Krow wrote:
I recently posted these observations of the CPE 73534i I purchased last fall to the Yahoo Pleasureway Groups forum. I'm wondering if anybody can advise if these preliminary results indicate this generator will continue to run my AC or if it will likely fail when placed under higher strain in hot ambient temperatures...
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We bought our 2008 PW Excel last fall. It did not have the installed Onan generator. I checked and found it would cost in excess of $3500 to have one installed. Also, as we're new not just to "Class B..ing", but to camping in general, and after reading so many posts of people who say they hardly use their generator, I was relunctant to spend that kind of money right now. Neither did I want to spend the ~$1300 for a portable Honda 2000W. So I bought a Champion Model 73534i 2000W inverter generator from Costo.ca last fall for $600CDN, after I had put the van to sleep for the winter. All I knew for sure was that the generator would fit in the right rear outside storage compartment of the PW as I had measured that opening/space. I knew it would charge the house battery at the least and hoped it would run the microwave. I couldn't find anything specific in any forum as to how it would perform with the Excel AC, but from what others have written about their experience, it seemed a minimum 3000W would be required.
So last week we got the RV out of storage and today I thought I'd try the generator to see how it would perform. I started it up, let it warm for a few minutes, then plugged the van in via the 110 adapter. First I tried the microwave. Sure enough it worked, boiling a cup of water for me. So then I decided to try the AC - I thought we had a 11,500 BTU unit but the manual says it's only 11,000. First I tried just the fan with no cooling - started on low setting then gradually moved it to high. The generator purred right along (the AC was louder than the generator). So then I decided to try the cooling settings. First put it on low - the genny gave a small chug then kept purring. Moved it to Med and then the High setting. Nothing kicked out. I tried rotating the knob to the coolest setting and within a short time I could noticably feel the cool air. As the ambient temp here today was only about 15*C, I thought maybe I would have to move the setting to the "Warmer" side to get it to cycle. After about 5 monutes of no change in generator sound, moved it back the the "Cooler" setting and ran it for several more minutes.
This was totally unexpected. Now, not knowing anything about AC, maybe in high ambient heat there may be more load on the supply and the generator might kick out, I don't know. Somebody else might be able to shed some light there.
One other thing, the specs of the CND models of Champion 2000w Inverters show they put out 1600 running watts whereas the US ones show 1700. I wrote to Champion Power Equipment asking why the US and CDN specs were different and got this reply:
"Since the original release of our 2000 watt generators, we have made improvements to the stator assemblies and currently have them rated at 1700 running watts. You will notice that even our 4,000 watt generators have a more conservative rated running wattage in the Canadian market. This based of different rating standards applied by Canadian Standards Association (CSA)."
So it seems the guts of all the models are the same, it's just the national standards that are different.
This is not meant as an endorsement for the CPE Inverter generator per se, just to inform other Excel users of what I have found it can do. Again, in high heat, maybe it will fail. I'm interested to know if anyone else has tried running their AC with this or any other 2000W inverter generator.
Keith
I was disappointed to find out 4 days before a big camping trip that my dads (the last of 3 CPE2000's we've owned), would not even chug when I tried the new ultra efficient 11K AC on our trailer. So I ran out, bought a Hyundai, based on reviews, and it started with no effort. Onto my parents current hungry Coleman Mach 13.5K, and it overloaded in Eco. Regular setting it fired up and ran all day while charging half dead batteries in 90F. It was going full blast, but it ran like a charm, same price, but it does it all. My dad was mighty jealous.
