The Official unofficial CPE 2000i Generator Thread

[pritch272]

8/1/2010 edit: Thread renamed at the suggestion of the Professor.
Renamed from: Champion Inverter and Remote Gens Promo on CPE's web site)

3/22/2011 edit: Thread renamed ...
Renamed from: Official CPE 2000 Watt Inverter Generator Thread

3/23/2011 edit: Thread renamed at the suggestion of the Professor.
Renamed from: (Un)Official CPE 2000 Watt Inverter Generator Thread

Inverter Available August 2010



Remote Available July 2010

[SurfaceDreamer]

professor95 wrote:

In the States Sam's is the outlet for the 735521 2,000 watt inverter. Costco does not carry it. I have not found it online at Sam's Club as of yet.

73531i is the actual manufacturer part number. The Sam's Club item# is 591019 - it does not show up online and may never show up there from what I was told. The best way to locate it in your area is to contact your local Sam's Club directly and/or contact CPE customer service. CPE can tell you what stores in your state (if any) the units were delivered to (which is what I had to do).

[professor95]

pritch272 wrote:

5akman wrote:
I don't see the Champion 2000 on the Costco website. Does anyone have a link so I can purchase one?

Thanks

Lance

Just go to www.costco.ca and search "generator", and you will see it pop up.

The link for Costco Canada is
http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10338741&search=generator&Mo=10&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search?=en-CA&Nr=P_CatalogName:BCCA&Sp=S&N=0&whse=BCCA&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BCCA&Ne=4000000&D=generator&Ntt=generator&No=3&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

In the States Sam's is the outlet for the 735521 2,000 watt inverter. Costco does not carry it. I have not found it online at Sam's Club as of yet.

Costco is the supplier of the 46538 Remote in the States.
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11589601&search=generator&Mo=13&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search?=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=generator&Ntt=generator&No=4&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

Cut and paste the URL into your browser. It is too long for a link on this site.

[beemerphile1]

5akman wrote:
I don't see the Champion 2000 on the Costco website. Does anyone have a link so I can purchase one?

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=10338741&search=champion&Mo=12&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left...

Are you planning a trip to Canada? Only Costco Canada has the Champion. Sam's club has it in the US. See the very first post in this thread.

[pritch272]

5akman wrote:
I don't see the Champion 2000 on the Costco website. Does anyone have a link so I can purchase one?

Thanks

Lance

Just go to www.costco.ca and search "generator", and you will see it pop up.

[5akman]

I don't see the Champion 2000 on the Costco website. Does anyone have a link so I can purchase one?

Thanks

Lance

[SplashDancer]

IO loved Wayne's comment below:"I have this fantasy vision that on the coldest day of the year in Death Valley, all of the generator manufacturers are there to run their maximum power tests."

"I have this fantasy vision that on the coldest day of the year in Death Valley, all of the generator manufacturers are there to run their maximum power tests."

It's referring to the units lose power as elevation increases and air temperature. Hence highest rating is below sea level on the coldest day!!.
Not sure where these non-commercial units are actually rated by the manufacturers, but their has to be a rating condition, as they won't make "rated" power any and all locations/conditions.

[Old___Slow]

Fixx wrote:
I bought one in Calgary two days ago. I opened the box, added oil and gas, gave it one pull and it was purring ever so smooth. I hooked it up to my trailer and waa shocked at the apparent quality. I tried the fan, fridge etc and no problem. When I tried the microwave, thats when the dissapointment started. It would not rev up to meet the wattage needed with nothing else on. Instead it would vibrate roughly and not power the mic to full. When I tried the coffee maker it would rev up ( Quietly ) and power it no problem. I am thinking this will not run at 1600 watt as promised. I had a friend bring his 2000 watt honda over and it handled it without a problem. The db seemed exact and I am picky. I will contact Champion on Monday and keep you posted.

Dissapointed

Perhaps others who bought in Canada over a month ago might come through with some data. Yes there is lot's of interest in the side by side testing with the Honda EU2000i. If we have a winner with the Champion 2000i, let's know about it. The Champion CCC's (Champion Cheering Crowd) will have a field day and the news should be heard around the world. We wait and hope.

