Your last generator Maintenance Run

[3930dave]

Ran our Honda EU2000 for the last two weeks about 1-2 hours daily for camping. Used it to recharge the camper batteries. Used about 6 litres of gas for this! I was sad to find out that the 2000 watts wasn't enough to power the AC in my new camper.

The EU3000 is rated for something like 13k btu AC units - a friend of mine has used one a lot at racetracks. Honda has a lighter weight 3kw unit, but it is not as quiet as the EU.

I went for overkill on my last portable generator, partly to handle AC loads. We don't use the AC in the trailer much, but esp. if I haul the better half to a racetrack in the middle of nowhere and it's a scorcher - I have it covered. BUT, it's a good idea to do some knee bends and warmup stretches before I go to load that larger one !

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Our Kohler genset ran 18 hours after a thunderstorm wiped out the town. Looked up the service requirement and oil change is 100 hours or yearly, so I'll change it this fall.



The EU 2000 is only 1600W continuous. I believe the Yamaha 2400 is designed for that application. Yamaha Inverter EF2400iSHC

100 hours seems like a lot, but I'd trust the Kohler spec...... running roughly half days, that's about a week continuous. Nice specs on that Yammy, hadn't seen that one before.

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

I ended up with the heavier and not so portable EU3000is just because the 2000 was not quite going to cover all my potential needs. You can run two 2000s in parallel but twice as much $$$ for a great generator. The 3000 is very quiet and sips gas too. But is heavier and not something you want to regularly throw in the back of the pickup.

The wheel-kits for your 3000 seem a bit pricey, at least up here. Might be a good rainy-day build project if you have the time/welder/metal about.....

Rgds, D.

 

[90cummins]

I built a 28 volt DC generator to use as a backup for my off grid battery backup system which uses 4 Trojan LRE-16b 370ah deep cycle batteries.
I tested it today for the second time to again verify how many hours I can operate per gallon of diesel while powering my house in a winter scenario.
First let me describe my system.
I’m using a 10hp Yanmar L100 diesel that I rebuilt. It had a spun rod bearing so it has a new crankshaft, connection rod, piston & bearings. The generator is a Niehoff N1603-2 military surplus alternator rated at 450 amps @ 28 volts.
The engine is running at 2750 rpm no load and the belt driven generator is turning 1444 rpm,under load the engine drops to 2629 rpm with no smoke.
The electrical connection is made with a 175amp Anderson 2 pole connector.
My requirement is to power my fridge, 2 small chest freezers, 1/4hp hot air blower motor for my wood furnace that has a 2kw surge then settles in at 325 watts along with my deep well and lighting.
My well is 80’ deep with the water level within 10’ of the surface, starting load is over 2kw.
I took a couple data points loaded and unloaded which are as follows;
With the furnace blower running the load was .35kw after the well started and stabilized the load was 1.55kw.
I was powering the entire house so the fridge and freezers were doing their own thing as required and I was watering the garden for the duration of the test so the well was cycling on and off for the 80 minutes it took to burn 1 liter of fuel.
This works out to just over 5 hours per gallon to operate my home in the winter.
The test I performed earlier this year with a steady 1kw load ran 5.5 hours per gallon.
I’m quite pleased with the performance so far and will continue to tweak it for more mileage.
90cummins

 

[3930dave]

I built a 28 volt DC generator to use as a backup for my off grid battery backup system which uses 4 Trojan LRE-16b 370ah deep cycle batteries.
I tested it today for the second time to again verify how many hours I can operate per gallon of diesel while powering my house in a winter scenario.
First let me describe my system.
I知 using a 10hp Yanmar L100 diesel that I rebuilt. It had a spun rod bearing so it has a new crankshaft, connection rod, piston & bearings. The generator is a Niehoff N1603-2 military surplus alternator rated at 450 amps @ 28 volts.
The engine is running at 2750 rpm no load and the belt driven generator is turning 1444 rpm,under load the engine drops to 2629 rpm with no smoke.
The electrical connection is made with a 175amp Anderson 2 pole connector.
My requirement is to power my fridge, 2 small chest freezers, 1/4hp hot air blower motor for my wood furnace that has a 2kw surge then settles in at 325 watts along with my deep well and lighting.
My well is 80 deep with the water level within 10 of the surface, starting load is over 2kw.
I took a couple data points loaded and unloaded which are as follows;
With the furnace blower running the load was .35kw after the well started and stabilized the load was 1.55kw.
I was powering the entire house so the fridge and freezers were doing their own thing as required and I was watering the garden for the duration of the test so the well was cycling on and off for the 80 minutes it took to burn 1 liter of fuel.
This works out to just over 5 hours per gallon to operate my home in the winter.
The test I performed earlier this year with a steady 1kw load ran 5.5 hours per gallon.
I知 quite pleased with the performance so far and will continue to tweak it for more mileage.
90cummins

