| Author | Message | ||
| Geobus (4108gmc)
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I followed the past thread about 2 generators. At one point someone said that a drawback of having two EU?000's joined together was that you couldn't turn one on or one off without shutting down and recabling. Well, by accident a friend started one of a cabled pair of 1999 EU1000i's I had shut down. The power cord was plugged into the one that was not running. I would not have expected this to work but I had power. It was feed through the parallel cable. While I couldn't find my owner's manual to see if I was going to blow up my second EU1000 or my equipment, I tried the following. I started the 1000 that was not running but had the power cord. It worked just fine. Now they were both running. Then I shut the one down that did not have the power cord plugged in but was parallel cabled. After shutting the unit down I filed it up with fuel, started it again, and then plugged the parallel cable back in. Everything seemed to work just fine, no matter what I did. I didn't have any test equipment to see if there were any voltage spikes on the output, but the equipment I had plugged in, a coffee maker and a computer(plugged into a surge protector) continued to work without a glich. Does anyone know if this documented by Honda or do they just say "don't do this" without any field tests. Have a great day. | ||
| Robert Wood (Bobwoodsocal)
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Those little eu's are nice little gennies. I am thinking about a eu2000 for my cabin, and for some construction site work. 46 lbs for a 2 kw, and handheld- nice and handy! I am planning on a 10 kw Wrico in my bus though. All the best friends, Bob | ||
| Brian (Bigbusguy)
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I dont think it will hurt any thing shutting one down . Becouse in the real world 1 would run out of gas before the other . And If that would hurt it The Manual would probley say so. I dont know about the other ways. Brian 4905 Klamath Falls Oregon | ||
| Donn
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Honda makes and sells set up to cable two EU 2000's togeather. Donn | ||
| Geobus (4108gmc)
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Ya they are great units. I started this thread because comments on another thread suggested it would be hard to manage two EU's. It said you couldn't turn one on or off or disconnect the parallel cable without powering them both down and then restarting. It appears to me that you can do about what ever you want and it doesn't seem to make a difference. But again, I don't know if there are voltage spikes that may do damage by doing the above. Have a great day. | ||
| Chris Rating: N/A |
AC power has a 60 Hz waveform. Putting two different power supplies together, that do not have the 60 Hz synchronized, should have caused problems. At worst case would be low voltage due to the 60 Hz being out of phase. | ||
| Jim (Jim_in_california)
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Chris, Honda supplies "dual drive adapter cables" that allows two identical Honda generators of specific 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000 sizes to sync up. Called a "parallel adapter cable". It's like $250. The tricky part is that the manual says that once the cable is on, you HAVE to run both gensets. To switch to solo operation, you have to unplug what's connected into the double adapter and run it straight to the operating genset. Rather annoying. Geobus is suggesting this is male bovine output. Hmmmm. I'm worried that *maybe* the parallel cable (which has a sync circuit) may be at risk of frying. | ||
| Jason Whitaker (Jeepme)
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This is all very interesting since I have an old Kohler 7.5 gas gen that is taking up a lot of bay space in my 4104. Mounting a couple of 2000's in the old a/c bay would be cool. I really like the idea of one (or two) little hondas buzzing quietly along down below. The Kohler is far from 'quietly buzzing'. Will a honda 2000 run a small 10,000btu a/c? If so would two 10,000 btu a/c's keep a well insulated 35' cool? I know you can't have too much a/c when you're somewhere like Florida. My plan so far was two 15,000 btu units on the roof. If you have to go with more expensive honda 3000's to run a couple of roof airs I don't think it would be worth the hassle, just buy the gen that can run the big ones. My dad has a honda 1000 on his boat. Due to some problems with his keel, the honda ended up in a foot of seawater. He dunked it in fresh water and let it dry a couple weeks after which it started up and ran great after 10-12 pulls. | ||
| Chris Rating: N/A |
Yes the two power sources need to be synchronized to each other, otherwise the out phase AC waveforms will effectively short each other out. The govenored speed is not accurate enough such that the two will slowly drift by each other and you will have problems. Now, if the manufacturer provides a means to sync them up, then by all means go for it, but do not think that you can just plug two gensets together and let them rip and not have problems. | ||
| Jim (Jim_in_california)
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Chris: yup, we understand all that  . --------- I too would LOVE to know if a 10,000btu overhead AC will work with a 2kw Honda. Here's the specs: http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/ModelDetail.asp?ModelName=eu2000i Peak power 2000, sustained is 1,600. | ||
| Robert Wood (Bobwoodsocal)
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You might want to read this, it is from a Yahoo group of eu2000 owners: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Honda_EU2000_Generators/message/3 | ||
| Brian (Bigbusguy)
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I dont know about the HONDA but my 1000k look like honda off brand started my 8000btu window AC . It realy worked hard at the start of the AC pump but after it was runnig it run fine . So I would think it 2 Honda should run a 10,000btu easy if not time to get a more efficent AC. I would think it would be better to just get a eu3K or the new eu5k and not worry about it. The Hondas are not like the diesel that needs to run near max all the time the Honda will work fine under 1/2 load or less all day long . So over size it and be done with it. I going for the new Honda EU 5k when they come out this summer. Brian 4905 Klamath Falls Oregon | ||