[Wayne_Dohnal]

AMPS...VOLTS....WATTS

0........127.1....ECO on
0........128.6....ECO off from here to end of table
.77.....128.2.....99
3.3.....127.2.....420
5.8.....126.5.....734
6.7.....126.2.....856
8.3.....125.8....1044
11.6....124.8....1448
13.9....124.2....1726
16.3....115.0....1875
16.8....110.0....1848
18.0....100.0....1800

How long did it hold the 1800+?

The simple answer is I didn't test for that and don't know. With the voltage down to 100 I would expect the generator to kick into its overload mode at some time. I should have added that since I was testing with close to a resistive load, watts and VA can be used interchangeably. If the load is an air conditioner, microwave, or some converters, watts and VA are not the same.

As prof95 noted, after the 1875 watt reading the power output went down. After crossing that point, I consider the generator to be operating on the backside of the power curve, where increasing the load results in a lower power output. I believe operating in that area to be generator abuse. So rounding off, I consider the maximum output of my eu2000i at the temp and altitude I was at to be 1,900 VA. I have this fantasy vision that on the coldest day of the year in Death Valley, all of the generator manufacturers are there to run their maximum power tests.

With my previous rig, the 13,500 btuh air conditioner pulled 1,320 watts, and the 1,000 watt microwave 1,500 watts. The eu2000i ran them both reliably but the engine spooled up pretty high with the microwave. With a Honda inverter generator the microwave will draw more power because of the voltage being over 120. As far as I know, the other inverter generators output about 120 volts.

Based on posts I've read, I have the impression that the "knock off" inverter generators don't live up to their ratings as well as the Hondas. I'm excluding Yamaha and Kipor from that statement because I haven't run across any data for them. It's sounding like the CPE inverter generator might fall into that "overrated" camp, but there's so much interest that I'm sure we'll be seeing some good actual measurements fairly soon.

[professor95]

Opps..... messed up (again). Duplicated post deleted.

[professor95]

Fixx wrote:
I used the Champion 2000 for my recent holiday and it will not run the microwave on my outback trailer. I talked to CPE and they told me to try and shut off the breaker for my converter( not going to happen).

Why not? It is an accepted and common practice to shed load when using a small generator and a large appliance. It only takes a few seconds to flip the breaker off, use the microwave, and then turn it back on.

It is funny, but my (no longer owned) 2002 Prowler had a switch next to the microwave that selected either the electric element in the water heater or the microwave. You could not run both at the same time on a 30 amp circuit.

Automatic load shed devices are popular for upper end (read expensive) generator back-up systems.

Trying to be helpful and not sarcastic, if you are going to boondock with a smaller wattage, more fuel eficient, lighter, quieter generator then rotating or shedding loads is a "normal" way of life. Just don't try to explain all the technicalities to the DW when she wants to run her 1,500 watt hair dryer. :B

[professor95]

canadiankid wrote:
AMPS...VOLTS....WATTS

0........127.1....ECO on
0........128.6....ECO off from here to end of table
.77.....128.2.....99
3.3.....127.2.....420
5.8.....126.5.....734
6.7.....126.2.....856
8.3.....125.8....1044
11.6....124.8....1448
13.9....124.2....1726
16.3....115.0....1875
16.8....110.0....1848
18.0....100.0....1800

How long did it hold the 1800+?

Can anyone else comment on a 2000 Honda or Yamaha and a microwave please.

Thanks.

If you look at Wayne's chart you will notice he is showing wattage, or actual power in the 3rd column, by the formula volts times amps. IMHO, once he passed the 13.9 amp, 124.2 voltage position and dropped to 115 VAC with a 16.3 amp load he had reached the end of the practical "usable" range of the generator. His peak wattage occurred at 16.3 amps, 115 volts and 1,875 watts. It does not appear from his chart that he ever even reached the advertised 2,000 watts.

As the owner of a Kipor 2,000i I guess I will have to mimic Wayne's test as closely as possible to see what numbers I come up with. I have all the equipment he cites, I just need to get it all together. BTW - My model Kipor is about as close of a cousin to the Honda eu2000i that you could get. At least that is hat Honda said when they sued Kipor for patent infringement.

