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

[klutchdust]

professor95 wrote:

klutchdust wrote:
......My issue is that it took far too long before it would run without ANY choke at all. Im not talking a few minutes, I waited around 15. ...... Anyone encounter this?

Nope. I only need the choke maybe 5-10 seconds even in cold weather.

Something is not right. The choke reduces air flow and increases aspiration of fuel from the carburetor float bowl through the main jet. Your mixture is too lean with the choke open. Could be a bad main jet. Call CPE Tech Support and report your problem.

Yesterday I started it, ran it for 5 seconds and pushed the choke in and all was ok. I will try again this evening. Suspect something was maybe clogging the jet or whatever.
purchased a new cutting head for a victor torch set (industrial) and could not regulate acetylene properly. Took a low pressure air blower and blew out all orifices and works perfectly. Sometimed new stuff may just have a piece of debris or paper ,whatever and a few minutes solves the problem. I will call Champion just to let them know and document it.

thanks professor!

[professor95]

klutchdust wrote:
......My issue is that it took far too long before it would run without ANY choke at all. Im not talking a few minutes, I waited around 15. ...... Anyone encounter this?

Nope. I only need the choke maybe 5-10 seconds even in cold weather.

Something is not right. The choke reduces air flow and increases aspiration of fuel from the carburetor float bowl through the main jet. Your mixture is too lean with the choke open. Could be a bad main jet. Call CPE Tech Support and report your problem.

[DudleyDone]

Been away a couple of months and took me quite some time to catch up on alot of neat discussion.

Now onto my anecdotal testimony 😄

I have had the champion inverter generator up to my northern cabin quite a few times this winter. I usually power the cabin with a small solar array and a modest battery bank. However, since I don't heat the cabin between visits and the temps not to infrequently drop to minus 30C I find cold starting my propane furnace for several hours puts a huge strain on the cold weakened battery bank. So this winter I just ran the cabin with only the champion 2k inverter providing electricity around the clock without stop except for fuel during my typical 36-48 hours stays. I now have a little over 140 hours on the little champion generator and have no bad news to report.

Typically when I get to my cabin I run my furnace(2.6 amps for both the exhaust and furnace fans) a solid 2-3 hours to get the cold soaked cabin up to temp after that it typically cycles every 20 minutes for 10 or so minutes. I run a small refrigerator at 1.6 amps, it cycles for about 15 minutes every hour, sat box(0.5 amps contant on) and LCD TV(1.3 amps) for 3-4 hours in evening and 1.7 amps worth of lights for 5-6 hours in the evening. So that adds up to a total of just under 7KW/24hours or hour averaged at around 300 watts/hr. I consistently get 9-10 hours on a full tank. When it was warmer and I had no furnace running I would get up 12 hours on a tank on what would be a low load scenario. Additonally it typically only requires 30-60 seconds of choke to start even on the coldest Canadian winter night.

That is all the observations I have to offer, good fuel economy and so far it has not exploded, smoked or given me any other reliability concerns. I appreciate 140 hours is not alot but so far so good.

[klutchdust]

I have the champion 3500/ 4000 watt and it takes but a minute. This new one may have a problem. I will run it a few times and see what happens. i want to install an hour meter, i did on the other one but not sure where to put it. This inverter type is sealed up more, not into drilling / cutting holes in things.

[-_dwh_-]

klutchdust wrote:
Recieved my new champion last night. Oiled and fueled it up and ran it for a while. My issue is that it took far too long before it would run without ANY choke at all. Im not talking a few minutes, I waited around 15. It needed half choke regardless of econo mode or whatever. I was running 2 500 watt lamps and sitting out back reading the owners manual. Anyone encounter this?

Not exactly...but something like it.

I ordered a 1200w/1500w Champion non-inverter 42433 directly from Champion to replace my broken Honeywell. It also has an 80cc engine, which might be nearly the same, or even the same basic engine in the inverter gen.

