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csamayfield55x's avatar
Apr 14, 2016

Generac IQ2000 (Long winded report)

First off I want to say Generac as a company was pretty responsive to deal with. They answered my calls and emails timely and professionally. What I did not like was all of the excuses I got from them.

number 1 and 2
I ordered 2 IQ2000's and a parallel kit from DR power equipment. They got to me the thursday before a weekend boondocking so we ran them a couple of hours at home with no issues and loaded them up for the weekend. The following morning I jumped up and started them both up plugged into the P-kit and turned on my kuerig (about 1400 watts max). These dumb things started freaking out and then tripped!! WE tried again and every time element would come on hard they would trip out. I was able to brew 3 cups of coffee though. WE had a nice weekend and i came home and out them in the shed for a week or so because I was working. The following weekend I went out to build a pig house and decided to use the gens to run my saw. It is a Milwakee recip (1200 watts). Plugged the firs one in and it would go slow then trip the gen. Brough IQ#2 and it would run slow for about 2 seconds then fire up. IT did run the saw the entire cut but had a horrible lag. At this point I contacted Generac. After over a week of back and forth calls and emails I got a project manager who cut the middle man out of this for me and decided to replace both of my brand new gens with new units. So they played tag going back and forth and my 2 new IQ's showed up.

number 3 and 4

After the exchange I took the new units out and did some testing. I could run my coffee maker now no problem, could run my micro, furnace, all tv's, all lights and so on. Now the big test, the AC. Fired it up, fan kicks on then POW! Dark! Tripped the gens out! Now I am getting a bit unhappy so I get a clamp on volt meter and a pair of Honda EU2000i's to test. I tried the honda's first. Guess what, no lag on the saw, ran my Kuerig perfect, and started my AC unit up like a boss! so now I am down to taking readings. I won't bore you with the amp readings unless you want but the MAX I saw with a clip on meter was 14 amps (1680 watts) which was still in the specs of a single unit and it would not run it with 2.
I contacted Generac with all of the information I had and this is where it get's a little funny. They apologized of course then started making excuses why this set up would not work for me. They told me the plugs were too small even though they sell the parallel kit with a 30 amp twist lock. It didn't matter to them that all of the literature compared them with the Honda but there is no way it would keep up! It didn't matter that all of my readings were withing the stated capabilities of 1 unit let alone 2. The solution they gave me was to get an Open frame industrial unit. That was when I was done!

Last week DR issued me a return authorization and paid to ship all three parts back. I got conformation that I was issued the refund today so I ordered a pair of Honda EU200I's with a parallel kit 2 covers and a couple junk extension cords for just under 2100.00!! SHipped.

Sorry this was so long winded and I hope this helps someone else out down the road.

Chris

One thing I wanted to add was the DR power refused to post my review of these. If you go to their web site and look at the reviews most of them were done even before these units shipped out to anyone. Odd huh

For some reason I can't post any updates to this post
  • road-runner wrote:
    The Yamaha ef2000is engine is 79cc. I've not used one myself, but there have been a few forum reports that suggest it performs just as strongly as the Honda eu2000i. Illogical as it may seem, the best indicator I've noticed for inverter generator performance is how much it costs.


    Now that's about as vague as it can get - "strongly". :R Fact is, the Yamaha EF2000iS's engine is 20% smaller in capacity than the Honda EU2000i and the result is predictable - a limited surge capability, while many Honda EU2000i owners find their EU2000i will easily sustain a full 2000 watt surge load for at least 1/2 hr. This is a BIG difference and one of several reasons so many report success in using a single EU2000i to start and run a typical 13,500 BTU A/C. I've done it myself, with two different EU2000i gensets, with different brands of A/C from Carrier to Coleman to Dometic. It's all in the "grunt under the hood" and simply put the Honda EU2000i has more of it. :W
  • We ran a small 13.5 AC for a week in the cascade mountains last summer on a EU2Ki. Only did it on the hottest times of day to let my nieces sleep but it handled it. It was a non ducted model on an 04 KZ Sportsman. Worked like a charm. I should have just bought that Honda from my FIL then on the spot

    Chris
  • SoundGuy wrote:
    ... many Honda EU2000i owners find their EU2000i will easily sustain a full 2000 watt surge load for at least 1/2 hr.


    road-runner wrote:
    And "many" report that the eu2000i won't support a 2,000 VA load at all, for example http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/25853667/gotomsg/25856384.cfm#25856384. Comparisons without side-by-side testing fill in the gaps with assumptions, which logical as they may seem, are often wrong.