You obviously know your batteries 90, in addition to a few other things :thumbsup:.

Looks to be about 18L/day, or 4.75 US gal. Pretty good already, considering you wouldn't normally be running a well pump continuously.

Of your system loads, how many are running DC directly ?

I'm guessing the Yanmar is mechanically injected - any plans for alternate fuel, or will you be staying with diesel ?

Thanks for the data.

Rgds, D.

 

[90cummins]

I don't have any DC loads at this point in time but I'm considering some DC heating elements for hot water if I run out of propane.
The Yanmar is mechanically injected with no plans for alternate fuels. I have an oil fired hot air furnace and (2) 275 gallon tanks as backup for fuel.
And as I mentioned I heat primarily with wood and over the past 3 years I used less than 60 gallons of oil for heat.
At some point I may experiment with retarding the injection timing now that the engine is running at 2750 versus the 3600 when it was attached to an AC generator.
90cummins

 

[dragoneggs]

The EU3000 is rated for something like 13k btu AC units - a friend of mine has used one a lot at racetracks. Honda has a lighter weight 3kw unit, but it is not as quiet as the EU.

I went for overkill on my last portable generator, partly to handle AC loads. We don't use the AC in the trailer much, but esp. if I haul the better half to a racetrack in the middle of nowhere and it's a scorcher - I have it covered. BUT, it's a good idea to do some knee bends and warmup stretches before I go to load that larger one !

Rgds, D.

I really appreciate my EU3000is or whatever the name is... after killing one battery for the electric key start, I treated it to a battery tender. I may be mentioned this before in this thread and apologies if I did, but I think this was the best thing I could do. Now I don't have to worry so much when I am away traveling, as my better half can easily start it during power outages.

 

[Gem99ultra]

I ended up with the heavier and not so portable EU3000is just because the 2000 was not quite going to cover all my potential needs. You can run two 2000s in parallel but twice as much $$$ for a great generator. The 3000 is very quiet and sips gas too. But is heavier and not something you want to regularly throw in the back of the pickup.

Does pairing up two 2000 watt generators give 4000 watts? I mistakenly was hoping that using the parallel connection would give me 240V for my water pumps. Bonk! Yeah, I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to electricity...

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Does pairing up two 2000 watt generators give 4000 watts? I mistakenly was hoping that using the parallel connection would give me 240V for my water pumps. Bonk! Yeah, I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to electricity...

(2) 2K Honda inverter gen sets properly corded together WILL give you a SURGE of 4K, but it will NOT give you 240V.

SR

 

[3930dave]

I don't have any DC loads at this point in time but I'm considering some DC heating elements for hot water if I run out of propane.
The Yanmar is mechanically injected with no plans for alternate fuels. I have an oil fired hot air furnace and (2) 275 gallon tanks as backup for fuel.
And as I mentioned I heat primarily with wood and over the past 3 years I used less than 60 gallons of oil for heat.
At some point I may experiment with retarding the injection timing now that the engine is running at 2750 versus the 3600 when it was attached to an AC generator.
90cummins
View attachment 439518

You're well covered for Winter. If you ever set up solar PV, it is simple to drive DC heater elements from a diversion regulator - once the batteries are topped up, excess power is dumped into the heaters - can be a nice pre-heat option for your regular hot-water source.

Sunfrost has various DC (compressor driven) fridges. Not inexpensive, but a good option for off-grid - that was their original design priority, for very off-grid applications.

Rgds, D.