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

[professor95]

pritch272 wrote:
Well Pooler, GA is out of the question, *finally* got someone to check- nope, no yellow generators of any kind, just the black ones.

I'm not too up on the pros and cons of ordering items from Canada. I know there are some restrictions for UPS shipments. But, I was wondering if it would be possible for folks in the lower 48 to order from the Canadian inventory at a Costco? Pretty much the identical unit to the USA model as far as features.

[pritch272]

Well Pooler, GA is out of the question, *finally* got someone to check- nope, no yellow generators of any kind, just the black ones.

Edit: With that item number (which is the same number I had earlier which didn't pull anything up at the local club), Pooler said they had 10 on order. Said to check back in the morning, their truck comes on Fridays. So, I'll give them a call and we'll see.

[traveln_circus]

Here is the Sam's club Item #591019

[traveln_circus]

pritch272 wrote:
FWIW-

Received an 18 month SAC offer from Sams Club a little over 2 weeks ago, it's been burning a hole in my email box ever since.

Went to the local Sams Club today after work, nope, no CPE Inverter generator. Called CPE from the store, nope, this Sams Club isn't on the list to get any. She offered me the Sams item number and we hung up. Went to the membership desk and spent over an hour trying to find any Sams Club that had the unit, I ended up calling CPE back 3 additional times trying to find the right number so Sams Club could pull it up on their computer, nope, no such item. The last time I called CPE, they said the club in Pooler, GA had 8 on hand, we called there, could never get anyone to answer the phone after the initial oper answered, spent over 15 minutes on hold there. I ended up rationalizing that it just wasn't in the cards for me to purchase a pair. I was ready to, that 18 months SAC offer was the kicker. Don't think I want to drive 123 miles one way to make the purchase, and Sams Club said they couldn't do any store transfers. Oh well.

Thats customer service at it's finest. Sam's Club pull your head out.

[pritch272]

FWIW-

Received an 18 month SAC offer from Sams Club a little over 2 weeks ago, it's been burning a hole in my email box ever since.

Went to the local Sams Club today after work, nope, no CPE Inverter generator. Called CPE from the store, nope, this Sams Club isn't on the list to get any. She offered me the Sams item number and we hung up. Went to the membership desk and spent over an hour trying to find any Sams Club that had the unit, I ended up calling CPE back 3 additional times trying to find the right number so Sams Club could pull it up on their computer, nope, no such item. The last time I called CPE, they said the club in Pooler, GA had 8 on hand, we called there, could never get anyone to answer the phone after the initial oper answered, spent over 15 minutes on hold there. I ended up rationalizing that it just wasn't in the cards for me to purchase a pair. I was ready to, that 18 months SAC offer was the kicker. Don't think I want to drive 123 miles one way to make the purchase, and Sams Club said they couldn't do any store transfers. Oh well.

[curt12914]

Hee is a link for a person (msiminoff) that is using a ProSone inverter charger in conjunction with his Honda EU2000i to start his AC, then run it on generator only.

Do you think this could be done with the CPE 2000 inverter also?

[professor95]

SplashDancer wrote:
Prof, serious question to you or others. Can anyone tell me where to find these small (ie 600 watt out) M.Wave units. We dont' seem to get them anywhere in Canada, even the big box stores. As you stated, I'd like one (for my sailboat use) for when smaller and longer is a great alternative to NO MW, (hair dryer too!!) and on the boat I don't need a big heavy portable gen. Looking at the CPE for that as well, since it's shape makes it a LOT more stable than the red or blue styles

Now, that's strange. I mean not being able to find small microwaves on your side of the border.

The shelves at our local Wal-Mart and Target here have them all the time for as low as $35.00 with a manual timer. They are often called "Dorm" microwaves referring to what kids take to college. Cooking wattage ranges between 600 and 800 which translates to 750 to 1,000 watts of generator or inverter power to operate. And yes the little ovens will pop a bag of popcorn - just elevate the bag to the center of the oven with a small heat resistant bowl turned upside down.

If you can order from Amazon in the States here is one with a manual timer for under $50 that is 600W. If you want to see more just do a search on mini microwaves.

As for portable hand held hair dryers, Nancy goes through them like a baby does diapers. They don't seem to last too long :). I have a box full of cast-offs I keep for parts and the small high volume fans inside. All of them have a High-Low switch with low being 1/2 the wattage of high. Quite a few also have a 110 or 220 volt selector switch at the bottom of the handle. When put in the 220 volt position it will work at 1/2 power from a 110 volt source.

Yea, we rough it a lot when we dry camp in the fiver with the Volvo (also a fully equipped mini-motor home inside). I even drank instant coffee one morning - but only once. :W

EDIT ADDED:

:S I just thought of another source for low wattage microwaves and appliances - A large truck stop! Browse their store shelves and you will find all sorts of mini 120 VAC appliances that OTR truckers put in their tractor cabs and sleepers and run off of DC to AC inverters.

They also have kitchen stuff that runs off of 12 VDC like drip coffee makers, toasters, pizza ovens, etc. But, unless you are running an engine to keep the voltage up the 12VDC appliances don't work very well.

[Wayne_Dohnal]

I remember someone on a generator thread talking about an inverter generator that uses the electric starter DC battery as an additive power source for the inverter module to start high current inductive appliances.

The only one I'm aware of is the Yamaha EF3000iSEB ("B" for boost). Of course with a 3,000 VA gen most of us probably wouldn't need the boost feature, but for somebody who does I guess it could make a night-and-day difference.

