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

[canadiankid]

professor95 wrote:

Like you said, "compares adequately with the lil' red ones."

The CPE 2000i is a great buy and performer. It is obviously a well designed and rugged little digital generator that can serve a RV well.

But, it is NOT an equal to the Honda 2000i - close, but not an equal. The engine needs to be at least a 20cc larger and include a fuel pump to become equal.

My best analogy is the Honda 2000 is like a 3500 series one ton truck, the Champ comes in as a 2500 3/4 ton model. It all depends on how much extra power you need and how much you are willing to pay for the difference.

I like your thinking on that one.

[professor95]

Tystevens wrote:
Thanks for all your input on this, MrRchitty (and others). I've got nothing helpful to add, but I'm seriously contemplating buying this generator, probably in the next week or two, and happy to hear that it has been a solid performer and compares adequately with the lil' red ones.

Like you said, "compares adequately with the lil' red ones."

The CPE 2000i is a great buy and performer. It is obviously a well designed and rugged little digital generator that can serve a RV well.

But, it is NOT an equal to the Honda 2000i - close, but not an equal. The engine needs to be at least a 20cc larger and include a fuel pump to become equal.

My best analogy is the Honda 2000 is like a 3500 series one ton truck, the Champ comes in as a 2500 3/4 ton model. It all depends on how much extra power you need and how much you are willing to pay for the difference.

[professor95]

tkrrox wrote:
i know the professor has stated that the 14amp fuse is holding back this unit...is it possible to just bypass it??? or any other options????

thanks.

Yes, it is possible - but not advisable. In all probability you would be ordering a replacement inverter module in short notice. That could get expensive :E. I do not know the exact cost, but $200 is a good estimate.

The CB is there to protect the electronic module. The switching transistors are not designed to produce more than the rated power.

[professor95]

Another one of those weird La Nina inspired warm fronts moved through my area today. Around 11:30 the sun came out and the temperature spiked to an unbelievable 85 degrees!

I loaded both of the 2000i inverters in the back of the golf cart and headed for the camper. I have been wanting to run this test all winter but could not since the camper A/C compressor will not work below 65 degrees. I turned it on using shore power and the compressor kicked in - finally warm enough.

I hooked both of the 2000i's together with the parallel adapter and plugged them into the 30 amp generator port. The transfer switch kicked in about 30 seconds later and the camper was being powered by the twins.

The refrigerator was off. Converter on - but the batteries were fully charged.

I turned on the A/C and the compressor locked in about 10 seconds after the fan started. The 15K A/C was running off of the two 2000i's as expected.

I turned the thermostat down to 50 degrees to keep the compressor locked on.

Outside I turned one of the two generators OFF. The A/C continued to run off of one generator.

Of course, if the compressor were to drop out for any reason and needed a restart the single 2000i would not get it going. But, one unit will sustain the A/C :B

I know we have some "Doubting Thomas" types on the thread and they like to see photos or even better videos to prove a statement like this is true. But, about the time I was ready to get everything together to do a video it started raining. The temperature dropped 20 degrees in about 10 minutes. The window for the testing was closed.

I did not get to try the 1200 watt microwave off of a single 2000i as the rain had me hustling to get everything back into the garage.

As soon as we get another opportunity to run the A/C I'll do the video and share it.

I think this is pretty cool :C. The same procedure should work for the Honda 2000, Kipor KGE2000 and Yamaha2000/2400 when connected in parallel. Of course, it could get pretty cold in the camper keeping the compressor locked in. Might need to open a window to let in some heat. :R

[Tystevens]

Thanks for all your input on this, MrRchitty (and others). I've got nothing helpful to add, but I'm seriously contemplating buying this generator, probably in the next week or two, and happy to hear that it has been a solid performer and compares adequately with the lil' red ones.

[MrWizard]

9.5 + 7.8 total 17.3 amps 2076 watts

That is way over 13.3 amps, 1600 watt continuous rating

2000w peak surge is 16.6amps surge, NOT continuous

[MrRchitty]

I ran a small pancake air compressor on the CPE 2000 watt with econo switch on. It ramped up perfectly, started the compressor fine. 9.5 amps running. I fired up two halogen lights adding an additional 7.8 amps. Generator ran with red overload light for about 8 seconds before circuit breaker popped. So it was under the rated Max load but the light was still on. I don't think you are going to get what you are looking for bypassing circuit breaker. The Honda's will give that to you for up to 30 minutes.


To add to this, I ran a household fridge for 2 hours and it barely kicked idle starting it and no idle increase running.

I ran my high class keureg coffee machine on econo mode as well and it performed well.

Next is the microwave in the camper with battery converter charger running.
______________________________

(I need to look at this again, I think I ran 1 light, not two.)

[tkrrox]

i know the professor has stated that the 14amp fuse is holding back this unit...is it possible to just bypass it??? or any other options????

thanks.

[Old___Slow]

Prof,

We are making progress (the video) to cover some of the past questions. Two questions remain. One the 1100w microwave (in my MH) and the common converter/charger in most RV's. If these two items operate with the Champion 2000i, should be a run-away best seller. I'll have to eat my hat (forecast) that my Champion C46540 can out class any Inverter up to 3000w. Even for noise at full out put. One must know, mine has some sound lowing help:B

[Old___Slow]

MrRchitty wrote:
O&S, Champion Power Equipment and Champion Spark Plug are two different companies. I was in auto parts sales for 12 years in my previous life. I have access to those catalogs and can get a cross over to champion if you'd like.

