Generators

[Flatfive]

We just finished a nine-month cross-country trip with our 20-foot Prowler. Great fun and very few issues. We used a 110-watt solar suitcase (Renogy) which worked well and we rarely needed a generator. We sometimes had shore power but were able to go 3 days or so with just the collectors. Of course, it depends on the weather (clouds) and the location (trees). We need a lomger cable on the collector to enable us to pick a sunny spot even if we're in the trees. We started in early February and got home on Halloween, so we missed the days with little sun.
But this month, we went to the Anza-Borrego desert park in San Diego county. It was sunny but the sun angle was low and the batteries went dead after 3 days. Now, we're looking for a generator. (We had borrowed a Honda 2000 for our big trip. They're great, but expensive)
We see Harbor Freight has an inexpensive generator but I read where people had bad experiences with them. Walmart has a "Sportsman" for a little more dough. Anyone used one of these?

[Snowman9000]

Sound Guy, you were snarky. It's easy to do in this type of communication. Without going back to find the post, you said something like "the Yamaha 2800 you seem to love so much...", and then told him/us why it is crappy. That is snarky. It made enough of an impact that I can recall it from yesterday without re-reading it. It gave me a bad impression of you. You probably didn't mean to be snarky, but like I say, in anonymous places like this, it's easy to toss out aggressive phrases like that without thinking twice. And probably without even realizing how they sound. Many of us have done the same. I'm not trying to be high and mighty. Just explaining, since you said you don't see it.

Your mileage may vary.

[bid_time]

2oldman wrote:
Snarkiness is about tone or attitude, not clarity of words.

And I might add, use of certain emojis.

[SoundGuy]

Homer wrote:
There is so much to learn from these forums, why must we get into pissing matches of the use of words or a little error of statement?

Westcoasting wrote:
Trolls love to get the last word in and will go to endless lengths to do so.

As do those who love to use catchy words and phrases like "weight police", "troll", or accuse others of being "snarky" and in doing so attempt to steer the conversation away from the actual discussion. :R Nice try, but no cigar (see, I can use catch phrases too! :W ) - the fact remains that ScottG, in his haste to post how wonderful Yamaha's open frame EF2800iS is in comparison to Honda's EU2000i claiming the latter "pales by comparison", has posted clearly erroneous information that would lead others to believe this to be true. I've simply pointed out this to not be the case at all ... if you want to define that as "trolling" then have at it, you're not fooling anyone. :W

[Westcoasting]

Homer wrote:
There is so much to learn from these forums, why must we get into pissing matches of the use of words or a little error of statement?

Trolls love to get the last word in and will go to endless lengths to do so.

[starcraft69]

Popcorn and a movie!!!!!!!


Champion #1 Go Champion !!!!!! Did i mention CHAMPION?


Sorry litle red

[TucsonJim]

Sam Spade wrote:

TucsonJim wrote:
You can not discern 2dB with the human ear.

Most people can.
The dB scale was set up the way it is partly because 1 dB is the smallest change that the human ear CAN discern.
And 3 dB is twice the audible power.

Your comment made me go do a little more research, and I stand my my statement. 3dB is barely perceptible to the human ear, and it takes a 5dB change before most folks notice:

Acoustics By Design

SILCOM.COM

[2oldman]

Snarkiness is about tone or attitude, not clarity of words.

[SoundGuy]

Homer wrote:
There is so much to learn from these forums, why must we get into pissing matches of the use of words or a little error of statement?

If anyone is "pissing" it's Scott, I'm just trying to understand what he's trying to say about these various gensets he's mentioned. :h It shouldn't be a surprise that when it comes to clarity, words matter. :R

[Homer1]

There is so much to learn from these forums, why must we get into pissing matches of the use of words or a little error of statement?

[SoundGuy]

ScottG wrote:
The newest Inverter Champions and Yami's are both very quiet. The non-inverter Champions are hideous.

SoundGuy wrote:
Not that Yamaha EF2800i which you seem to be so fond of, with a noise rating of 65 dbA - 68 dbA. It may be an inverter genset but it's also open frame and those noise figures are substantially worse than the Honda EU2000i and Yamaha EF2000iS which you claim "pale" in comparison. :R

ScottG wrote:
My mistake, I meant Yamaha's 2400 Watt gen which is just as quiet as the red and blues and will run our 13.5K AC at just above idle.

More interesting is why you have to adopt such a snarky tone. Why cant you just have a normal conversation with someone you disagree with?

:h What's "snarky" about questioning in public forum discussion why you feel Yamaha's new EF2800iS is so good that Honda's EU2000i "pales" by comparison? Earlier you said "If I could dump my Honda eu2000 for what I paid for it*, I'd sell it and get the bigger Yamaha"" yet now you say "I meant Yamaha's 2400 Watt gen which is just as quiet as the red and blues and will run our 13.5K AC at just above idle". I'm sure I'm not alone in asking - what you do have, an EU2000i or an EF2400iS? ... and if it's the latter and if as you say it runs your A/C so well at "just above idle" then why would you want to replace it with a noisier EF2800iS? And yes, FWIW I am familiar with both the EU2000i, having owned 2 myself, and Yamaha's EF2400iS which I tried myself in 2007 to see how well it would run the 13.5K BTU A/C on our TrailCruiser.

I'm simply "asking" but you're confusing responses aren't helping any of us understand what you're trying to say. :R

[ScottG]

SoundGuy wrote:

ScottG wrote:
The newest Inverter Champions and Yami's are both very quiet. The non-inverter Champions are hideous.

Not that Yamaha EF2800i which you seem to be so fond of, with a noise rating of 65 dbA - 68 dbA. It may be an inverter genset but it's also open frame and those noise figures are substantially worse than the Honda EU2000i and Yamaha EF2000iS which you claim "pale" in comparison. :R

My mistake, I meant Yamaha's 2400 Watt gen which is just as quiet as the red and blues and will run our 13.5K AC at just above idle.

More interesting is why you have to adopt such a snarky tone. Why cant you just have a normal, civil conversation with someone you disagree with?

[Sam_Spade]

TucsonJim wrote:
You can not discern 2dB with the human ear.

Most people can.
The dB scale was set up the way it is partly because 1 dB is the smallest change that the human ear CAN discern.
And 3 dB is twice the audible power.

[MrWizard]

i have the champion inverter, generator
i have over 3000 hours on this generator
it has been great, a few weeks ago i replaced the OEM sparkplug yep 3000+ hours on that plug

problems
new battery last year
broken wire on starter solenoid fall 2015
new sparkplug and air filter dec 2015
and i replaced the RV outlet Feb 2015

many people will say Honda, Yammy, XX yrs old no problem

my question is HOW many run Time hours ?

look over your camping, how many years, how many days camping to rack up 3000 generator hours

[Snowman9000]

OP: When you went out to the desert recently, did you have the panels laying flat, or propped up? My experience with a 100 watt suitcase in the desert winter is that if you tilt them appropriately, and move them a couple of times during the day, you can still get a lot of juice.

As a data point, I have a Honda 2000, it's a sweet machine.

[SoundGuy]

ScottG wrote:
The newest Inverter Champions and Yami's are both very quiet. The non-inverter Champions are hideous.

Not that Yamaha EF2800i which you seem to be so fond of, with a noise rating of 65 dbA - 68 dbA. It may be an inverter genset but it's also open frame and those noise figures are substantially worse than the Honda EU2000i and Yamaha EF2000iS which you claim "pale" in comparison. :R