Honda Generators
Question: I need to know what of the below would give me the most amps from a Honda generators, and the best buy for the bucks. Purchasing 2ea series 2000 series Honda generator (Eu2000i companion...
Forum Discussion
2oldman wrote:
W= V*A
Watts=Volts * Amps is ONLY correct for the special case of a pure resistive load. things like light bulbs, toasters etc. (Well, even these aren't pure resistive, but close enough to be considered pure resistive for all practical purposes and calculations.)
Unfortunetly, today many RV loads are anything but puure resistive. So the load current is higher than the watts=V*A calculation. An example are most of the chargers (converters) they typically draw 20-30% or more current than calculated from the power spec. Air conditions are also a reactive load, although not near as reactive as the converters. Microwave ovens are another device with a higher load current. It's known as power factor (PF) PF=1 is a pure resistive load. Even the TV set or your laptop charger is not pure resistive, and actually also have PF<1, often quite a bit less than one.
And, the output of most generators is Volt Amps limited, not Watts. In fact most, including the hondas and yamahas are rated in Volt Amps, not Watts. They can only output the rated current. It's bit more than one person on this forum trying to figure out why a 1,000-1200 watt load overloads a 2000 W (well 1600VA) generator. It's because the 1200Watt load is >1600VA draw.