Yes, those numbers for the Champion plugs for my Champion c46540 (GX200 engine) would be nice. As for the two different Champions, one possibilty could be that Champion(R) might have licenced their name to a America/Chinese group for the Chinese gens. It really doesn't amount to a hill of beans and was no doubt just a puzzle hanging around. So many brand names these days come out of some of the same mfg. Almost like the American Autos. Engines of one name, some parts even from China. Let's face it. We now have a world market. What's your take?

[professor95]

It is one of those freakish days in Central Virginia. Temperature is up to 74 degrees (this is still February!) and we have wind gusting up to 45 mph. :E

But, even with the wind, it was warm enough to get outside for some more 2000i testing (or goofin').

Before I get into that..... There was some discussion earlier about how to keep the 2000i from growing legs and walking away in a campground. The concern was the plastic handle is only attached with accessible 10mm bolts and could be easily removed if it was used for a cable or chain.

When I recently pulled the cover off of the 2000i I bolted a high tensile strength security cable to the engine. The end feeds out the bottom through the hole for the carburetor drain tube.

This cable cannot be cut with lineman pliers. In fact, a bolt cutter has a hard time cutting all the way through. I know, it will only keep an otherwise honest man honest. Anyone who wants the genny bad enough will get it anyway. But, at least this way, they will have to work a little harder.







Now for the testing videos:

The first clip is the 2000i running a Skill saw. The saw is rated 11 amps. The saw will trip the overload if you simply pull the trigger all at once. But, if you "feather" the trigger a second or so at a time to get the saw up to some speed before holding the trigger down for a cut it works well - as you can see here.

The second test was with a 9" Craftsman sander/grinder/polisher rated at 13 amps. Sears shows a 2 HP motor rating. I once again used the feathering on the trigger of the grinder to help get it started. You can see how I did this in the video if you watch carefully as I trigger the grinder. This method seems to be the "trick" to avoiding overload with high starting current power tools. As you can see, the 2000i powers the grinder OK. Evidence is the sparks coming off of the piece of steel. You can view the grinder test video here.

Note that both power tools were operated under load - not just running in air.

I did try the 6,000 BTU air conditioner in the Volvo again but did not make a video. I added a higher value starting capacitor to the A/C after discovering the one in it was virtually useless (it kept tripping the inverter that is connected to the batteries). The 2000i powered it up and ran it with no problems with the new capacitor installed. Guess the manufacturer of the A/C didn't think the extra buck for a decent starting capacitor was worthwhile :h

If you try the same tests as shown and the generator trips (red light) due to overload call Tech Support at Champion.

[MrRchitty]

At the FD today. I have at my disposal a 2000i Honda to compare with the CPE 2000i. I also video taped so you can get an idea of sound and see what I have done. I am in the process of editing the pieces together (for YouTube). I have to say, the Champion is pretty comparible to the Honda for sound. The Champion is a little noisy at both vented areas of its case. The Honda is noisy at the exhaust side. Honda does a nice job muffling the intake noise, as I took that apart and ran it with and without the cover. The tests I ran involve the use of a large ventilation fan used to apply positive pressure to a structure involved in a fire to remove smoke or Carbon Monoxide. This fan is high power and consumes lots of electricity. It is designed by the manufacturer to ramp it's power from 0 amps to whatever requirements necessary over 5 or so seconds to run selected rpm's by the operator without kicking the breaker on high surge. The Champion was not able to run the fan at it's maximum of 2400 rpm's. Once 14.4 amps was reached at 122 volts (1756 watts) overload light came on and shut the power to the recepticles. (this is noted in the manual as well. It will not run continuously over the rated running watts of 1600 Watts). The Honda ran the fan at it's max setting. It showed 14.4 amps at 122 volts as well and continued to run. The Honda manual states it will run up to Max Wattage of 2000 for 30 minutes. My phone was used to video the test. You will hear both generators in each test. They sound loud as the mic adjusts, however, you can hear me move around, and once the fan starts you can hear a better representation of the sound from each generator with respect to the wind produced by the fan. Note my position in relation to the fan and the generator. For the money, the Champion seems to work fine. I'll post back the link. Thanks.

Here is the youtube link:
CLICK ME!

[-_dwh_-]

professor95 wrote:
Let's play with numbers for a moment. 524 watts x 550 minutes = 288,200 watt/minutes. Divide by 60 = 4,803 watt/hours. Divide by 1,000 = 4.8 Kilowatt/hours

Yes, exactly. My 2nd generation Honeywell is getting about 4300 watt*minute/gallon with a light load. This is almost 30% better than the two 1st generation units got. Not as efficient as the smaller generators - but it's a 125cc engine so that's not unexpected.


BTW, in case I haven't mentioned it on this thread before. When I got my first Honeywell, I went looking for an hour meter for it. I looked around quite a bit and what I finally ended up with was an American made meter from ENM. It was $18 USD (plus shipping) when I bought mine. They've gone up to $25 USD now. In case anyone is interested, here's the link:

http://enmco.thomasnet.com/item/enm-counting-instruments-tach-hour-meters/01-self-powered-engine-tac...

[MrRchitty]

Yesterday and today I was "goofing" around with the generator and got her to stall a couple of times starting a 1000 watt resistive load in Eco mode. (2- 500 watt halogen bulbs). I am going to take it to work tomorrow and try a few things. Friday I am going to try it on a household fridge and see what happens.

I have to say that it is a little noisy with a load on it. Like something is tapping at the back side. I'll pull the covers later and run it, see what's up. Professor, do you notice anything when you load it up?

By the way, cold here in CT, haven't touched the camper. I'll play with the microwave on the house, instead.

[MrRchitty]

O&S, Champion Power Equipment and Champion Spark Plug are two different companies. I was in auto parts sales for 12 years in my previous life. I have access to those catalogs and can get a cross over to champion if you'd like.