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

[MrWizard]

Thank you that's valuable info
Might not operate the same way, in the high desert or mountains

[vettman1]

What altitude and what temp ?

Altitude about 900ft about sea level. Around 90 degrees outside.

[vettman1]

mrekim wrote:
That's good to hear. Did they sound like they were working hard?

As an example I tested a 1500 watt heater with one on econo mode. It started and ran the heater fine, but it was running pretty hard and was pretty loud...

I would say they were running below the noise level when it is not in ECON mode. Of course when the compressor starts, it revs up, but goes back down right away.

Also the fan runs all of the time on my unit when the AC is on. I don't know if this is normal or not since this is my first RV.

[vettman1]

mfifield01 wrote:
Good news vettman1. Have you tested run time (hours) with them in parallel? I'm curious if they will run through most of the night.

I only ran it for about an hour and a half so I'm not sure what run time I might get off of the pair.

[MrWizard]

What altitude and what temp ?

vettman1 wrote:
I thought someone might find this useful since I couldn't find anyone on this thread that had the same AC unit that I did.

Anyway, I tested my dual Champion 2000 inverter gens 73536i set up in parallel and they ran my Dometic brisk air II 15k btu AC unit while in econ mode. I was surprised that they would do it, but they did!

[mfifield01]

Good news vettman1. Have you tested run time (hours) with them in parallel? I'm curious if they will run through most of the night.

[mrekim]

That's good to hear. Did they sound like they were working hard?

As an example I tested a 1500 watt heater with one on econo mode. It started and ran the heater fine, but it was running pretty hard and was pretty loud...

[vettman1]

I thought someone might find this useful since I couldn't find anyone on this thread that had the same AC unit that I did.

Anyway, I tested my dual Champion 2000 inverter gens 73536i set up in parallel and they ran my Dometic brisk air II 15k btu AC unit while in econ mode. I was surprised that they would do it, but they did!

[MrWizard]

yes thats what we are getting at
the surge on a 13.5kbtu even a new more efficient model, is very likely just too much for the a single 2000w generator

even then its beasier on the genset to run econ off

the 2000i is designed as a camping genset charge batteries etc

it was never designed to handle the startup surge of A/C units

conventional non-inverter synchronous generators can handle heavy surges better

my new 3000i will handle one A/C and battery charging but i run econ off and don't wait until its 100* to turn it on and start the a/c

i start earlier in the day, so the rv is cool before it gets to 100*
makes it easier on the a/c and the genset

[mfifield01]

The A/C was the only thing connected (direct connection). This was the 11k BTU unit. I tried a 13.5k BTU and it won't run at all (even with econ off).

[MrWizard]

Also that was the load of only the A/C , and doesn't include the load of the converter..charger circuit or incidental loads like TV
So that's 9 amps plus other loads

And the 13.5 kbtu is going to draw about 11 amps or more , on a 13 amp genset do that 100° ambient and you begin to appreciate full run and engine cooling needed

Yes you could run a 9 amp draw on econ mode at 75~80°
But do you want to try a 40>50 amp lock rotor compressor restart surge in econ mode at 100°

The lock rotor amps on my Dometic A/C is 52 amps
Open the cover on the ac unit or did out the manual and read the lock rotor amps LRA of the compressor, this is the max hot restart amps draw

[mfifield01]

Basically, the econ mode won't ramp fast enough for the surge of an A/C (or electric motors). The surge is pretty high, as much as 3 times the running load. I saw a surge of over 20 amps on the A/C. Normal running is around 9 amps.

[Glenlivet]

I'm a bit confused. The maker has designed an economy switch with steps of RPM to ramp the throttle up according to load, when in econ mode.
If burdening the generator with a load such as an A/C in econ mode is not enough load to make the regulating circuit step the motor up and such a load is hard on the generator and risks damage, then would or could the maker not have just designed econ mode to have the RPM ramp up sooner on the load scale? The alternative is that the maker has installed an econ mode but still its up to the opeerator to be his own econ/load monitor.

[MrWizard]

duplicate

[MrWizard]

if you check engine RPM while running the A/C
and measure fuel use, you will find maybe 8% difference between econ mode and regular mode

for that little measured difference, i would rather run the genset in normal/regular mode not econ and get the benefit of the extra engine fan cooling produced by the extra rpm and let the engine work a little less hard

i have a CPE 3000i and when using the A/C i turn econ OFF, i think its better on the engine, i would never run a 2000w on econ while powering the A/C