Inline Ammeter/Hours Meter For Generator?

[(PeteCresswell)]

Just got a Honda EU2000.

Nice, clean/quiet package - but my usual bout of buyer's remorse has set in.

Engine oil is convenient to drain, but they missed the chance to design
something that is easy to fill without a funnel.

The two biggies, IMHO, are:
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- The manual keeps referring to hours of operation in it's maintenance/oil
change schedules but the thing lacks an hours meter.

- The manual states that the built-in circuit breaker is NOT adequate to protect
the device from overload damage. It says that it can be run at a load less than
what will trip the breaker and be damaged if run at that load too long.... but
there's no load gauge/ammeter that I can see except for a few idiot lights.
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Sounds to me like a case for a little device that plugs into the generator and
then allows the load to be plugged into it - and has a built-in ammeter to show
the exact load and a resettable hours meter to keep track of time between oil
changes.

Seems obvious enough that there must be a few such products on the market.

Anybody got one that they're happy with?

 

[[email protected]]

Just got a Honda EU2000...

- The manual keeps referring to hours of operation in it's maintenance/oil
change schedules but the thing lacks an hours meter.

You might buy one for less than $50.

Nick

 

[Vaughn Simon]

There are easy-to-install hour meters on the market (see the EU2000 Yahoo
group) or you can just keep track of gas tank refills. It is really not a big
deal.

- The manual states that the built-in circuit breaker is NOT adequate to
protect
the device from overload damage. It says that it can be run at a load less
than
what will trip the breaker and be damaged if run at that load too long.... but
there's no load gauge/ammeter that I can see except for a few idiot lights.

What exactly are you thinking about trying to power with your little genny?
If you are going to load it to the max, there is little reason to buy an
inverter generator.

I agree with you about the oil change thing. The Yamaha at least comes
with a little funnel for filling, but you are on your own when you try to do a
neat job of getting the old oil out.

Vaughn

 

[Derek Broughton]

There are easy-to-install hour meters on the market (see the EU2000
Yahoo
group) or you can just keep track of gas tank refills. It is really not a
big deal.

For you perhaps - without the hour meter there is no way my EU2000 would be
getting properly oil changed. I'm just not that organized I did it
last night at 51.2 hours. I bought the hour meter from newarkinone.com
(their part number 26H1267), cut a hole in the case to mount it, and
connected it to the DC socket for power, but it runs off just about any AC
or DC voltage, so could as easily be run off the AC.

I agree with you about the oil change thing. The Yamaha at least
comes
with a little funnel for filling, but you are on your own when you try to
do a neat job of getting the old oil out.

Getting oil out isn't that difficult. I put it on my bench and tip. It
just required a little wipe around the spout. Getting it in without a
funnel is practically impossible.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per lkgeo1:

What exactly are you thinking about trying to power with your little genny?

1 Refrigerator + 1 Freezer for as many hours at a time as needed to keep from
losing what's inside.

When not driving the fridge/freezer - probably a PC workstation, a couple of
incandescent lights, and maybe a TV.

I just tried it with the fridge, freezer, and PC workstation all running
simultaneously. *Seemed* to be OK... but I've got to guess that it's somewhere
near it's limits but don't know if it's close enough tb shortening it's life -
hence the desire for some sort of load indicator.


If/when I want more capacity, I think I'd forget about portability/noise level -
just get something big, put it on a slab, hook it up to the natural gas we use
for heat/hot water, and maybe build a concrete doghouse around it. There's a
hose bib out back where the doghouse would make a nice table/staging area for
garden implements.


But our outages are fairly infrequent - maybe 2-3 per year, 3 days max... and
I'm hoping my recent purchase ensures that we won't have another one for
years....

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Harry:

If there's anylikelyhood of someone inadvertently overloading the thing
get additional overload protection set to the continuous rating,
circuit breakers are best rather than fuses.

Sounds like I should just cobble together a pigtail with a 1.6 kw circuit
breaker in it. ??

This would work for me bc my PC workstation runs off of a UPS - so tripping a
breaker would be no big thing.

OTOH, it would be nice to know how close I am to the limits.....

 

[Derek Broughton]

Change the oil when there is a Full Moon and it will not waste any
electricity..............

I don't use my generator often enough to want to change the oil every full
moon.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per philkryder:

Regarding amps.
Would a surge protector strip and a Kill-a-watt meet your needs?
It seems they would handle the Honda output...

Regarding hour meter:
I bought the following hour meter and Tach.
It shows Hours when off and Rpm when running.
It wraps a wire around the sparkplug wire for signal.
It has an internal battery for power.
They have other options.
The company was Allied Electronics.

Thanks. Too late for the Hour meter though - I ordered a more expensive (and
probably not one bit more functional for me...) one from Mayberry's.

The Kill-A-Watt should be arriving tomorrow.... Between those two devices, I
think I've got it nailed.

And thanks again...