My Kipor 2000i WILL run the microwave in our 2009 Cedar Creek. It is a full size 1200 watt oven. This means the oven will require at least 1.500 watts from the power source - maybe more. Remember, as the generator voltage drops, so does the actual supplied power. BUT, I DO turn off the converter/battery charger until I want to charge batteries and also switch the refrigerator over to LPG to take away the electrical load of the heating element.

The advice from CPE given to contributor/member Fixx to try turning off his converter was good advice. As one that has boondocked frequently and uses batteries, solid state inverters, solar panels and a generator depending on my needed power and time interval, I accept the regimen of "rotating or shedding loads" as needed to use the appliance I desire. There is nothing wrong with throwing the breaker to the converter for 12 minutes of microwave usage. Remember, when the converter is ON it is supplying the entire 12 VDC power needs of the camper as well as charging the batteries (when connected to a AC power source). When you turn the converter off to shed load, items such as the lighting and the water pump will be 100% from battery. If one's desire is to be able to run everything just like being plugged into a 50-50 split 100 amp shore power outlet or even a 30 amp outlet without rotating power loads then something like the Marquis Gold 7500 might be a better generator choice. 😄

(Sorry for the edits - I keep finding misspelled words. Don't want J.C. on my tail again! 😮

[canadiankid]

AMPS...VOLTS....WATTS

0........127.1....ECO on
0........128.6....ECO off from here to end of table
.77.....128.2.....99
3.3.....127.2.....420
5.8.....126.5.....734
6.7.....126.2.....856
8.3.....125.8....1044
11.6....124.8....1448
13.9....124.2....1726
16.3....115.0....1875
16.8....110.0....1848
18.0....100.0....1800

How long did it hold the 1800+?

Can anyone else comment on a 2000 Honda or Yamaha and a microwave please.

Thanks.

[Wayne_Dohnal]

what is the easiest way most people determine power output for a generator?

I generally plug the kill-a-watt into the generator, an outlet strip into the kill-a-watt, then various loads into the outlet strip. Good loads are an electric heater, hair dryer, and various light bulbs to fine-tune the total power draw. Here are results from an eu2000i at 500' and 70* F.

AMPS...VOLTS....WATTS

0........127.1....ECO on
0........128.6....ECO off from here to end of table
.77.....128.2.....99
3.3.....127.2.....420
5.8.....126.5.....734
6.7.....126.2.....856
8.3.....125.8....1044
11.6....124.8....1448
13.9....124.2....1726
16.3....115.0....1875
16.8....110.0....1848
18.0....100.0....1800

[traveln_circus]

2000 watts surge 1600 rated. That is the same as my honda 2k. I along with many others would like to see some real world tests.

[SurfaceDreamer]

Old & Slow wrote:

S.Dreamer,

You seem willing to share all your knowledge of Champion and Sam's Club. This Inverter has been on the market for about a month now with no 'It's a marvel reports' Maybe you can pass along some knowledge as to real facts. What is the output in watts after 30 minutes. Maybe 1200w? Will two of them together operate a 13,500 btu A/C for more than 30 minutes on a Arizona 100 degree day? Howabout the noise. At full bore of 80cc @ 4000 plus rpm, is it as quiet as the Honda EU2000i? Do we have real competition with this New Champion Inverter to H & Y. If so, we will add to the CCC's less than quiet chant. I already belong.

BTW: Please don't leave us like several other posters after droping in and out with only two or three posts. Some came and went with less.:h

I'll share what I can when I get the first chance to test things. Between work, school and family my time is at a premium and I probably won't have time to really look at things for at least a few more weeks.

My family and I are on a lot of firsts here; our first trailer, our first generator and our first camping trip in 2-3 weeks (the plan as it stands today). As for the CPE 2000 unit - I know I took somewhat of a leap of faith based on overall CPE views on many boards. Considering the price of other units I was looking at (Kipor, Boliy and Yamaha) I'm hoping it works out. I will keep you posted on what I find.

P.S Without digging around and having not looked at the documentation for the unit - what is the easiest way most people determine power output for a generator? I have no experience with any other generator so I'm not sure I'll be able to help with the noise comparison except of my interpretation of how it sounds. I'll do my best though 😉