More confusion for Inverters?

My Yamaha 2800 runs my 15K AC fine. But honestly I would not go any smaller. Look at the Locked amps number on the AC, size the generator to handle that plus. Remember, once you start the generator and connect it, the converter is going to sucking some power, the refer will want to switch to AC.

I'd get one of two things, either a pig heavy Honda Eu3000i, or a pair of Honda Eu2000i's with pairing wires, to run your A/C unit.

I can turn everything OFF in my setup and just run the 13,500 A/C directly plugged into my 2KW HOnda. Then if I start the fan only first using the thermostat it will start up. Things are great until it needs to recycle then it trips my breaker haha...

We camp OFF-ROAD way back off the trail all the time. Don't ever really need the Air Cond... Fans do the trick for us... I run all my wanted toys off the battery bank and have it planed out to reduce my battery bank down to its 50% charge state by 8AM the next morning. Then I can run my generator most of the time for three hours with the trailer shore power cable plugged into the generator and use the on-board PD9260C Converter/charger Smart Mode unit to recharge my battery bank back up to its 90% charge state.

Then I am good to go for the next day/night run off my batteries... I use a smaller 600WATT PSW Power Inverter during the 6PM to the 10PM time frame each day to run a few of my low wattage 120VAC items off the battery bank...

We do this routine alot over the years since 2008...

Works great for our OFF-ROAD camping in my POPUP...




Roy Ken

Norman what is meant by "people stories of under rated inverters running the AC only to find out soon enough that the AC condensors have given out because of using these inventers. All I tell you is that my Yamaha 2400 will run a 13.5 BTU AC nothing else is plugged up on Gen. Do a SEARCH on Yamaha 2400.

The Yamaha EF2400iS was built to run a 13,500 BTU A/C unit. It has the same sized engine as the 2800W and 3000W Yamaha generators! But it's half the weight of a 3000W generator.

I've had mine 10 years. Runs mine without issue. The power is cleaner than what's coming from the grid.

You can see all the testing I've done with mine here: http://www.2manytoyz.com/yamaha2400.html

I can confirm a single Yamaha 2000 won't start a 13.5 Coleman 3, even if it's not very hot out. A pair run the ac just fine with some left over to charge batteries and fridge on AC, but not enough to run MW or a toaster. The 2400 would make me go hmmm maybe?

shelby17 wrote:
I believe it will start up the AC but have heard from a couple people stories of under rated inverters running the AC only to find out soon enough that the AC units condensors have given out because of using those Inverters. Any feed back regarding would help my decision.
Many Thanks,

If the generator can start the A/C then it will run fine.
The inverter-generator will cut power from overload before it runs the A/C at too low of voltage that causes harm.

High temperatures and elevation will be the enemy.

I would venture to guess that the AC failures are not related to the generator usage, but due to age or other factors and are merely coincidental with the generator usage.

It's not clear to me whether "condenser" in this case refers to the outside coils of the cooling system that condense the refrigerant (which I cannot imagine could possibly be affected by the electrical power source used), or to the motor capacitor (which could be). The motor capacitor can die due to old age or other problems. The cooling system coils should be basically trouble-free unless they suffer mechanical damage or are corroded from the elements.

The 2400 watt Yamaha is a good unit, but it is "neither fish, nor fowl". There are many threads on good/bad luck with getting it to start various sized A/Cs, and 13,500 is probably the breaking point.

As mentioned above, I wouldn't bother with the 2400 watt Yamaha. I'd either get a set of Honda eu2000i generators and run them in parallel or a 3000+ wattage inverter generator. The Honda twins give you a lot of flexibility, while the 3000+ watt generator can give you remote start.

I am kind of leaning your way there mlts22. I am having a hard time finding all the Inverters able to twin with another besides the Hondas and the Yamahas. How about Generacs or Westinghouse & Hyundais?