To Honda 2200i, or Stick with Honda 2000i?

Lately, I’ve been pondering a bit over Honda’s new 2200i generator, and wondering if it might be able to run my air conditioner while in the Eco mode (ALL other appliances and converter off), though Eco mode is not a viable option on my Honda 2000i...A little extra wattage ‘headroom’ would be appreciated as well - but what to do??

So I just ran some test with the Honda 2000i and the Coleman 11k btu (Mach I p.s.) both having been well warmed up for 30 minutes in advance..Outside temp was about 87df, Nevada elevation is 4,800’...

Using a Kill-a-watt meter, heres the results with both fan and compressor running:

(Note that fan was set on LO - during testing, fan amps alone remained a consistant 2.0 amps)

Volts = 124
Hz = 60
Amps = 11.6 (2.0a for fan only)
Watts = 1160

Coleman rates the 11k btu Mach 1 p.s. compressor ‘running amps’ (not starting amps) at 6.7 amps, and at 9.0 total amps with fan on LOW (9.6 amps, fan on HI)...They also rate the watts at between 1048w (@ 95df) to 1307w (@ 115df).

Honda 2000i had no problem running the air unit with Eco set to the OFF position, but could not negotiate a start when in Eco mode. My present Honda is rated at 13.3 amps (@ 1,600w), while newer Honda 2200i is rated at 15.0 amps (@ 1,800w), compared to the 2000i, roughly a 9% power increase when at 1,800w continuous output...

To determine if the Eco mode was functioning properly, I tried again, but using small Porter-Cable pancake compressor (rated at 10amps - I assume running amps), and a DeWalt 12” chop saw (rated at 15amps), and the Honda 2000i was able to start each while rapidly adjusting to the loads...Same was true when trying a 3.5 gal Rigid shop vac...

Based on this, I believe that the generator and the Eco mode are functioning quite properly, but that the Coleman’s 11k btu ac compressor (concurrent with 2.0 ‘actual’ amp fan) is a severely inductive load that overwhelms (pushes back on...) the 2000i’s Eco mode feature...It also looks like I’m drawing more amps (@ 11.5a) than what the Coleman specs claim (@9.0a on LO fan), though the watts seem to be within a fairly acceptable range...I believe that the nature of the load with present Honda provides little if any ‘headroom’ especially if elevation and ambient temps were to increase...

Running in Eco mode would be nice, but not too sure that the newer 2200i would make that possible, yet a bit of extra headroom would be a worthy improvement...

3 tons

ScottG
Nomad
Jul 22, 2018
Personally I don't think the cost is worth it just for another 200 watts.
If I had it to do over, I would get the new Yamaha 2800. Lots more power in a similar small package.
3_tons
Explorer III
Jul 22, 2018
True, problem is that space is very limited, the Honda’s meager profile fits into the drivers wing compartment of the truck camper.. Not so much with others.
SoundGuy
Explorer
Jul 22, 2018
Personally I'd first invest in a Micro-Air Easy Start Soft Starter Kit for the A/C and see how your current EU2000i does. While more "more grunt under the hood" is always a good thing you just may not need it with your particular A/C which is smaller capacity than the typical 13,500 BTU A/C. It's not running amps that's your issue but the A/C's LRA (45.6 amps rated) which causes your EU2000i to stumble - equipping the A/C with an Easy Start will solve that issue entirely.
Kavoom
Explorer
Jul 22, 2018
I'd check into other units and save money. Westinghouse has one a 2000i XLT that will start air conditioners. Here is a thread on generators from Pop up Explorer that discusses various ones. There is an engineer that went over them in detail and even created his own webpage on things linked from the thread. https://www.popupexplorer.com/forum/index.php?topic=119313.0

He ended up noting this one as his go to. Ihad started the thread because I got the 2000i and live in the mountains. It started my 13,500 and is very quiet.

Good units. And well priced. Honda must have gone to this new unit because of their problem with NOT being able to start airco units would be my guess. They are nice but expensive as are Yamaha's well until this recent Costco sale.
Kavoom
Explorer
Jul 22, 2018
Here is the web page for the guy who did the research on the gensets. He went beyond what I was talking about actually.

http://performanceresearch.us/padgett/
SoundGuy
Explorer
Jul 22, 2018
Kavoom wrote:
Honda must have gone to this new unit because of their problem with NOT being able to start airco units would be my guess.

A terribly limited view ... these 2K inverter gensets offered by a variety of manufacturers are targeted for general purpose use and I'd hazard to guess that of the total sold each year only a very tiny percentage go to RV owners. Powering a 13,500 BTU RV A/C has little to do with it, the new EU2200i made sense simply because it's rated continuous output is a full 15 amps @ 120 vac, the same as a household 15 amp feed, whereas the EU2000i's was just 13.3 amps @ 120 vac.
3_tons
Explorer III
Jul 22, 2018
SoundGuy wrote:
Personally I'd first invest in a Micro-Air Easy Start Soft Starter Kit for the A/C and see how your current EU2000i does. While more "more grunt under the hood" is always a good thing you just may not need it with your particular A/C which is smaller capacity than the typical 13,500 BTU A/C. It's not running amps that's your issue but the A/C's LRA (45.6 amps rated) which causes your EU2000i to stumble - equipping the A/C with an Easy Start will solve that issue entirely.

Oops, I failed to mention that I did install the Easy Start (by Hyper Energy) last year but with little apparant positive result...I agree on the Locked Rotor Amps, but another oddity is that when the genny stumbles (in Eco mode) during start-up, my 2000w inverter immediately takes over and starts up the air cond- but then wants to (unsuccessfully) shift the load back to the genny, but the genny begins a stumble-run-stumble loop... My next move is to reprogram the inverters high voltage parameter from 130v to say 115v which hopefully will be enough to start the compressor then disengage and successfully pass the load over to the genny while in Eco mode...My goal here is to be able to run the ac while in Eco mode - more testing required!

3 tons
3_tons
Explorer III
Jul 22, 2018
Kavoom wrote:
I'd check into other units and save money. Westinghouse has one a 2000i XLT that will start air conditioners. Here is a thread on generators from Pop up Explorer that discusses various ones. There is an engineer that went over them in detail and even created his own webpage on things linked from the thread. https://www.popupexplorer.com/forum/index.php?topic=119313.0

He ended up noting this one as his go to. Ihad started the thread because I got the 2000i and live in the mountains. It started my 13,500 and is very quiet.

Good units. And well priced. Honda must have gone to this new unit because of their problem with NOT being able to start airco units would be my guess. They are nice but expensive as are Yamaha's well until this recent Costco sale.

Thanks for the link !
3_tons
Explorer III
Jul 22, 2018
SoundGuy wrote:
Kavoom wrote:
Honda must have gone to this new unit because of their problem with NOT being able to start airco units would be my guess.

A terribly limited view ... these 2K inverter gensets offered by a variety of manufacturers are targeted for general purpose use and I'd hazard to guess that of the total sold each year only a very tiny percentage go to RV owners. Powering a 13,500 BTU RV A/C has little to do with it, the new EU2200i made sense simply because it's rated continuous output is a full 15 amps @ 120 vac, the same as a household 15 amp feed, whereas the EU2000i's was just 13.3 amps @ 120 vac.

Good Point !!
monkey44
Nomad II
Jul 22, 2018
With the 2200i, does the Honda still need the "easy-start" item, or will it run the 13.5 AC unit stock from factory?

Seems it's same price for either, and weight only 1.5 lbs ... looks like the 2000i is heading for a model clearance. I see a few vendors out of stock already.

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