| Brian (Bigbusguy)
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I see the post of the 2000 running the 13.5k colmans. And at 2000 feet it was harder. Im at 4200 feet with my 1000k fake honda and it runs a 8000btu window AC so at sea level it would do better. But I dont plan to use it for my AC just seeing if it would start it up with all this talk on little Honda Gen's. Brian 4905 Klamath Falls Oregon | ||
| Jim (Jim_in_california)
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Whoa. Yeah, GOOD post. Hmmmm. So...a pair of 2000s, and a matched set of 11,000btu ACs, and you'd be in damned good shape as long as you were careful. Which might be enough on a 35ft rig. The alternative though is a single 3000w Honda or 3200w Suzuki ("Robin") that's just as quiet as a Honda and has an inverter for $1900, and then a 1000w with inverter of any make/model for those times when you're not doing AC and want to run computers, etc. When running off the small one, fuel use is really miniscule. You couldn't "chain 'em together" unless you have two separate 110v systems, one fed by each. But that's not completely out of the question; the same circuit that can be powered by the 1k would also be fed by a true sine wave inverter in the 1k range, while the main 110v would be fed by either the 3200 or a more efficient modified sine inverter of 2k+. Color-code the outlets - orange means true sine or is driven off the 1k, white means modified sine or coming off the 3.2k. | ||
| Mike Eades (Mike4905)
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There is a Prevost right near my home for sale and it has two 12.5 gensets. I heard them start and they started one at a time No problem. I don't know how they are wired but they worked greart and run everything in the coach. | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
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WHAT is he powering to need 25KW of power??? | ||
| Geobus (4108gmc)
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I took a quick look at my parallel cables. There are two labels showing on it: 1) "For use with EU1000i only." 2) "1000V CAT III 32A" The cables have no odd lumps or bumps in them that would lead me to think that there is a small circuit for sync. The plugs are a little heavier than a standard banana plug and have a heavy plastic shield so you can't touch the plug. The cable asym. is made of a pair of wires that are not polarized. If you are not carefull you could even plug both ends of the wire into the same EU?000i, which doesn't do much good. But it could happen. I don't think there is any sync. taking place since the units are inverters. I am thinking the power is being regulated on demand by the inverter and that is why the units, in Eco mode, speed up and slow down as needed. Have a great day. | ||
| Geobus (4108gmc)
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I also found my honda book for my EU1000i. FYI In the back they comment about using two units in parallel operation. In addition to other notices in my book it goes like this Limit operation requiring maximum power to 30 minutes. Maximum power in parallel operation is: 2.0 kVA. For continuous operation, do not exceed the rated power. Rated power in parallel operation is: 1.8 kVA. In either case, the total power requirements (VA) of all appliances connected must be considerd. Appliance and power tool manufacturers usually list rating information near the model number or seial number. The book also says Never connect and remove the special cables for parallel ooperation while the generator is running. Well so much for that. Maybe I am just lucky but over the last few days I did just that 4 or 5 times and nothing has happened. So, I don't know why they don't want you recabling while the units are running. Maybe it is a CYA thing relating to a shock hazard--don't know. This information my be out of date since my book has 1998 printed on it. Maybe someone else can double check the above. The book also says that for high altitude operation "performance can be improved by specific modifications to the carburetor. If you always operate your generator at altitudes above 1500 meters (5000 feet), have your dealer perform this carburetor modification. Even with carburetor modification, engine horsepower will decrease about 3.5% for each 300-meter (1000-foot) increase in altitude. Bla bla bla... Maybe honda has the above info or better info on-line--check it out. Have a great day. | ||
| Jim (Jim_in_california)
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There's a GREAT page on building your own parallel cable for the E2000 model here: http://www.engr.udayton.edu/staff/lriggins/Honda/ 1/5th the price of the Honda cables, and no electronics whatsoever. I talked to the guy that did this post: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Honda_EU2000_Generators/message/3 ...today, because he's a good custom woodworker who knows RVs and I want to price out part of my conversion costs. We discussed this whole concept. He doesn't think there's any problem at all with cabling up dual Hondas (two of the same of the 1000, 2000 or 3000), leaving them dual-cabled and then running one or both as power is needed. | ||
| Geobus (4108gmc)
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Jim, The engr.udayton......./honda page explains a lot. Sounds like he knows what he's talking about. Good find and have a great day. | ||
| Jim (Jim_in_california)
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Oh, and get this: say you've got a 13,500 or maybe even 15,000btu AC. You can fire up both gensets, turn on the AC, let it start up normally, then kill power to one genset! (This is with the 2000s. Same principles apply the others with of course different power outputs...you could pull the same stunt with a pair of 6,000btu units and dual 1000s, or start a pair of 13,500btu ACs with two 3,000s and then kill one...) Duals are only needed for the startup voltages. This is per the author of that yahoo groups post, his website is at: http://www.braingarage.com/Awl/awl.htm |