Honda 2200i and 15k AC

philh wrote:

ktmrfs wrote:
the 2000 runs out of "omph" at about 4000-5000ft on a hot day (6000+ft density altitude). and the easy start will start to cycle the AC on and off. The nice thing it is catches the overload BEFORE the 2000 does so it will shut the AC off for 5 minutes then try a restart.

I don't get that... is the voltage dropping to keep the current up? My Westinghouse 2500, once it reaches it's limit, it's done.

the easy start monitors voltage and current. I talked to them after mine did a shutdown before the gen actually overloaded and tripped. They obviously won't disclose all the details, but the easy start does monitor voltage and current and has an algorithm to determine when they think the generator is overloading. On an AC motor as voltage drops, current rises, (less "back emf"). So I suspect they look at voltage and current compared to startup and when they think the generator is nearing an overload, they turn off the AC, wait 5 minutes then restart and monitor again. The nice thing about this is for example if you have a brain fade, have the AC on and decide to pop a sandwich in the microwave to warm it up, rather than the generator cutting off power completely, the easy start will drop out the AC, let the microwave run. Kinda a poor man's "load shed device". I actually tried that to see what would happen and that's exactly what happened. Didn't need to go out and reset the generator. And about 5 minutes later, AC fired up again, right on que!

Now from talking with them it sounds like they have done pretty extensive evaluation of the unit with honda 2000's so they probably can determine quite well when the typical honda 2000 is nearing overload. How well the same algorithm works on other generator I don't know. But most now are inverter generators, so they probably share pretty similar characteristics.