Very small generator - am I thinking right?

[lostagain]

Tikvah, when I said the ideal coach is all diesel and electric, that is what I wish I had, if I ever build one or buy another one. Ours came with a fairly large propane tank that feeds the generator, the furnace, the water heater and the cook stove. Like the majority of RVs. It all works good. The generator is a built-in 6.5 KW Honda that starts (from upstairs) and runs really well and serves our needs just fine. What I have against propane is that it can be hard to find on the road when travelling away from the interstates where you can count on FlyingJ to have it. The small towns out of the way can be a challenge. Another con is the space the propane tank(s) use up. In the end, we all make do with what the bus came with, and how we modify it to suit our needs. Once in a while, I fantasize about how I will get a late model MCI and build us the ideal coach. But I come to my senses and see that our 5C is good enough...

All the best.

JC

[Tikvah]

JC,
Well said. 

[luvrbus]

JC,
Well said. 

JC has the best looking 5C on the road and with plenty of power that one would hard to improve on 

[lostagain]

Thanks Clifford. I look forward to seeing your D3. Enjoy the relative cool in Idaho.

JC

[Scott & Heather]

John, I do raise a flag of caution on running the Hondas on propane. Google a little and you'll find a nice thread online about a guy who did that and burned his Honda eu3000is generator out prematurely. Higher heat? Not sure. We have twin EU3000is gennies on a slideout and love them. Plastic gas tank. Insanely quiet. Easy drain carb with a clear hose running out bottom of unit so you can drain carb for storage. With just the fridge and lights, they will run almost 20 hours in ECO mode on 3.1 gallons of fuel. If I just need to  run the fridge and chest freezer and water heater, I'll just let one run. If I need more juice, I'll fire up the second unit. I have a parallel kit installed that lets them intelligently share the load. And if one ever takes a dive, I have a spare to limp along until I get the dead one repaired. Next gen will be a super quiet diesel just so I can pull off the main tank, but for now, these twin Honda inverter gennies produce the cleanest pure sine wave power quietly and efficiently of any other gas gennie out there. Google the sine wave output of these, it's actually cleaner than the utility company power at your house.  


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[Lin]

Scott, that seems like an efficient setup.  Do you have it exhausted so it can be used on the road?

[Hcklbery]

I have an opportunity to get a John Deere HR-G1100 generator... One of those suit case generators.
It only is rated for 1100 watts.  Too small for any real loads.  But, while I'm running exclusively on my batteries could it also be charging to off set my battery loss?

Anybody already try this foolishness?

Ya, I know it's gas.  It has a limited time on the tank, etc.  I understand it's an occasional solution, but would it help for a poor man trying to scratch his way through bus life?

I lived off the grid like that for two years and I found the Honda 2000 the very best, and it runs for nearly 20 hours on just under 1 gallon of gas so I was able to use it pretty much around the clock without much cost, however if you're going to have a very low blood and working off of your batteries I would suggest put in that money into solar and changing out your 12 volt light bulbs for the LED 12 volt light bulbs, they have them on Amazon.

I would stay away from any other generator, as you will not find a better generator then the Honda 2004 the Honda 3000 with electric start, but if you're set on the Honda 2000 you can look on youtube and do a search for Honda 2000 electric start, there is a guy on there who has engineer take it that you can put on your Honda mm that makes it electric start by remote key fob oh, also you might want to look into engineering yourself a means of automatically draining the oil and replacing it as if it comes tedious and it is something you absolutely have to do every 50 hours with this small motor

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[thomasinnv]

I lived off the grid like that for two years and I found the Honda 2000 the very best, and it runs for nearly 20 hours on just under 1 gallon of gas so I was able to use it pretty much around the clock without much cost, however if you're going to have a very low blood and working off of your batteries I would suggest put in that money into solar and changing out your 12 volt light bulbs for the LED 12 volt light bulbs, they have them on Amazon.

