Another fine generator
Written: May 16 '07 (Updated Jun 01 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Quiet, reliable, and easy to start.
Cons: Somewhat expensive, and tend to "grow legs" and walk away.
The Bottom Line: This is a very quiet, reliable and sturdy generator. Buy a good lock to help keep it from being stolen.
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| tarf's Full Review: Honda Super Quiet Generator Eu2000i |
The Honda EU2000i is yet another generator in the Honda line up. This generator features a small footprint, low noise, easy starting, true sine-wave output, high reliability, and a USDA approved spark arrestor.
My first experience with the EU series was with their then new EU1000i which was a 1000 watt generator and, later, the EU3000i model. The company I work for owns many (more than 2 dozen) of these units for use at promotional events. Over the years all of the models proved to be totally bulletproof and found favor with all those who used them. The EU2000i was the model that fills the gap between the 1000 watt and 3000 watt models.
The EU2000i measures about 20” x 12” x 17” and has a large carry handle on the top. Weight fully fueled and oiled is 53 pounds. Fuel capacity is just over 1 gallon and that provides 4 hours of full load run time and at 1/2 load it will run about 8 hours. There are two standard electrical outlets on the front of the unit and for those who like technical terms it is a NEMA 5-20R. The true output specs are 2000 watts maximum (intermittent) and 1600 watts continuous at 120 volts AC, 60 Hz. The EU2000i also has a 12 volt DC output, and with an optional cord, you can charge 12 volt batteries. Its rating is 8 amps and is protected by a circuit breaker.
If you happen to have two Honda EU2000i generators you can connect them together (with yet another optional power cord) to get a 4000 watt output. I have tried this and it works great! We connected a 28 foot motor home and managed to run the air conditioning and a microwave oven without overloading.
The Hondas will start with the first or second pull and in our application it runs about 7 hours on “Eco-Throttle” mode from one tank full. Eco-Throttle slows the engine when the load is small. As the load increases the engine speeds up to keep pace with the load. A special note on Eco-Throttle and that is if you have a load that varies quickly, the generator tends to “freak out” and the engine surges. If this happens turn the Eco-Throttle off.
These generators are just that: real generators. The engine spins a DC generator that runs a DC to AC inverter. This is how the engineers at Honda managed to get such clean power out of the units and have long run times. Output frequency (in the US it is 60 Hz) is produced on non-inverter models by carefully regulating the engine speed in some multiple of 60, i.e. 1200 RPM, 1800RPM or the most common among small engines 3600 RPM. The inverter concept is not dependent upon the engine RPM because an inverter is a purely electronic device. The only reason to speed up the engine is to produce more power for the inverter until the engine is running at maximum speed. The inverter always produces 60 Hz. Output voltage is also very well regulated and we found it did not vary more than a volt or two on the entire range or the generator.
We took a oscilloscope and looked at the waveform from the unit and found it to be clean and did not have any waveform distortion or spikes. What does this mean to you? You can safely run sensitive equipment on it without fear of blowing it up. Sensitive equipment such as computers, test equipment, CD players, and in short, just about any sort of electronic equipment. Many generators are not capable of doing this and some produces so much noise they are almost useless for powering electronic equipment. But, if all you are running is a circular saw (or any motor driven tool), who cares?
Back to the Honda…
We use these Hondas a lot. We have one unit that is nearing 2500 hours and is going strong. We run them about 10 to 20 hours, each, a week at promotional events. It is very undesirable to have a generator that makes a lot of noise. The sound level spec from Honda is something like 59dB at 20 feet. What in the blazes does THAT mean???!!! It means you can carry on a very comfortable conversation, without yelling, on a cell phone while standing next to the running generator.
About the only thing we have done to our Honda generator sets is the usual maintenance, oil changes and changing the air filter. We use a heavy duty motor oil such as Chevron Delo 400 in 30 weight, or Shell Rotella T in 30 weight. We have also had excellent success is using a 10w-30 synthetic oil. California has weird gasoline and it spoils very quickly even with additives to extend the life. Gums and vanishes quickly gather if the fuel sits in them for longer than a few weeks. We found 91 octane lasts a little longer. But… the generators run just fine with 87 octane gas. As side note: They took one of these to Mexico and ran it with the “unleaded regular” gas whatever that is. It ran fine on that too.
Would I buy more of these? Yes! Downside on these units? There are two. The first being they have a tendency to grow legs and wander off. Being expensive and lightweight makes them a target of thieves. The other negative is they tend to be expensive, but I say you get what you pay for and you will not be let down in this unit.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
tarf
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Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 1 member
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