On another thread, someone said that I would want to disconnect the parallel cables and plug directly into the generator if I only have one running.I haven't been doing this. Is this harmful somehow? It seemed to work fine.I have the adapter to plug my 30 amp power cable directly to the generator, but It would be more of a hassle to do that everytime I switched generators, or went from one to two running.

Rmack1 wrote:On another thread, someone said that I would want to disconnect the parallel cables and plug directly into the generator if I only have one running.I haven't been doing this. Is this harmful somehow? It seemed to work fine.I have the adapter to plug my 30 amp power cable directly to the generator, but It would be more of a hassle to do that everytime I switched generators, or went from one to two running. Just a thought but if you have a dedicated mount for your two generators then could you hook them to a switching panel to run only one or even both and avoid the hassle of plugging and unplugging. As far as running them in paralell I have done it before on demo sites with a panel rigged up for power distribution. Just do not cross current paths or you will see fireworks.:B

Led 67 wrote:Rmack1 wrote:On another thread, someone said that I would want to disconnect the parallel cables and plug directly into the generator if I only have one running.I haven't been doing this. Is this harmful somehow? It seemed to work fine.I have the adapter to plug my 30 amp power cable directly to the generator, but It would be more of a hassle to do that everytime I switched generators, or went from one to two running. Just a thought but if you have a dedicated mount for your two generators then could you hook them to a switching panel to run only one or even both and avoid the hassle of plugging and unplugging. As far as running them in paralell I have done it before on demo sites with a panel rigged up for power distribution. Just do not cross current paths or you will see fireworks.:BI'm not even sure what a 'dedicated mount' is, so I probably don't have one.I run them 'parallel' through the provided device. It has two 'banana' plugs and a U shaped clip that needs to be bolted on -I suspect it's a ground- for each generator. It then has a 30 amp receptacle that I plug my TT's power cable into.I suspect I've been wasting gas by running both gens when I could have gotten by with one. Even if they both run at less RPMs when they are both on, I should get better gas efficiency with just one.

I may be the one who suggested dropping the parallel cable.. I do not believe that is necessary but it might give the O/P some "Piece of mind" in the other thead.Fact: If you have two generators parallelled,, What are the odds of you starting both of them at PRECISELY the same time? (I'd say the word "Impossible" applies here). so clearly one of them is running wile the other is sitting there, and no damage happens.If you run them long enough, what is the odds that one will run out of gas before the other.... Like about 100%, and once again one will be running while the other sits there. So I would not believe it will cause a problem.. I believe Honda and the other companies that allow paralleling have designed to prevent damage.

wa8yxm wrote:I may be the one who suggested dropping the parallel cable.. I do not believe that is necessary but it might give the O/P some "Piece of mind" in the other thead.Fact: If you have two generators parallelled,, What are the odds of you starting both of them at PRECISELY the same time? (I'd say the word "Impossible" applies here). so clearly one of them is running wile the other is sitting there, and no damage happens.If you run them long enough, what is the odds that one will run out of gas before the other.... Like about 100%, and once again one will be running while the other sits there. So I would not believe it will cause a problem.. I believe Honda and the other companies that allow paralleling have designed to prevent damage.That's what I would think, too.I actually called Yamaha, and finally spoke to a someone. I don't think they were specifically a tech, because I kept getting a line that sounded like legalese:'The parallel cables are designed to work with two generators running.'When I said 'OK, but CAN it work with just one generator running?''It will not function as designed. It is designed to work with two generators running.''What do you mean, it won't function as designed? I know that it won't put out enough power to run the air conditioner, but will it still put out current safely, to run other AC functions and appliances in my trailer?''It will not operate as it was designed to do. It was designed to operate with two generators running.'We went back and forth a few times, I finally cornered this character into admitting he really didn't know what would happen. I suspect his whole purpose was to protect the company from legal liabilities, and didn't know squat about the practical engineering of the set-up.So, I called a guy down at my local RV center, who had no legal vulnerabilities, and he said pretty much what you said; no reason why it wouldn't work, and in normal operation, one generator could go off line without warning, so it needed to be able to function with just one running.So, I'm probably going to pull the two banana plugs on the down generator, and leave them in on the running one, just for a surplus of caution, and run off the parallel cable's 30 amp receptacle.I don't think leaving the ground attached would hurt anything. This was the biggest hastle, as it took a tool and some dexterity to attach this each time.

