Two honda generators in tandem

[edekgb]

How come my 4400 watt honda generator (2200 companion and 2000 in tandem) wont power my 1350 btu air cibsitioner? I am at 5280 ft (Denver).

[badsix]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

That is an image rather than a link.

badsix wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

You have one what? Please do provide a link.

badsix wrote:
check this out before you go and pay 300.00 for a micro-air I have one and it works fine. seller name is applianceandair on eBay
Jay D.

yes I have the heavy duty capacitor he sells plus the soft start that delays the start of the compressor. you should be able to find him by just going to eBay and search sellers with APPLIANCEANDAIR all one word. I tried to post a link off eBay but it won't work may be an eBay thing. http://applianceandair.com/images/sign-0012_01.png
Jay D.

applianceandair.com site is under construction
Jay D.

[ktmrfs]

Fordlover wrote:

troubledwaters wrote:
First of all 2200 + 2000 = 4200 (not 4400). Secondly at that altitude you are losing a lot of power; however, the AC should still run. Also, is that running watts or starting watts? Running watts could be way less and make a difference depending on other loads sucking power away at the same time as you trying to start the AC. Make sure everything else is turned off before you start the AC. Lastly, the start capacitor in the AC could be going bad.

4200 isn't running wattage, it is only peak wattage. I believe the 2000 is 1800 running and 2200 is 2000, so you're down to 3800, and at a mile high, it could be significantly lower.

You might need to look into changing jets out in the carb, I seem to recall my BIL had to swap jets when his Honda wouldn't even start/run at high(er) elevation.

a single 2200 is capable of starting and running a dometic or coleman 13.5K AC unit at 7000ft if an easy start is installed. That is with the factory low altitude jet. my brother and I have both done this many times this last summer and this summer with the honda 2200. the honda 2000 will start the AC but only consistently run it at altitudes less than about 4500 ft.

[Grit_dog]

Regardless of only having 1600/1800 running watts and 5k altitude, 2 - 2000s in parallel will run a 13.5-15k AC with ease.
Have you run it off of a 15-20A circuit at the house? If it blows the breaker, then likely it's the AC unit, because a normal 15A circuit has run both of my older 13.5 AC's.
If it runs fine on a 15A household circuit, then there's something wrong with the generators or the hookup between them.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

That is an image rather than a link.

badsix wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

You have one what? Please do provide a link.

badsix wrote:
check this out before you go and pay 300.00 for a micro-air I have one and it works fine. seller name is applianceandair on eBay
Jay D.

yes I have the heavy duty capacitor he sells plus the soft start that delays the start of the compressor. you should be able to find him by just going to eBay and search sellers with APPLIANCEANDAIR all one word. I tried to post a link off eBay but it won't work may be an eBay thing. http://applianceandair.com/images/sign-0012_01.png
Jay D.

[Fordlover]

troubledwaters wrote:
First of all 2200 + 2000 = 4200 (not 4400). Secondly at that altitude you are losing a lot of power; however, the AC should still run. Also, is that running watts or starting watts? Running watts could be way less and make a difference depending on other loads sucking power away at the same time as you trying to start the AC. Make sure everything else is turned off before you start the AC. Lastly, the start capacitor in the AC could be going bad.

4200 isn't running wattage, it is only peak wattage. I believe the 2000 is 1800 running and 2200 is 2000, so you're down to 3800, and at a mile high, it could be significantly lower.

You might need to look into changing jets out in the carb, I seem to recall my BIL had to swap jets when his Honda wouldn't even start/run at high(er) elevation.

[time2roll]

Are you sure the electric water heater is off off?
Might be a switch outside under the panel or flip the breaker off.

[ktmrfs]

edekgb wrote:
Yea my first generator - the 2000 watt honda i bought a year ago falls in the serial number series. Something seems wrong although - the 16 to 25 percent loss from altitude is significant.
I was also thinking the cord from one to the other generator could be faulty? The cord from my trailer to generator is fine or at least very unlikely the problem.
Both generators the eu2000i and 2200i companion are both new with less then 10 hours on them.
The trailer is new and the ac seems to work fine. The generators bog down and then hits overload after about 3 to 5 mins after i turn on ac. It may be the generator that the trailer is plugged in to (the companion) that is the only one overloading. I was just thinking about this and will have to watch to see if one or both overload.

something is definetly amiss since it overloads after 15 minutes or so. what I do know is that a single honda 2200 will RUN an dometic 13.5K or coleman MachIII all day long at 7,000ft altitude without overloading. Brother and I have done so. The trick is getting it started, which is easy with the micro air easy start. The easy start reduces starting current, but once started doesn't affect the normal current draw. So 2 honda's shouldn't be any issue. Either there is

1) an issue with the generator(s)
2) they really aren't paralleled, but again one should be able to keep it running
3) you have additional draw.

