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

[Angus_NB]

pulsar wrote:

From the forum rules:

• Commercial enterprises and/or their representatives are not allowed to post in these forums.

Tom

That's too bad.
I can understand commercial enterprises not being able to advertise but being banned completely from posting is counterproductive in a Tech Issues forum. Many times these representatives are going to be the only people that can give us an answer.

[pulsar]

-=dwh=- wrote:
And WHAT is with CPE being muted? WHY can't they talk to us here? Seems pretty goofy to me, to shut them out.

From the forum rules:

• Commercial enterprises and/or their representatives are not allowed to post in these forums.

Tom

[Old___Slow]

There are at least three portals to this forum. I have been locked out from using Private Messages and can no longer open a profile. Why, I don't know.

[MrWizard]

are you confusing emails with Pm's
didn't you say in another post, that you received an Email from Dennis at CPE

NON-members/removed members ?? AFAIK cannot login and send PM's

[_40Fan]

I'd like to know why they are being "muted" as well. I received an PM from Dennis after this so called "muting". I don't see how he can PM me, yet not post!

[-_dwh_-]

And WHAT is with CPE being muted? WHY can't they talk to us here? Seems pretty goofy to me, to shut them out.

[bradyk]

I agree with all of the above and they gave me the replacement option as well. At this point I have agreed to be a guinea pig test pilot for this issue. I told Jeff the techie that I would be glad to work with them to figure it out so we are trying a few other steps before sending it back. It is just funny that there is no magic quick fix answer to this one. The rest of the genny runs well and does everything I bought it for. I think they are doing a great job considering I am way across the continent and we are emailing several times a day to try to get it done. I am sure it will be simple, and everyone will have a laugh when it is all done.

[PrivatePilot]

byates wrote:
You have since posted that CPE has made you a happy camper in regard to this problem. Several, including myself, have asked what the CPE solution was that changed your opinion of the generator. Any response?

OK, I'll respond.

Champion replaced my generator. Absolutely no cost to me, and the replacement is perfect.

THAT'S why I'm a happy camper now, and pleased with how I've been treated by Champion. I didn't get treated this well by Honeywell when my HW i2000 crapped out after only 20 or 30 hours of use. I didn't get treated this well by Canadian Tire when one of their house-brand generators died on me 4 years ago - they told me to get stuffed...so it's still sitting in parts in my garage - I have the pics to prove it if anyone wants to see them.

Champion is taking care of the customers who have experienced these issues, and I'm amongst those who appreciate that.

Now, that said, the "normal" procedure that Champion seems to be following with people with these sorts of issues is to provide the circuit board replacement option, but in my case I had a rather unique set of oddities in mine that warranted Champion wanting mine back to send it off to the engineers to look at.

Based on the dialogue I've had with Champion (as others seem to be having as well, based on what I'm reading here) they are honestly very concerned about the issue and wanting to make sure that they "make things right" with their customers. It's a shame that they've been muted here at RV.net and can't interact with their consumers anymore as I'm sure they would like to document the situation better, but I don't personally speak for them so all I can do is explain my side of the story, including what has happened so far, and my feelings on how I've been treated.

I'll also stand fast on the likely reality that the number of effected units is small. The number of people who have found their way here and have posted that they are experiencing these issues is a drop in the bucket compared to the number of units in the market now.

I would (and have) recommend this unit in a heartbeat to others. Just last weekend the friends we camped with were eyeballing mine, and I don't know what they were more impressed with - how quiet and compact it was, or my story about how Champion treats their customers.

[Old___Slow]

BVW wrote:
Found the issue with my fuel leak: the washer inside the fuel switch petcock was broken. Couldn't find a local replacement the right size, so back to Costco it goes for an exchange.

The carb/petcock stories seem to never end. If these defects come from one factory, should be an easy and quick fix. Wonder how many leakers there are?

[bradyk]

Still working on my issues as I posted yesterday mine is still all over the place as well. Jeff the tech guy emailed me back today a few times and I am going to try to be the distant guinea pig and we are going to try get this thing fixed somehow. He is now suggesting maybe a gas/jet issue. I don't have time to take it apart tonight but when I get back next week I am going to check the jet and he is also suggesting to send me a new carb to try as well. Unfortunately I don't think there is one magic answer yet. I do hope we get one as I like the concept of the smaller genny but it has to work too. I can use the 4k Champ if need be which I am for this trip but is sure nice to just throw the suitcase size in the back of the truck as well.