I would stay away from any other generator, as you will not find a better generator then the Honda 2004 the Honda 3000 with electric start, but if you're set on the Honda 2000 you can look on youtube and do a search for Honda 2000 electric start, there is a guy on there who has engineer take it that you can put on your Honda mm that makes it electric start by remote key fob oh, also you might want to look into engineering yourself a means of automatically draining the oil and replacing it as if it comes tedious and it is something you absolutely have to do every 50 hours with this small motor

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Yours will run 20 hours on a gallon? Mine will only run 10 and thats consistent with what the manual says. Whats your secret?

[luvrbus]

Ok how many hours will the little Honda engine on the generator last if you use it everyday,they sell for close to a 1000 bucks each I just trying to figure out what the replacement cost or pro rated cost would be.
I have some Honda engines like the 10hp on my pressure washer as good as Hondas are they don't last forever.
The water cooled Hondas were good up to 2 to 3 thousand hrs then they fell all to pieces.I am thinking running a load on the 2000 you maybe get a 1000 hrs from one.I have seen them with less than a 1000 hrs in a box for repairs   

[Iceni John]

John, I do raise a flag of caution on running the Hondas on propane. Google a little and you'll find a nice thread online about a guy who did that and burned his Honda eu3000is generator out prematurely. Higher heat? Not sure.

Yes, I've also heard of that happening.   Some folk think the timing should be adjusted when running on propane, other folk suggest changing to different spark plugs, so I don't know what's best to do.   As I've run my generator for less than half an hour so far this year, I guess it's not the most pressing issue for me to take care of right now!

One thing I did notice is that the exhaust drips a lot more water when using propane than when using gasoline.   I did however scientifically and exhaustively (sic) test this water  -  it doesn't taste too bad!   If I run out of water in the desert I can just run the generator and lie under the exhaust with my mouth open.

John

[thomasinnv]

I have well over 1000 hours on my 2000 and it still runs like new. Only thing i have ever done is change the oil, and not near as often as i should. Probably 300 to 400 hours between changes. Yeah i know i know it should be changed a lot more frequent then that.

[thomasinnv]

I  bought one of the dometic 3000 inverter generators year before last when they hit the market and everyone was raving about them. Noisier than the honda and at less than 100 hours blew a hole in the valve cover when something obviously let loose. Got it replaced under warranty is the only reason i still have one. Dometic stopped selling them after only a year. Biggest piece of junk i have ever owned.

[luvrbus]

I have well over 1000 hours on my 2000 and it still runs like new. Only thing i have ever done is change the oil, and not near as often as i should. Probably 300 to 400 hours between changes. Yeah i know i know it should be changed a lot more frequent then that.

My manual says you should remove the head every 300 hrs to remove build up.changing oil every 300 or 400 hrs you have base line to go by way to Derrick   I can't get that much run time from a Honda

[DoubleEagle]

I think that synthetic oil would be appropriate in these small engines for longer life, especially the air cooled ones. They are not as robust as Allison transmissions. Scott should run regular oil in one, and synthetic in the other. We will be grateful to know the results.

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

Another note about the Honda's and similar portable generators.  They are very reasonably priced and are very quiet, but they are not designed like the Wrico or Engine Power Source gensets that are built to run for extended periods of time under a full load all day for several days in a row.  Just like a Stick-N-Staple motorhome is not designed to run 24/7/365 like a bus. A SNS just won't ride as nice or stand up the rigors of continually going down the road like a bus which is like your house being in a constant earthquake. Honda's are designed to run a few show lights for booths at fairs and maybe for tent people who need some extra lights and other places like that and they do a great job of it.  But to use one to run or supplement a RV genset in a bus is really false economy.

The RV and commercial gensets are heavy duty for a reason, and I have listened to some that were insulated well enough with the exhaust covered with Engine Heat Protection wet blankets and built in almost soundproof enclosures that sound almost as quite as the Honda's.  So If I were to build a new bus or upgrade my genset, I would definitely put my money into a good RV style diesel genset and insulate it very well and stick with one fuel supply and use that genset for everything.  Furthermore you can't beat a diesel engine for longetivey, which is why we all like the big diesel engines pushing our buses.

There are several articles about soundproofing a genset so it sounds more like a Honda in one of my favorite magazines.  Let me think a bit.  I think it is called Bus Conversion Magazine.  Check it out.