Which Generator

[ssemalone]

Boondocking for the first time, wondering which Generator to try, I have a 2014 Forest River Microlite, 23 foot, 13,000 BTU AC, was thinking about renting one. Is the Honda EB3000C viable??

[jaycocreek]

Many generators won't pull a 13,500 btu air conditioner in 95 degree weather.My Yamaha 4kES would not,my Honda 3k will..

Here is a review on the Champion 3100 inverter stating it won't either..Reviews are reviews...

I bought this one last week to take with us last weekend to the lake. I previously owned a Honda 3000i but it was stolen a year ago. Because we don't go near as much as we used to I really didn't want to spend $2,000 + on a generator so I got the Champion. I took it out of the box filled it with oil & gas and it started the first pole. So far so good. My disappointment was that it was no where near as quiet as the Honda. Maybe when there is no load but when the AC kicks in we were all laughing because it was every bit as loud as my buddies $300 Pep-Boys generator. The next disappointment was after running with the AC on for about 45 minutes it kicked off on overload. I shut it down for a short while then tried it again and after only 5 minutes it was useless. I will admit it was 110 dg outside but I had it in the shade not on an extension cord or any of those other mistakes. I did run my Honda all day once on blacktop at a high of 117 dg. The next day it was a little cooler, like 105 dg and it did work fine. I'm assuming that it was the heat and if we are lucky we won't go camping any more in that kind of heat. Overall it is light, easy to move around with the wheels, great having the RV plug built in but I gotta tell ya, It aint all that quiet.

[Kylesmith3021]

You can get a refurbished champion 3100 inverter on ebay for $599 free shipping..supergen protects is with a 90 day warranty with less than 20hrs on them..also comes in a champion bix with all accessories.

[BendOrLarry]

RedRocket204 wrote:

BendOrLarry wrote:
The Honda would be good, but the Champion 3100 is a much better value. I have had both and really like my Champion inverter generator for $600.

Are you saying you bought your Champion 3100 for $600 new? If so, that is a screaming deal but not likely to be had again. I've had that gen on my amazon wishlist for 6 months and do not recall it dropping below the current price of $839.

I myself, do have the smaller version Champion 2000W Inverter generator and like it but the OP should know that one does not put out enough amps to run a coffee maker, RV microwave and certainly not the AC, all attempted to be run at 9400' altitude though. I would need a second 2000W Inverter run in parallel and should be able to run those items.

3 years ago my Honda died and it was just before Christmas. Sportsman Warehouse had a black Friday special on the Champion 3100I for $599. , regularly priced at $900. Been a great generator and we use it all year round. I won't go back to the overpriced Hondas, even if I had to pay the normal Champion non sale price.

[jaycocreek]

I have a 2000 watt Honda inverter generator and in my opinion, it is noisy with a load compared to my 3000 Watt Honda inverter which is the quietest generator I have ever been around with a full load.It also last a long time running the air conditioner..While two little Honda 2k generators sounds easy to pack around,they are going to be noisier compared..

The Honda 2k has a reputation for lasting well over 10,000 hours which can't be said for most others.

You get what you pay for in generators...If noise and longevity are not a concern,go buy the cheapest gen set out there that will pull your air conditioner.I have a Generac 4000XL(surges to 5000) I bought for $299 that is as dependable as a generator can be, but very noisy.I also have a 4000 watt Onan Micro that is also noisy and very temperamental and a 1200 watt 2-cycle that cost slightly over $100 and uses the same mix as all my chainsaws and it is quite quiet to my surprise.

If I had to have just one,the Honda 3000 Inverter would be my pick!

[coolbreeze01]

I like twin engines on planes and boats, but not to run an AC.

[LJAZ]

I have a Honda EU3000i that I use when I boondock. I have a FunFinder 210 WBS with 13K btu AC so pretty similar to your setup. The pros to the Honda 3000 are it's very quiet, it runs the AC no problem and it will run it all night long on a single tank of gas which is a must in Arizona in the summer. The only real downside is that it's heavy at about 130 lbs or so.
The EB3000C is an open frame generator so it's going to be louder and it has smaller fuel tank. It's not as heavy though.

[Crazy_Ray]

I have a YAMAHA 2400 for backup for my SOLAR. Look at the YAMAHAs. JMO

[RoyB]

Your Texas location probably still has a lot of public camp grounds places that have generator restrictions in place. Hopefully you will find a bunch of DISPERSED camping areas and private areas around some of those many lakes where you can run a generator anytime you want to.

We are really in bad shape here on the East side of the US with all kinds of generator run time restrictions inplace. No place can we run a generator after 8PM until 8AM the next morning. This is the public camp grounds and even the Natl Forest areas. Very few DISPERSED camping area around where I like to camp.

Did not want to invest a bunch of monies for the high dollar generators only to find out the only place we could use them was at home or along the side of the road somewhere... My 2KW Honda sets secured in the tail gate corner of my locked fold-a-cover bed cover area. It is out-of-sight and ready to use by just pulling it out onto the dropped tailgate. Been doing this since 2008 with my OFF-ROAD POPUP trailer...

With this in mind in my case I elected to upgrade my smaller trailer like yours to use less and less battery power and my goal was to add several batteries to be able to camp all night long running what we wanted to have running with the idea we would use a smaller generator like the Honda 2KW size at 8AM each morning when allowed to run generators to recharge our 50% depleted battery banks back up to their 90% charge state. Then we are good to go again for the next day/night run off the batteries... We can do about 12-14 of these 50% to 90% three hour charge cycles before having to do a full 100% charge without doing any harm to our batteries. A full charge in my case will take a good 12 hours which is a long time to run a generator even if we were allowed so this is usually when we head back to house for some shore power.

This lives well with all the so called rules and our 255AH battery does great for us. Have done this even in GOBER TX haha... Wife is from the North Texas area and has family buried there so we return whenever we can. We lived in the Wichita Falls TX area in mids 60s to the early 70s. Got to do alot great camping around the country side. Always enjoyed the lakes around Denison TX and really really liked heading up to OKLA and camping at Camp Doris inside the Wichita Mtns Wildlife Refuge... Always great waking up to a couple of hugh buffaloes snorting and digging dirt close by haha... Encountered a few Mountain lions as well...

Just another way to solve the generator run time restrictions...

Roy Ken

[RedRocket204]

BendOrLarry wrote:
The Honda would be good, but the Champion 3100 is a much better value. I have had both and really like my Champion inverter generator for $600.

Are you saying you bought your Champion 3100 for $600 new? If so, that is a screaming deal but not likely to be had again. I've had that gen on my amazon wishlist for 6 months and do not recall it dropping below the current price of $839.

I myself, do have the smaller version Champion 2000W Inverter generator and like it but the OP should know that one does not put out enough amps to run a coffee maker, RV microwave and certainly not the AC, all attempted to be run at 9400' altitude though. I would need a second 2000W Inverter run in parallel and should be able to run those items.

[DownTheAvenue]

Dennis Smith wrote:
Two hondas, 2000 watt. Light and quite

Should he get quite a generator, or a quiet generator?

[Dennis_Smith]

Two hondas, 2000 watt. Light and quite

[JiminDenver]

The EU3000is should be fine. So would the Champion 3100i, two Honda EU2000, two champion 2000i, and the Yamaha equivalents.

[BendOrLarry]

The Honda would be good, but the Champion 3100 is a much better value. I have had both and really like my Champion inverter generator for $600.

[Dennis_Smith]

Two hondas, 2000 watt. Light and quite