The Official unofficial CPE 2000i Generator Thread

Using McZippie's words, I had an opportunity to "goof" around this morning.

I had hoped it might get warm enough to run the camper A/C - but no such luck. So, this is the only goofin' I managed to accomplish.

I do not own a Honda eu2000. I have borrowed one and compared it to my Kipor KGE2000i. The Honda and the Kipor performed equally from all of my observations at the time. In fact, they are so "equal" Honda sued Kipor over patent infringement when the inverters were first introduced and succeeded in gaining a healthy out-of-court settlement for Kipor's use of the Honda technology.

This morning I put the Kipor side-by-side with the Champion 2000i running the same test on both units that I did on just the CPE a few days ago.

The video is long. I did NOT go to make-up before my appearance.

Yes, the light bulbs get HOT and the second pair of lamps were not making consistent electrical contact.

You will note in the video during the test with the Kipor the voltage dropped quickly as load increased. Voltage remained stable on the CPE through the entire test.

The Kipor reached a point where engine speed started dropping from the added load. It is worth pointing out the Kipor has a 20 cc larger engine than the CPE.

The limiting factor on the CPE was the circuit breaker. The Kipor does not have a mechanical breaker.

The Kipor really got hot when it was fully loaded. There was smoke from burning oil. I do not know where it came from (second video).

The wattage drawn from the electric heater was 1,445 on the CPE and 1,421 on the Kipor (voltage difference).

On the Kipor the 1,421 watts from the electric heater plus seven 100W bulbs appears to be 2,121 watts. But, with the voltage drop to 102 volts the actual power was limited to about 1,700 watts (approximate - not measured.)

Since the the CPE did NOT experience a voltage drop lower than 115 VAC fully loaded, we were able to achieve a power level slightly in excess of 1,700 watts as the 14 amp circuit breaker tripped off.

To view the first video of the test on each inverter generator click here

The short video of the smoke coming out of the end of the Kipor at the end of the load test is here.

Draw your own conclusions. And, no I did not do a sound level test at the same time. Too much going on and too little help.