I've only run it a couple of times, but it does take a couple minutes to warm up before turning the choke all the way off when it's cold out.

[klutchdust]

Recieved my new champion last night. Oiled and fueled it up and ran it for a while. My issue is that it took far too long before it would run without ANY choke at all. Im not talking a few minutes, I waited around 15. It needed half choke regardless of econo mode or whatever. I was running 2 500 watt lamps and sitting out back reading the owners manual. Anyone encounter this?

[pritch272]

I'll be late with my All Power run test. On the way to the lake this morning idler pulley making racket- ended up replacing all 3 pullies. Had to defer the trip to the lake by one day.

[Old___Slow]

The orignal post here has been deleted by old and slow.

I will be watching close for 'actual owner posts' supported by factual info' ( i.e. the post below) of all brands of the 2000i Inverter gensets including the Champion 2000i.

[Wayne_Dohnal]

Honda eu2000i fuel consumption results...

Honda web-site claims:

3.64 hours per gallon at rated load of 1,600 watts
8.73 hours per gallon at 1/4 load (not specified if that's 400 or 500 watts)
-or-
5.82 kWh/gallon at 1,600 watts
3.49/4.37 kWh at 400/500 watts

My result: Rated power test fell short of Honda's numbers, 1/4 load test exceeded Honda's numbers. I suspect my rated load result, however, is invalid. I'm at 3,500 feet and the eu2000i is beginning to struggle at 1,600 watts up here. Somebody will need to test at a lower altitude if we want a reliable result at rated load.

The results:

1,600 watt load: Run time 2.97 hours/gallon. 4.75 kWh/gallon, RPM = 4,300
465 watt load: Run time 8.92 hours/gallon. 4.15 kWh/gallon, RPM = 3060
555 watt load: Run time 8.06 hours/gallon. 4.47 kWh/gallon, RPM = 3150

I also noted that the engine speed climbed to 4,300, the "eco off" idle speed, right as the load climbed to the rated 1,600 watts.

[Wayne_Dohnal]

MEASURING FUEL CONSUMPTION

I ran some fuel consumption tests on the eu2000i, which I will put into a separate post. I discovered things that do and don't work along the way which I would think apply to just about any generator.

Fuel amount: I ran the tank dry, then added 8 carefully measured ounces of gas for each test run. I didn't know if this would work or not, but it has pretty good repeatability. Not lab quality of course, but "pretty good". If you drain or suck out the tank, the first run's results will be invalid.

Pitfalls of electric heaters as the load: I noticed that the power used varied with the ambient temp. In one run, I also had the heater cycling with its thermostat. I changed over to incandescent lamps for the load.

Risks of light bulbs as the load: You have to measure the load. I used two 500 watt halogens, one pulled 475 watts, the other 555 watts. I have a 40 watt and 60 watt lamp that are almost identical in power draw.

Meter accuracy: My two kill-a-watts disagreed between 1.5% and 3.0%, depending on the load. The closest kill-a-watt in turn disagreed with my trusted multimeter by 1.2% to 1.7%. I used the multimeter readings for crunching the numbers.

[professor95]

Wayne Dohnal wrote:


Does the Champion equivalent of the eco switch work the same way, or does it run the engine up to full RPM?

Wayne,

The CPE2000i uses a stepper motor to control engine speed via the carburetor butterfly position.

What I have observed is that with the Economy switch off the stepper motor opens the carburetor butterfly plate to the maximum position and the engine runs at full RPM regardless of load.

In the ECO position the stepper will increase engine speed as load increases. I think I remember determining that there were four positions or steps. If it were not raining, I would run the test again to be sure.

A diagram with a little more clarity than the one below can be found here on page 25 of the 73531i manual.