[byates]

PrivatePilot wrote:

MrWizard wrote:
I wonder at what load levels this "hunting " occurs
No load, 300 watts, 600, 150??

My throttle hunts constantly at no load idle. At light load it seems to stabilize, but again under moderate load it runs steady but occasionally burps as if something hard came online...but nothing is - all it was powering at the time was my electronic 25A charger connected straight to my golf cart batteries.

I've put about 60-80 hours on mine in the last few weeks - a lot of dry camping requiring a lot of battery charging. Frankly, I'm still rather disappointed with the throttle hunting issues - it's really hard for the drone of the generator to blend into the background noise when every 15-30 seconds it burps under load. Worse yet, as my batteries charge and the load reduces (my charger reduces the amps as the batteries approach full charge) the generator eventually reaches almost idle and then wanders all over the place. Irritating given this is when it should be at it's quietest while the battery charger drops into float mode, but the generator is bringing all sorts of attention to itself.

You have since posted that CPE has made you a happy camper in regard to this problem. Several, including myself, have asked what the CPE solution was that changed your opinion of the generator. Any response?

[JConatser]

Thanks, DSchmidt_2000 and Wayne, for the first-hand info describing Honda and Yamaha generator's response to a sudden high load while idling along in ECO mode ... the way you described it is pretty much how I've always assumed it would be.

[Old___Slow]

PrivatePilot wrote:

bradyk wrote:
Dennis maybe can add to the burping issue on our gennys, Seems pretty common out there that no one has a magic answer for. I didn't notice it so much but the wife pointed out to me last weekend. I wouldn't put it in the deal breaker category but is it something that is going to get worse or maybe an internal component going to fail down the road. Maybe Dennis can read many of those posts and throw us some ideas.

It's nearing the "it's going back to the store" category for me, depending on how it behaves this weekend at a outdoor jamboree we are attending. It'll probably be running about 16 hours a day for 3 days - if at the end it's still burping and wandering it's idle all over the map I think mine will be going back in the box and back to Costco.

I love the little Champ when it's running right, but this burping and wandering throttle issue *IS* a deal breaker for me.

Private Pilot,

I have respected your many posts for quite some time. But recently the tone and content of your posts seem different. You don't owe us an explanation of just what has caused the change, even tho' it makes me scratch my head and wonder. I too, am a long time pilot and faced with a sudden storm, on VFR, a 180, is the best answer. The issues at hand are different. ??

[Five_Nine]

Let me just clarify what happened with the 1500w heater. I had the heater running at it's lower output. Kill-a-watt read 122v and 6.86a. I then turned the heater on high. Voltage and amperage readings were 119V and 12.12a, respectively. The generator ran like this for about 1 minute, but the engine was really struggling. After 1 minute, RPMS started to drop (based on observation and sound level) over a period of 20 seconds, and the voltage sagged to about 80V and stayed there. There was no recovery.

[Five_Nine]

PrivatePilot wrote:

JConatser wrote:

Five.Nine wrote:
... the generator basically stalled out and the voltage dropped to about 80V when I tested it with a 1500 W heater...

I assume you did NOT have it in ECON mode when you did this test?

He probably did, because I've done this exact same test and had ZERO issues. This generator will run a 1500 watt heater all day long without complaints.

Nope, I was not in ECON mode. I am in Calgary (3500') and you are in Toronto (300' elevation). I think my horsepower is derated by about 10% compared to where you're at. The first generator I had would not power the heater reliably. The replacement generator does run the 1500w heater, but just barely. You can hear the engine struggling and it sounds as though it is slowing down although I don't have a tach hooked up to verify this. I am not complaining about this because I think I have reached or exceeded the engine's design limits at my elevation. I just did the test to compare the replacement generator to the one I returned so I could feel comfortable that it functions properly. I have not retested the new generator with my IOTA DLS-55 converter yet. Based on the heater results, I am crossing my fingers that it will perform better than the old generator, but have a 45 amp converter as a back-up in the event it does not.