I was exercising my Hondas today, and paralleled them up to do some testing just for gits and shiggles.... I plugged my compressor into the outlet of my B generator with both running... After a while, I turned off B with A running, and the compressor never missed a beat. So, at least on my Twins, the outlets remain hot when the parallel bridge is in place. In nine years of owning them, I'd never paid attention to how the outlets behaved, since I normally only used the 30A plug on the bridge,

two generators hooked up, one running | Good Sam Community

13 Replies

restlesswind
Explorer
Jan 27, 2014
I have a pair of Honda 2000s.I built my own parallel kit.
If I"m going to need both of them I run them both,when there is only one needed I turn one off.I do not bother disconnecting anything.
When we need more power,I fire up the second one.
It seems like a waste of fuel to run two,when one will do the job.
More chance of problems connecting/disconnecting.
I don't have the companion unit,so I built the 30amp outlet along with a 30amp breaker into my homebuilt parallel kit.
There is nothing special inside that $$ parallel kit.
Atlee
Explorer II
Jan 26, 2014
Which is why I will have both wired together even when running just one. The companion genny has a 30amp plug built in.

lane hog wrote:
Wouldn't disabling the parallel bridge and 30A plug defeat the purpose of leaving the other generator running?... That's what the coach is plugged into...
lane_hog
Explorer II
Jan 26, 2014
Wouldn't disabling the parallel bridge and 30A plug defeat the purpose of leaving the other generator running?... That's what the coach is plugged into...
christopherglen
Explorer
Jan 26, 2014
Remember, think of these as gas powered inverters not generators. With one offline its output transistors are high resistance, and as far as the online unit knows, it a small night light worth of load plugged in.
The banana plugs ARE shielded, but the contacts inside are LIVE. I would either pull the plugs from the running unit (which disables the 30 amp plug), or leave then plugged into both. Just running one generator with the other end of the harness loose you are leaving live wires in there.
Rmack1
Explorer
Jan 25, 2014
lane hog wrote:
The Honda manual for my twins says to disconnect the parallel kit only if I don't plan to resume parallel operations. It's not a hard "if you don't disconnect they will blow up" type warning. It's all in the nouns and verbs when it comes to the do' sand don'ts....

"Plan to resume parrallel operations"? how soon? minutes? hours? days?

Yeah, that's the kind of ambiguous language I would expect from lawyers, not engineers.

My Yamaha literature is even more vague.

What I'm going to do, just for a surplus of safety, is unhook the banana plugs on the down gennie, but leave the ground hooked up when I'm running one generator on the parallel connector cables.
lane_hog
Explorer II
Jan 25, 2014
The Honda manual for my twins says to disconnect the parallel kit only if I don't plan to resume parallel operations. It's not a hard "if you don't disconnect they will blow up" type warning. It's all in the nouns and verbs when it comes to the do' sand don'ts....
Learjet
Explorer
Jan 25, 2014
I would think it has protection from backing feeding the parallel type generators. They know at some point one is going to run out of gas.

What does the manual say?
Atlee
Explorer II
Jan 25, 2014
They will work fine hooked up parallel, but only one working.

A friend of mine always hooks up both Hondas in parallel. He will run only one if AC is not needed. I asked him why he did this. He answered, "To keep generally the same hours on each." Over the course of the weekend, he will run one generator one day, and the other generator then next day.

This fall I just used the new Honda Companion unit after AC use was no longer needed, since the other Honda was about 5 years old.

This coming season, I'll do like by friend. I'll switch between the units. The plus for this is both generators get plenty of exercise.
lane_hog
Explorer II
Jan 25, 2014
I was exercising my Hondas today, and paralleled them up to do some testing just for gits and shiggles....

I plugged my compressor into the outlet of my B generator with both running... After a while, I turned off B with A running, and the compressor never missed a beat.

So, at least on my Twins, the outlets remain hot when the parallel bridge is in place. In nine years of owning them, I'd never paid attention to how the outlets behaved, since I normally only used the 30A plug on the bridge,
Rmack1
Explorer
Jan 14, 2014
wa8yxm wrote:
I may be the one who suggested dropping the parallel cable.. I do not believe that is necessary but it might give the O/P some "Piece of mind" in the other thead.

Fact: If you have two generators parallelled,, What are the odds of you starting both of them at PRECISELY the same time? (I'd say the word "Impossible" applies here). so clearly one of them is running wile the other is sitting there, and no damage happens.

If you run them long enough, what is the odds that one will run out of gas before the other.... Like about 100%, and once again one will be running while the other sits there.

So I would not believe it will cause a problem.. I believe Honda and the other companies that allow paralleling have designed to prevent damage.

That's what I would think, too.

I actually called Yamaha, and finally spoke to a someone. I don't think they were specifically a tech, because I kept getting a line that sounded like legalese:

'The parallel cables are designed to work with two generators running.'

When I said 'OK, but CAN it work with just one generator running?'

'It will not function as designed. It is designed to work with two generators running.'

'What do you mean, it won't function as designed? I know that it won't put out enough power to run the air conditioner, but will it still put out current safely, to run other AC functions and appliances in my trailer?'

'It will not operate as it was designed to do. It was designed to operate with two generators running.'

We went back and forth a few times, I finally cornered this character into admitting he really didn't know what would happen. I suspect his whole purpose was to protect the company from legal liabilities, and didn't know squat about the practical engineering of the set-up.

So, I called a guy down at my local RV center, who had no legal vulnerabilities, and he said pretty much what you said; no reason why it wouldn't work, and in normal operation, one generator could go off line without warning, so it needed to be able to function with just one running.

So, I'm probably going to pull the two banana plugs on the down generator, and leave them in on the running one, just for a surplus of caution, and run off the parallel cable's 30 amp receptacle.

I don't think leaving the ground attached would hurt anything. This was the biggest hastle, as it took a tool and some dexterity to attach this each time.