Now, if your converter is still on, which it WILL be unless you turn OFF the breaker it is on, AND your batteries are drawn down AND you have a good charger (not a WFCO), then you could easily be overloading the generator. A reasonably discharged battery bank and a good 60A or so converter will draw as much or more current than the AC, 12A or so. Then the combo could cause the generators to go into overload after 15 minutes or so.

[badsix]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

You have one what? Please do provide a link.

badsix wrote:
check this out before you go and pay 300.00 for a micro-air I have one and it works fine. seller name is applianceandair on eBay
Jay D.

yes I have the heavy duty capacitor he sells plus the soft start that delays the start of the compressor. you should be able to find him by just going to eBay and search sellers with APPLIANCEANDAIR all one word. I tried to post a link off eBay but it won't work may be an eBay thing. http://applianceandair.com/images/sign-0012_01.png
Jay D.

[edekgb]

I bought the trailor new 2 mos. Ago. AC seems to be working fine pluged in to electric hook ups at camp whenbi do camp at hook up station. It could be faulty new ac cuz i only tried it once hooked to full hook ups.

[pianotuna]

Hi,

You have one what? Please do provide a link.

badsix wrote:
check this out before you go and pay 300.00 for a micro-air I have one and it works fine. seller name is applianceandair on eBay
Jay D.

[time2roll]

Once the A/C is running you should be able to move the thermostat right down to where you want it. The unit works no harder by moving the thermostat.

Seems odd that it would quit once you get it running. How old it this RV?

The freeze sensor could be causing the compressor to cycle and maybe restart too soon.

Since you have it running it would help to get an amp reading to determine if the compressor motor is failing.

[edekgb]

Thank you JD - i wouldnt know the first thing about hooking up an aplianceair or micro-air. I cant even get on to roof of trailor. Shouldnt 4200 watts be plenty? But altitude might be the point of all this? What size gen do i really need in colorado? 5000, 6000, 7000 watts for a little a.c. or is something just wrong - frustrated cuz i have 2200 dollars invested in gens and still not working.

[edekgb]

Thank you all - honda dealer that sold me the companion honda couple months ago said to bring them both in, the trailor - basically the whole set up to their parking lot to see whats wrong. They feel confident that it should run the ac. Problem is that hooking up the trailor to go all the way over to honda is far and a hassle. Any ideas are much appreciated. All other things are turned off when i try to power up ac. Except i dont mess with any breakers or fuses to turn off battery draw. I have a battery cut off switch should i mess with that on or off?
One more thing to mention. It is hot around here lately when i try to turn it on. Like in the 90s so i turn on ac on low setting and try to start at like 80 and then every 15 mins 78 degs then 76 after 15 and so on trying to get it to about 72 or something comfortable - it will go ok like this for a while but then somewhere during the process of bringing it down in temp, generator bogs and overloads. Other times it just bogs and turns off within the first few mins. Should i have to start in the morning before it warms up and little by little bring temp down as the day progresses? This dosent seem practical as i would have to have gens running all day in the summer.
These problems are here at my house in the city. I like to go camping alot at higher elevations even up to 8000 and 9000 feet.

[edekgb]

Yea my first generator - the 2000 watt honda i bought a year ago falls in the serial number series. Something seems wrong although - the 16 to 25 percent loss from altitude is significant.
I was also thinking the cord from one to the other generator could be faulty? The cord from my trailer to generator is fine or at least very unlikely the problem.
Both generators the eu2000i and 2200i companion are both new with less then 10 hours on them.
The trailer is new and the ac seems to work fine. The generators bog down and then hits overload after about 3 to 5 mins after i turn on ac. It may be the generator that the trailer is plugged in to (the companion) that is the only one overloading. I was just thinking about this and will have to watch to see if one or both overload.