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

[MrRchitty]

Image of the Champion 2000i inverter gensets running.




The command center. 30 amp twist lock with 10 guage wire to a switched 20amp gang box. Each outlet has a 15 amp power box to prevent over load on individual power cords. From there we are powering various items and the generators only come off an idle when a refrigerator starts or the coffee maker is turned on. So, the noise level is very, very tolerable. And Valentino keeps an eye on everything.

Look at my battery charger, I had to put a cooling fan on it. All the power for charging goes through the guage. When the batteries require higher amps, the guage over heats, melts and the indicator fails. So, replaced on warranty, drilled a large whole in the new one and put a 12 volt cooling fan on it. Problem solved. By the way, the power factor is 0.80.

[toprudder]

PrivatePilot wrote:
What you suggest is an incrediby lossy way of charging a 12 battery from a truck. You're taking 12v, stepping it up to 120, and then back down to 12 again, all via a method that looses a lot of it's effeciency to heat, and will only output a few amps at the end.

You'd be a LOT better served turning your truck around and hooking some booster cables between your trucks alternator and your house batteries - mere minutes will yield much better results.

My thoughts, too. However, my camper will charge from the truck as long as I have the pigtail connected, up to 40 amps. No need for jumper cables. I had to install the 40 amp fuse, though, as it did not come from the factory with that fuse installed for some reason.

[Old___Slow]

I didn't mean to change the subject from the storm post by B.Yates but I was typing at the same time, sorry. Must add, I feel for all the storm victims. Plenty of stories to come, I'm sure. Just hope none of our RV folks were hurt.

[MrRchitty]

Day 2, still no power. Champion inverter 2000i x's 2.... running 2 refrigerators, 1 Keureg Coffee maker, TV, surround sound and multiple lights. Moved plug back and forth for furnace. Worked great. Irene did some damage, but we're getting through it. I converted my Champion open sync to 220 and am running my well pump, solo.

[Old___Slow]

vandoc wrote:
I've had 2 of these Champion generators with a parallel kit for a month now. This past weekend I had problems with one of the generators starting. There was a great deal of resistance on the pull start, and I couldn't start it as a result. The 2nd generator has the burping issue that's been described here. I wound up returning both generators because of the issues. The units paralleled ran my 13,500 AC unit fine at 6,000 feet elevation. They would not run both the AC and microwave at the same time with eco mode off. I was considering returning the generators because of the burping issues; the last issue with pull start problems was enough to convince me to return them. These were the Red color with a build date of March 2011.

The idea of a bad batch, as mentioned in one of the recent posts, with the first production run will not fit in this case. The build date was 'March 2011'. The $64.000 question is*is 'why the burbing with some units and not others?' And the Champion 2000i handling starting a 10/11 amp saw or an A/C cycling. It has been stated somewhere, I do believe, the hard start issue has something to do with the EC Module. The modules are upgraded AVR's correct? Some owners with other brands of Chinese Inverters have uncovered P.Pots on the modules for adjustments, just like the AVR. So if the AVR failed in many cases, is it not possible we are having Module failures and will in the future??. The only brand (Kipor) that shows retail parts, to my knowledge, has a price of $500 just for the Inverter module. WoW. However, IIRC, the Kipor has totally different tech (like H@Y) than the Champion 2000i, right? I have never heard of H or Y module failure but there must be one somewhere?

Looking forward to a new and improved record from Champion. And retail listing of parts available.

[byates]

PrivatePilot wrote:

Hybridhunter wrote:
If you want to have 12volts / charging at the same time as you run your A/C, you could pick up an efficient 15amp speed charger. I sometimes run that off my truck's built in 400 watt inverter, so it is low amp draw, and a decent unit all around. Less than half the amp draw of a converter with a bad PF.

What you suggest is an incrediby lossy way of charging a 12 battery from a truck. You're taking 12v, stepping it up to 120, and then back down to 12 again, all via a method that looses a lot of it's effeciency to heat, and will only output a few amps at the end.

