Battery Life and Low Temps

NinerBikes wrote:
Yes, I looked at the link... and there's a theme here... some of the stuff you use is no longer available... It's great you've been at this a long long time, and stocked up on items you found either used, cheap, or was available back then,from a different era.... but most of the people here are Newbies and are looking for stuff that's hard to find, or well used, in the case of an EX650, is perhaps not easy or a good use of their time scrounging around for the old stuff. The EX650 weighs more than an Eu2000i... and puts out 550 watts at 110... the Eu 2000 puts out 1600 watts. 48 pounds, not 56. Just saying. Yes, the EX650 is quiet. It should be... a 70cc motor at 3600 rpms, all the time, doesn't work very hard for 550 watts. The little Eu1000i at 28 pounds, is a 49cc motor. It puts out 900 watts. Of course, to do so, it's going to have to work a little harder and make more rpms and a bit more noise. But I assure you, a 50cc motor making 550 watts will have less parasitic drag than a 70cc motor doing the same amount of work.

Based on power output alone, if a EU2000i puts out 1600 watts and goes used for $600, and an EU1000i puts out 900 watts, and in my case, I picked mine up used for $350, then what should a big heavy old EX650 sell for used at 550 Watts, with spare parts harder to find for it, if it needs them? I'd value one at $150 and not a cent more.

Very well stated!

Except that the EX650 weighs 51 lbs. - not 56 lbs.. Maybe it's the "weight" that makes it so quiet. There is very little plastic in it, with nearly everything being metal. Even Japan doesn't build them like they used to!

It's my almost new (10 hours, maybe), but also obsolete, Honda EX1000 that weighs a potload for only it's 900W rated/1000W max output ... 57 lbs.. I wheel it around on our property in a wheelbarrow to power various tools when out and about. BTW, my EX1000 was given to me too, last year, with only about 2 hours on it ... kindof like a brand new dinosaur to me.

I'm not advocating that anyone look for a used EX650. When it goes, I'll pick up a Honda 1000i for RV battery charging (my EX1000 is too loud - at 64dB full RPM - for camping use in the RV.) The Honda 1000i has an excellent power to weight ratio and it's noise is OK if you can get by just using the lower end of it's output power.

I'm not sure about the "drag" of the EX650's larger cube motor versus Honda's modern small output portables ... maybe and maybe not. Perhaps it's the EX650's larger cubic inches that are the reason for them still starting right away and running 20-30 years after folks bought them.

What's amazing is - our lifelong traveling companions ALSO carry an immaculate EX650 along in their 24 foot Class C for their battery charging in the evenings while at the same time using it to watch TV and movies. A few years ago they were camped next to the host in a CA state campground and ran their EX650 way past nighttime quiet hours and it's so quiet that they got away with it - the camp host couldn't even hear it a few yards away - nor can we barely hear it when camped right next to them or inside their RV visiting with them. A couple of years ago some folks came up to their Class C at Crane Prairie Lake while their EX650 was running and asked what on Earth kind of generator it was even though it was obviously Honda-Red colored. They couldn't believe it was a Honda ... they had never not-heard one that quiet. :)