha 2800ESI
The protection tripped off immediately when connected to my 4024.
A scope disclosed that the 4024 was putting hash out on the line that
tripped the Yamaha's protection.
This would happen even if the batteries were fully charged, so that the
actual current draw was one amp.
The solution was to install a large AC line filter between the two.

 

[Robert Morein]

Sorry, that should be 3000ESI

The problem does exist with the Yamaha 2800ESI
The protection tripped off immediately when connected to my 4024.
A scope disclosed that the 4024 was putting hash out on the line that
tripped the Yamaha's protection.
This would happen even if the batteries were fully charged, so that the
actual current draw was one amp.
The solution was to install a large AC line filter between the two.

 

[Landline]

The motor is pretty good and reliable, and 50 hour services are important.
I would thoroughly recommend people put an hour meter on these small
generators. The alternators are probably the most reliable part and the
inverters on the Honda the worst by far. The cost of repairing the inverter
usually renders the generator unrepairable and the customers buy a Yamaha.
The inverters appear to pack up with any type of load and certainly not
limited to overloading. The inverters just appear to fail for no valid
reason. Cost of electrical parts for Yamaha is roughly a third to half of
Honda. I would never recommend Honda even if the quality of the product
was slightly better than another brand. Cost of repairs and especially
electrical repairs for Honda is way out of order. Other issue, is Honda
would have to be the most monopolistic company in existence.

 

[Derek Broughon]

I would never recommend Honda even if the quality of the product
was slightly better than another brand. Cost of repairs and especially
electrical repairs for Honda is way out of order. Other issue, is Honda
would have to be the most monopolistic company in existence.

Coming from someone posting from a Windows computer, that would make the
whole thread pretty suspect...

As Japanese corporations go, I doubt Honda even comes close to being the
most monopolistic.

 

[Steve Spence]

The husqvarna gennie uses a honda. what a sweet gen.

Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust
http://www.green-trust.org

Contributing Editor
http://www.off-grid.net
http://www.rebelwolf.com/essn.html

 

[Robert Morein]

Mine has about 8000-9000 hours on it now. I change the oil about every
50-60 hours. I have adjusted the valves a few times. The most noticeable

That is an amazing lifespan.
What oil do you use?