[MX-RV]

so I went to Costco today and picked up a unit my plan is to try it out over the next few weekends and see what I think if all works out well Im going to get the link kit and another one. In the mean time I brought it home and filled it with oil some fuel and gave it a pull (two actually) it started revved for a few mins and settled right down. once settled I left the econ. switch off and plugged in a small fan ( I have a personal problem letting a gen run with out any load at all) and let it run for an hour on what I can only describe as mid throttle. Following the hour I flipped the switch and listened as it settled down till the only noise really heard more than a soft purr which could no longer be heard from the front of the house was a rattle which I traced to the access panel a small amount of window weather strip fixed that. I then plugged in a 1500W according to the label (not confirmed) steam mop. The generator howled and coughed for about 5s then still wound out but not like the first 5s settled down for a further 3min while the heating element was on. I ran it like that for a further 15 min with it cycling every 3min not once was there a problem with it it ran flawlessly. An hour meter was added and the next test will be the micro and then the AC Im not holding my breath about the AC. however so far Im a happy customer.

[SplashDancer]

Prof, serious question to you or others. Can anyone tell me where to find these small (ie 600 watt out) M.Wave units. We dont' seem to get them anywhere in Canada, even the big box stores. As you stated, I'd like one (for my sailboat use) for when smaller and longer is a great alternative to NO MW, (hair dryer too!!) and on the boat I don't need a big heavy portable gen. Looking at the CPE for that as well, since it's shape makes it a LOT more stable than the red or blue styles

[SplashDancer]

Prof, that's funny. Just for the record, making coffee in the manual drip, and using a Thermos to keep it hot, IS ROUGHING IT compared to the rest of the life with the Volvo and 5th. LOL

[professor95]

Wayne Dohnal wrote:
I've never seen such a post myself. The ones I've seen used the eu2000i powering the RV via an inverter's automatic transfer relay. When the air conditioner starts the generator voltage droops, the transfer relay flips, and the inverter starts the air conditioner. Without a load, the generator voltage picks back up and the transfer relay flips again, placing the running air conditioner back on generator power. One post I specifically remember used a Prosine 2.0 for the inverter.

Wayne,

That is an extremely interesting approach. Maybe a Prosine 2.0 will start a conventional RV A/C, but my Vector MAXX 3000/6000 will not. I connected the MAXX to four 127Ah AGM batteries via a 3' long set of four 00 copper cables and no-go. The MAXX would immediately go into overload shutdown.

But, when connected to a double 1,500 watt rated resistive load (actual 1,325 each) it would hum right along. Of course the MAXX is not a true sine wave inverter and therefore lacks the Peak to Peak voltage needed to give a starting capacitor all of it's kick.

I remember someone on a generator thread talking about an inverter generator that uses the electric starter DC battery as an additive power source for the inverter module to start high current inductive appliances. Since you appear to have a rather extensive knowledge of the specs for different inverter generators perhaps you can tell me if this is a myth or real. In any event, I like the concept.

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FWIW to anyone interested - I DO occasionally run a 6,000 BTU roof mount A/C in the camper's bedroom from a 1,200 watt modified sine wave inverter and the 6,500 BTU unit in the Volvo from a 1,500 watt Xantrex MSW inverter. Either one is also quite happy connected to the KGE2000i Kipor. What's nice about this is we can at least sleep without sweat from silent power when no gen power is allowed at night. Of course, you must have a lot of battery reserve to make it through the night. My point being if you have two A/C's on your camper like we do, both of them do not need to be 15K or even 13.5K units. Downsize the one in your sleeping area and wire it so you can power it directly from the inverter or small generator. I have seen small (5K to 8K BTU) window A/C units placed in portable plywood frames temporarily set in the pop-out escape window openings of a camper. You may not be able to put frost on the walls with a smaller A/C in a larger space but you can make your living or sleeping area a lot more comfortable for less than $150 without having to purchase twin 2,000 watt generators or a heavy 3,000 watt unit. I also have a small 600 watt microwave I picked up at a thrift store for $15 that we often pitch in the camper when dry camping. That is 1/2 the power requirement for a generator or inverter than our built-in microwave. Of course it can take twice as long to heat something but you do not have the high load that chokes a small generator. By the same token, many portable hair dryers have a half-heat (wattage) setting. It takes longer to dry the DW's hair but she is happy not to be totally without. I guess we are really roughing it when we make our morning coffee in a stove-top Coleman drip coffee maker and keep the excess warm in a Thermos bottle to drink later.

[PrivatePilot]

SImply installing a hard-start capacitor in the AC unit is a much simpler option versus all this "automatic fallback to the inverter" stuff.

The initial load on an AC is what bogs the 2000w class gennies. A good hard start kit reduces that load dramatically to the point where a generator doesn't bog/stall/overload anymore.

[Wayne_Dohnal]

The reason I asked is that, in addition to the Honda - Kipor paralleling, I have read about paralleling a Honda with a true sine wave inverter. I beleive it was done mostly for the extra surge to start loads like an AC unit, etc.

I've never seen such a post myself. The ones I've seen used the eu2000i powering the RV via an inverter's automatic transfer relay. When the air conditioner starts the generator voltage droops, the transfer relay flips, and the inverter starts the air conditioner. Without a load, the generator voltage picks back up and the transfer relay flips again, placing the running air conditioner back on generator power. One post I specifically remember used a Prosine 2.0 for the inverter.

[curt12914]

The reason I asked is that, in addition to the Honda - Kipor paralleling, I have read about paralleling a Honda with a true sine wave inverter. I beleive it was done mostly for the extra surge to start loads like an AC unit, etc.