You'd be a LOT better served turning your truck around and hooking some booster cables between your trucks alternator and your house batteries - mere minutes will yield much better results.

FWIW, we just boondocked through Hurricane Irene (at the CT/MA line) and my two little champs performed admirably, running for about 48 hours straight powering the 5'er. As the wind and rain howled we sat in AC comfort watching movies.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that even without a hard start on my 13.5kbtu roof air the paralleled Champs were able to start the AC even from eco mode, WITH the converter on! It was nice having the genny's idle down for the periods of time the AC cycled off - I gassed them up at 11PM before hunkering down for the worst of the storm and they were both still running at 7AM when I woke up. Took advantage of a break in the rain around 7:45 to run out and refuel and they ran the rest of the day as the storm passed.

Finally shut them down around 7PM as the hurricane moved on, leaving cool dry air behind it - no need for AC anymore, and with fully charged house batteries we switched to inverter power for the evening.

I experienced hurricanes Ike and Rita, as well as Tropical Storm Alicia. Not sure I would want to be in the path of a hurricane or tropical storm while in a recreational vehicle. In that area, you had to experience tropical storm winds (39-73mph) while boondocking. Were you in a protected area where the wind was blocked? What was the wind speed at your location?

[PrivatePilot]

Hybridhunter wrote:
If you want to have 12volts / charging at the same time as you run your A/C, you could pick up an efficient 15amp speed charger. I sometimes run that off my truck's built in 400 watt inverter, so it is low amp draw, and a decent unit all around. Less than half the amp draw of a converter with a bad PF.

What you suggest is an incrediby lossy way of charging a 12 battery from a truck. You're taking 12v, stepping it up to 120, and then back down to 12 again, all via a method that looses a lot of it's effeciency to heat, and will only output a few amps at the end.

You'd be a LOT better served turning your truck around and hooking some booster cables between your trucks alternator and your house batteries - mere minutes will yield much better results.

FWIW, we just boondocked through Hurricane Irene (at the CT/MA line) and my two little champs performed admirably, running for about 48 hours straight powering the 5'er. As the wind and rain howled we sat in AC comfort watching movies.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that even without a hard start on my 13.5kbtu roof air the paralleled Champs were able to start the AC even from eco mode, WITH the converter on! It was nice having the genny's idle down for the periods of time the AC cycled off - I gassed them up at 11PM before hunkering down for the worst of the storm and they were both still running at 7AM when I woke up. Took advantage of a break in the rain around 7:45 to run out and refuel and they ran the rest of the day as the storm passed.

Finally shut them down around 7PM as the hurricane moved on, leaving cool dry air behind it - no need for AC anymore, and with fully charged house batteries we switched to inverter power for the evening.

[MnDuckBoatguy]

Tried to clarify my above post with an edit.

Thanks for the charger info. Do you leave it wired / clamped in? So you dont have to mess with the battery case?

[TUCQUALA]

Heads up for those out there that aren't so paranoid aboot these good little units: $40.00 off at Costco for awhile - $449. And they are still RED!!!

[Hybridhunter]

If you want to have 12volts / charging at the same time as you run your A/C, you could pick up an efficient 15amp speed charger. I sometimes run that off my truck's built in 400 watt inverter, so it is low amp draw, and a decent unit all around. Less than half the amp draw of a converter with a bad PF.

http://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-SSC-1500A-SpeedCharge-Charger-included/dp/B000H961YI

I also did not get parts of the above post, especially the screwdriver socket work?

[MnDuckBoatguy]

This is the Hard Start Capacitor (spp6 for $12.98 not the spp6e) I used and the old one I removed was pretty close to the one in the photo, to get my 15,000 Duo Therm to run on the Two. Spp6 Link for install, I bought it locally from wholesaler The post On July 13,2011 by Jim Berry , currently 3rd to last states use the Spp6. However mine has to run with out the converter. My single 12v battery is a 2006 and probably doesn't hold a charge well. Whenever I need some more watts I shut off the breaker.