    OK, let me rephrase ... I personally found that each of the two Honda EU2000i gensets I owned would easily sustain a full 2000 watt load for extended periods of time. No assumption here - been there, done that many times and wouldn't hesitate to recommend a Honda EU2000i over any other brand in this size of inverter generator because I know that of any of them the EU2000i is the most likely to get the job done AND will continue to do so for many years. As the saying goes - There's no replacement for displacement" and fact is the Honda EU2000i has more of it. :B
  • Even though mine won't support 2,000 VA, I also would not hesitate to recommend the eu2000i. I've had it for 12 years and except for letting the carb get fouled a couple of times it has been a faithful, reliable workhorse. At the same time, based on the reports I've read, I would not pretend to know that the Yamaha and Robin Subaru inverter gens aren't every bit as capable. I consider those and Honda to be in the top tier. I also consider Champion to be the standout in the second tier, with some of the newcomers possibly being equal. Time will tell. I think my little 800 VA Earthquake/PortaSource generator easily falls into that second tier.

    I agree with the displacement theory on an "all things being equal" basis, with exceptions, because there are other factors involved.
  • received my 2 honda's yesterday.Guy delivering them kept questioning why I needed 2 HAHA had to explain paralleling them to him. Ran them in the driveway for about 20 minutes on high then out to the trailer. Hooked them all up and turned on the AC. It was 82 in the trailer. AC came right on and I let them go for a couple of hours. Came back out and the trailer was down to 74!! Seems like they are working just fine to me huh?!?!

    Love my new Honda's

    Chris
  • csamayfield55 wrote:
    received my 2 honda's yesterday.Guy delivering them kept questioning why I needed 2 HAHA had to explain paralleling them to him. Ran them in the driveway for about 20 minutes on high then out to the trailer. Hooked them all up and turned on the AC. It was 82 in the trailer. AC came right on and I let them go for a couple of hours. Came back out and the trailer was down to 74!! Seems like they are working just fine to me huh?!?!

    Love my new Honda's

    Chris


    Once your AC is fired up, put both generators in Eco mode, and listen to them loaf along, nice and easy, no problem. Even with both in Eco mode, the AC will start right back up with the AC having full head pressure on the freon inside. Been there, done that, many a time with my pair.
  • That engineer (gave url for his site earlier) who looked at Westinghouse and Honda's (after eliminating many others by testing) went at some of the reasons why some will work (see below) and some won't with airco units. That seems to be the ultimate test that impacts RVers. It's in engineer speak so... Oh, I live at 4500 feet in MT, and it has never failed to start my 11 year old air conditioning unit a 13.5 Dometic. It has started it at higher altitudes after a moment of thought. From what I have been able to glean from looking around, Westinghouse used some of their proprietary counter rotating fan tech to get their low decibels. Don't ask me how it works but it is as quiet as Honda's. It has passed the neighbor test at 7 AM making coffee. And the Westpro is about half (maybe a bit more) than the cost of a Honda.

    "Looking at the strokes may be a clue: both the Honda and the Westpro are oversquare and have 43 and 40mm strokes. The 125 is undersquare at 52x58 mm and undersquare engines are known for torque and not fast response.

    Interestingly the Yamaha EF2400is and EF2800i and EU3000i seem to share the same oversquare 171cc engine at 66x50 just rated at 3200rpm (2400), 3600 rpm (2800), & 3800 rpm (3000) which sounds like the 2400 would be better at AC starting particularly if the engine were tweaked to 3000 specs."