Honda EU 2200i on Eco with AC??

I just ran some test with the Honda 2000i and the Coleman 11k btu, 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 provides little if any ‘headroom’ if elevation and ambient temps were to increase...

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

3 tons

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(Corrected Coleman Specs)

I think you can't go wrong with Honda.
Beside generator, I do have 20 years old pressure washer powered by 11 HP Honda.
That thing can sit for 2 years behind the sheed, than I put fresh fuel in it, open fuel valve and 1 or 2 pulls later it runs.
This season I bought 2 concrete machines powered by Honda.
The beaten-up equipment ( I bought it used for home use only) still will start on 1 pull.
The only thing I am religious about is running carburetors dry before storage.

My experience has been that sometimes my EU2k would not start the A/C on Eco mode, so I would turn off ECO, start the A/C, then enable ECO again.

I sold both of my 2k units two weeks ago, with the intent of buying one EU2.2k... but now I'm not sure how bad I need a 2.2k since I am re-evaluating my generator needs since I also I have a EU6500.

The EU2200i has only been out a few months, so there haven't been a lot of user experiences posted online yet.

Inverter generators adjust the engine speed to load either way. When you compare engine HP to generator watts they usually have 50% more HP than comparable fixed speed generators, just so they can "pick up" the surge.
ECO or not, it will fluctuate when load change, but ECO switch is lowering the idle.
But when you hit the generator at low idle with max load, the extra HP might not be enough for the engine and it will either stall, or electronics will protect it with overload disconnect.
That is why any heavier loads that come on/off should be run on higher idle.
That said, my Honda 3000 pick ups AC surge on ECO mode just fine, even when I had 15K AC. But than much bigger engine than in 2000 models.
Other test I did was running 2HP compressor. Honda 3000 will start industrial 2HP motor alone, but not with compressor attached.
So I made old fashion clutch, where I loosen the belt for start and then add load once the motor is running.
There are several ways to help the generator in starting heavy load, but they all cost extra money.

Not sure what size my AC is, but I run my 3k Briggs inverter gen on eco with the AC. It can be a kick in the nuts on initial startup, but once it's running it's fine. Since the fan always runs it never fully returns to an idle anyway so as the compressor cycles it's much less of a transition than initial.

Last week I was in Utah at 4,200 feet elevation and 102 temp.
I started my A/C (11,000 btu) with my EU2000i, but once the compressor started it only ran for a couple of minutes before the generator went into fault mode. I just recently ordered a Micro-Air EasyStart Soft Start for this unit. We'll see how this works out…if not, then i'll be paralleling my other companion eu2000i gen.

Grit dog wrote:
......Either way, it's not healthy to hit the generator with a heavy amp load at low rpms and have it play catch up and there's no reason to run it on Eco because things like AC, microwaves, etc draw enough current to have it run high rpms anyway.

I very rarely operate my microwave or A/C. My current draw is typically very low as I use my generator to charge the batteries when I have been in the shade and my solar panels fall behind.

What is "not healthy" about having your generator on eco and then drawing power with A/C, a microwave, hair dryer or whatever? The generator has a lot of catching up to do even when it is not in eco.

Yup ^. Folks need to understand how the generator works, but I'm pretty sure it's only "Eco", which is a catch phrase for lower rpms, when the current draw is low. As the draw goes up, the generator increases its rpms back to (I believe) full output.
Either way, it's not healthy to hit the generator with a heavy amp load at low rpms and have it play catch up and there's no reason to run it on Eco because things like AC, microwaves, etc draw enough current to have it run high rpms anyway.

profdant139 wrote:
3 tons, if Eco works on the 2200 the way it works on the 2000, you can sort of set it and forget it. I run my 2000 on Eco, but if the load spikes up, the Eco disengages and the generator revs up. So I would say just try it -- hit the Eco switch, fire up the a/c, and see what happens. My guess is that the demand will take you out of Eco mode.

My little trailer unfortunately has a 13 k BTU a/c, which is overkill. So my Honda 2000 will not run the air conditioner. I doubt that putting in a special capacitor would solve the problem.

Ditto on this post..Mine does the same thing..I leave it on eco-mode and it adjust the output to the load demand.

3 tons, if Eco works on the 2200 the way it works on the 2000, you can sort of set it and forget it. I run my 2000 on Eco, but if the load spikes up, the Eco disengages and the generator revs up. So I would say just try it -- hit the Eco switch, fire up the a/c, and see what happens. My guess is that the demand will take you out of Eco mode.

My little trailer unfortunately has a 13 k BTU a/c, which is overkill. So my Honda 2000 will not run the air conditioner. I doubt that putting in a special capacitor would solve the problem.