[Wayne_Dohnal]

at 1300 with econ off the motor runs at full throttle but without full load, the motor has a little 'breathing room' can run a little faster and NOT be on the ragged edge of lugging

I believe this comment is about the Honda 2000i. If not, please forgive my mistaken response. There are an amazing number of myths about the eu2000i that are widely accepted as fact, and of course if you don't have one you've looked at closely, there's not reason to disbelieve them. A real fact is that on the Honda, "eco off" does not run the engine at full throttle, and does not run the engine at full RPM. It merely increases the idle speed from 3,000 RPM to 4,300 RPM. Full speed is 5,000 RPM in either position of the eco switch. I can state with confidence that when supplying the rated power of 1,600 watts, the engine RPM is above 4,300 and the eco switch position is not a factor in anything once the load is stabilized. At 1,300 watts I seriously believe the RPMs would be above 4,300, but if not, it would be so close to not make any meaningful difference in the fuel consumption.

Does the Champion equivalent of the eco switch work the same way, or does it run the engine up to full RPM?

[professor95]

Hey guys....

My Volvo has a 12.1L diesel engine. Considerably larger in displacement and weight than pick-up trucks.

The vehicle has a rather comprehensive computer built into the dashboard. One of the functions is your current fuel mileage.

I often obtain mileage readings of over 40 mpg. Does this mean I can get 40 miles per gallon with a 35,000 pound rig (truck and fiver)?

Well, I do. And it happens all the time.

So, should I tell everyone I get 40 mpg? If I could tune my data to convince folks this was consistent, maybe everyone would buy a HDT rather than a PU :Z Now, that would be good for both my ego and Volvo.

Data is a funny thing, it can be skewed and interpreted in a variety of ways. Shucks, I can show you how putting sand in your oil can improve mileage with available data. :S

[professor95]

Old & Slow wrote:


I also found it interesting that 'pritch272' found his All Power 2000i to be not exactly like the Kipor 2000i and not a chonda. That's different than what I've read. Guess you can read most anything on the Net. and doesn't make it 'exactly' correct. I would like to know if the Module in the Kipor and All Power is like the Honda or more like the Champion Global Power Equipment 2000'. ~ The Honda/Yamaha/Kipor are said to use 'analog transistor induced technology, in the module, which is said to be simulated signal processing. Running cool and requiring no Heat sink. The Champion 2000i on the other hand and pictured in a recent post, has a large heat sink module, saying to me, it must operate with some amount of heat. We all know, heat kills.

Floyd,

I believe, upon further research, you will find that companies like Allpower that do not built their own generators, will use a variety of different Chinese marques in their product line-up. Change will occur as the market fluctuates and product cost move up or down. Allpower did use the Kipor as a re-branded product several years ago - obviously there have been some changes.

As for "analog transistor induced technology" not producing heat..... well, truth is transistors and resistors produce a considerable amount of heat. Today's digital circuits are built on transistor technology. The design, substrate and number of individual transistors changes into what is now commonly called an IC, but the basic building blocks of transistors, diodes, capacitors, inductors and resistors is still there. All of these components produce heat. The issue is the number of components in a given space. When you cram thousands of them together the heat becomes concentrated.

Circuits designed to carry out the multitude of sampling necessary for digital to reproduce analog characteristics packs all of the heat into a much smaller space - sort of like the CPU in your computer, and it will require an external cooling device to maintain safe operational temperatures.

Heat sinks such as the one in the CPE2000i provide more than one function. Protection of the circuitry is one. By placing the circuit board and components in a rigid, waterproof aluminum box we can protect the circuits from the elements. The black epoxy potting also serves to protect the components from vibration, board cracking, water, and atmospheric pollution such as acids.

I've run the 2000i with the module exposed and as a result there was no directed air flow across the aluminum heat sink. I have physically felt the heat sink under these conditions and found it surprisingly cool - well under the 98.6 degree body temperature I hold.

Of course, all of this will change when the summer outdoor temperatures rise to 100 or more degrees. But, I can tell you as someone that is not totally new to this technology, excess heat will not be an issue for this module - unless you hope to run one in Hades.

[byates]

-=dwh=- wrote:

If I filled it from the gas pump, then 1.5g is 1.5g.

Maybe, but then again, maybe not.