honda eu2000i

It can't run appliances whose wattage total exceeds the capacity of the generator. With that one rule you can do the math.

Hi,

The Honda 2000 is actually rated at 1,600 watts all the time, but 2,000 watts for short time.

Your '1500' watt microwave is the output rating, the input is a little higher.

Your battery charger / converter will always draw a little power. Up to 3 amps if you are dry camping and need to charge the batteries quickly, but less once the battery is over 2/3 full.

If you try running a 1,200 watt coffee maker and 850 watt toaster at the same time, it will overload the generator. You have to run them one at a time, and remember that the battery charger might be using 100 - 300 watts at the same time, depending on how low the battery is.

You might want to compare prices here. Mayberrys.com They even package a pair of generators and a 30 amp RV cord, so that you can plug into two of the 47 pound portable generators and run the A/C unit as well as up to about 3,800 watts, about 32 amps at 120 volts.

By the way, someone reported that a 3000 watt generator is not powerful enough to start their air conditioners once it had been running on a hot day, cycled off, and tried to restart.

So you are probably better off with the pair of 'lightweight' 47 pound generators, and the cord to connect both of them together (so they load share), than a larger generator. My 4000 watt built in Onan generator is much more noise, so would a generator from Costco. While less expensive most air cooled portable generators are really noisy. The Honda 2000 is on of the quietest on the market, including specialty generators, such as those used my a movie studio to film nearby.

Good Luck,

Fred.

300-400 watts for the converter only leaves 1,200-1,300 for everything else. The Air conditioner, microwave, hair driers, and electric heaters often require 1,500 watts or more. Therefore, plan on following the advice to get two EU2000i's or one larger unit. Campgrounds often provide 30 amp service which is about what two EU2000i's will do.

If you only want to charge batteries then a 1000 is cheaper and lighter.

So a pair of 2000's gets me 4000 for the same price as a 3000?
My only negative thought is that if I get a generator(s) I have to load them back into the trailer every time I walk away from the campsite to keep them from being stolen. Or do you guys just leave it outside the trailer, locked with a cable, the whole time?

Are you really going to run the air all day or night? I recommend hookups.

For everything else: Solar, Battery, Inverter.

I upgraded my OFF-ROAD POPUP 30AMP system to run all the things we wanted to run off of a larger battery bank using an Inverter setup for the 120vac items along with being direct connected to the battery bank for the 12VDC items.. This does not include the Air Conditioner or high wattage appliances like the microwave etc...

My working plan is do all of this in a one day-one night run off the battery bank and not go below the 50% charge state of the batteries. Then I am able to recharge the battery bank the next morning at 8AM back up to their 90% charge state when allowed to run my 2KW Honda Generator...

I connect the OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer shore power cable directly to my 2KW Honda Generator to just run the on-board converter/charger and do a few other items like make my coffee for the day and anything else the wife wants to do from the higher wattage appliances we have with us while the generator is running.

The 2KW generator runs the on-board converter/charger just fine for the three hours it takes to re-charge my battery bank using the built-in three stage smart mode on-board converter/charger. I can do this 50% to 90% charge cycles on my 255AH battery bank for 12-14 times and not do any damage to them. After this amount of time however I must do a good 100% charge state run time which for me is around 12 hours of generator run time. This is most often often not allowed at any of the public camping places we go to here on the east Side of the USA. This is usually when we pack up and head for the house...

Adding solar panels is my next step which not replace my initial use of 2KW generator each morning but will allow me to shut down the generator in about an hour's run and then finish my battery bank re-charge the rest of the day before I lose high sun. My initial charge run requires a good 50AMPS PLUS of DC charge current for the initial 15-20 minutes of the boost charge rate when the battery bank first gets hit with 14.4VDC charge voltage. This is more DC Current I can produce from my smaller solar panel install requiring the generator to be able to get me past this point of my re-charge cycle. After the initial DC current charge tapers back to around 8AMPS or so of DC Charge then the solar powers can take over and complete my daily charge cycle. Of course when it is a cloudy or bad weather day the generator is a must have item to do any re-charging of the batteries...

This seems to be the best approach for me when camping off the power grid with my OFF-ROAD POPUP camper setup...

Been doing the one day/night run off the batteries now since 2009 and know what to expect with my setup... It is all second nature for us now...

Roy Ken

My 2KW Honda Generator sits secured in the tail-gate section of my truck bed. I also have a FOLD-A-COVER folding hard bed cover which is also lockable and with the tail gate locked itself.


This gives me a great out-of-sight location for my 2KW generator and I can use it for my trailer without relocating it...

My 2KW Genarator goes where I go - I would never leave it at the camp ground unattended.

Using the OUT-OF-SIGHT and OUT-OF-MIND plan has worked great for us since doing this since the 2008 time frame.

When I use my 2KW generator with the trailer shore power cable connected I just move it out on the tail gate and point the exhaust away from everything. My generator is ran every morning from 8AM for three hours to re-charge my 255AH battery bank. This run time period usually fits most camp ground locations that has generator run time restrictions in place.

This is what I do for security of my 2KW Honda Generator.

Doing this is not a good idea in my way of thinking... You can almost expect the generator and your propane tanks gone when you get back from your short trip away from the camp site.


Roy Ken

Running day and night on .15 cent diesel the cost of fuel, lube oil and filters still amounted to not an inconsiderable amount of money. 100- hour oil changes had to delay to 150-hours. Day and night operation just isn't feasible for me budget and it wasn't back in the eighties in Mexico with diesel being a 125 mile round trip. As well as doing the math on wattage run numbers on gen time cost. It isn't cheap

LaunchnRetrieve wrote:
Looking at table on CW website it suggests that the 2000 can run everything except the AC.

Honda's EU2000i is a best in class 1600 watt inverter generator that can sustain a 2000 watt surge load for up to 1/2 hr but capable as it is it should be obvious that one can't run "everything" in any trailer simultaneously and not exceed it's ratings ... but with a little power management it will run pretty well any individual appliance in your camper, other than A/C. I've owned 2 and run my current EU2000i in this Noise Reduction Box I built for the purpose ... parked in the back of my Avalanche with the cargo lids in place and the tailgate closed one would be hard pressed to hear it running from 20' away. As with my Weber Q grill, there's no way I'd leave my genset unattended at the campsite, chained or not, so it lives in the back of the truck from the time we leave the house to the time we return at the end of our camping trip.

As for house back up, about the only thing I care about is being able to power the house furnace in the winter during a sustained power blackout so rather than interface to the house breaker box with a transfer switch I added a couple of standard 15 amp connectors to the 120 vac line feeding the furnace, which in turn allows me to disconnect from the house entirely and plug directly into the EU2000i parked in the backyard. During the winter I don't really care all that much about the house fridge but if I did I'd simply run a second cable directly from it and out to the genset ... during the summer I keep the trailer parked here at the house so we'd just use it's fridge instead. K.I.S.S. :B

sometimes that isn't possible. Remember, everyone doesn't use their RV's everyone else.

There are times when I have to run my AC all day long, and once I had to run it 36 straight hours. I tailgate at football games. It's one of the biggest uses I have of my travel trailer. Ever been to Atlanta Labor Day weekend? It's usually hot and humid and an AC is necessary, and there are no electrical hookups where the RV's have to park. Therefore, generators are very necessary.

smkettner wrote:
Are you really going to run the air all day or night? I recommend hookups.

For everything else: Solar, Battery, Inverter.