So Am I happy that I don't Have a 3000 Honda or 2 lighter Reds? NO!! However I have $1,000 to buy other stuff for the rig.

It took some slight screwdriver / socket work to get one unit running. Which I do said same thing on the rig now and then with a square screwdriver on those darn screws that manage to come loose some how. Not to mention use of the lug/ torque wrench on Flat tires. Never did get one of those screwdrivers or tire iron lug wrenchs from the dealer either nor that kewl brake adjusting tool. Anyway I can now run what I want for the time being anyway and not over rumble the neighbors. Not perfect , but my part service was 5 business days including the day I called.

Happy with a new item broken , of course not. Glad to have customer service that was better than my "lifetime warranted" windows which the manufacturer no longer carries the hardware for in their warehouse. Which cost me $45.00 for the stupid part from a different distributor.

In short the Hard start took me from 15,000 no AC to AC w/out converter.

[ReverendCharles]

Old & Slow wrote:

bradyk wrote:
You can't always use numbers. Sometimes there will be a bad run of product and it can sku the numbers based on one bad batch. Randall and myself have both taken the liberty of trying to fix our gennys with parts from Champion. We are both handy and it sometimes is just as easy to do it yourself. Just to make sure everyone know they are not all bad and only may be some of them. I have a 4K Champion as well and so does my FIL and they are both awesome gennys and neither of us has had an issue in 4 years. Make sure you have all the numbers before coming to conclusions not just a few.

May the question be asked, what parts were supplied by Champion for the Champion 2000i that may have brought the Inverter genset up to advertised standards? Many of us are still on the fence as to what to buy in an Inverter generator. At this time, it seems, the Champion 2000i will not be the ideal RV genset. Even in pairs, many problems of proper sync are reported and the sustained output of more than 3 hours is also in question. As to parts, the question remains, are all parts on hand including the modules at Champion CPE CS. And how long would they stock parts after a new unit might hit the market? Questions, questions, questions.

Get a Yamaha 2400i, I think it is 75 lbs around $1100.00 and only 1 motor to maintain. These units are very reliable and run about 9 hrs on a tank of gas. They also start a 13500 ac at all altitudes and temperatures, so if its hot out you still have ac and will run until it is out of gas. I have a 1200 champion with low hrs and had to pull the black and yellow wires out to get it started last time I used it, oil is full. The Champs are nice project generators if you like to tinker.

[Hybridhunter]

Did I miss your post about them going into overload when paralled and trying to run your A/C? What page was it on? Thanks.

[MrRchitty]

I don't blame you. I think I would feel the same. Although, at this point, I am willing to give them a chance to figure out the skip on one. I am also working on why my AC unit puts them into overload. First, I want to make sure that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the AC unit. The units otherwise are performing nicely.

[Hybridhunter]

Old & Slow wrote:
Well Randall, you have up'ed Boone's mention of .500 to now 1000 with the kids Fire Truck failure. I will leave out the point of possible origin. You have been kind in your remarks about the Champion 2000i. That's okay. However IIRC, the first Champion 2000i for you, smoked while trying to charge the RV battery and was returned. Then you mention that twin Champion 2000i's would only run the A/C on a cooler night for 3 hours and went into OL. Well, my point. I have a Champion that preformed well for the past RV. Would handle the C/C A/C and microwave. So I am NOT a Champion hater. And Champion CS has always been good to me. So, IMHO, the Champion 2000i is really not quite usefull nor dependable for RV use. I look forward to further Inverter models from Chmapion.

Maybe if I hadn't waited 6 weeks for my parts I would be a little more forgiving of the .500 thing. My 2 were batting 0, and after 6 weeks for parts, they were still not able to produce their rated amperage, but I digress.
I was just trying to wrap my head around being happy at .500, when I had a tough go.
But, in defense of CPE, I bought the 1200 / 1500 as stated, because they do seem like an ethical company. I think they dropped the ball on my issue thrice; once on the inverter software, a second time with the shipping delay baloney, and a 3rd time when the part was no different, if not worse. Salt in the wound gentlemen.