I just purchased a Honda EU2000i portable generator to use aboard my 265 Express for overnighting offshore. This weekend we used it for the first time at the Tom's canyon and experienced some strange and somewhat worrysome situations while using it, I was wondering if anyone else has experienced similar things and what could possibly be the cause/solution. Thanks in advance for any insight.
When we turned the Gen on the panel had the reverse polarity light come on, but it shut off once the breaker was flipped. We ran the generator from 8pm until 3am without any issues, but at 3am the reverse polarity light came back on and periodically our lights would dim and electronics shut off but then they would cycle back on. We never lost power and the generator on econ mode never ran at higher rpm signaling more need to produce power. We even took it off econ mode to make it run harder and produce more power to see if that helped but it did not. We had the battery charger on, but it said only one bank was charging, which was the house battery bank using the power, that should be correct I think. We had a vhf radio, my Furuno FF and 3 4x5 Halogen spreader lights running which draw just under 5 amps each. From time to time we would use the SW washdown but never left the pump running, and from time to time we would turn on the 2 stock Hella marine spreaders in addition to the three new lights. When we started to experience these conditions and cycling of power, we shut off the new lights and the FF and only ran the vhf and the two stock lights, this did not seem to have an effect which makes me think it has nothing to do with my power load or generator. The generator itself was load tested when bought and ran perfect. The batteries had enough juice to start the engines right away, but that was after running the gen for 5 min after shutting all lights off. Was I doing something wrong or do I have an issue with my battery charger not being large enough or maybe wiring not ment to push that much current? Any insight or help would be much appreciated!! A friend of mine was also at the Tom's and had similar conditions on his boat except theirs started sooner and he had the reverse polarity light on from the beginning. It was also his first time running the gen overnight. His gen was wired and set up by a local Grady dealer. I may be running back out this weekend and hope to solve this issue to avoid any more sleepless nights offshore. Thanks!!
Tom
S.T. Barb II
When we turned the Gen on the panel had the reverse polarity light come on, but it shut off once the breaker was flipped. We ran the generator from 8pm until 3am without any issues, but at 3am the reverse polarity light came back on and periodically our lights would dim and electronics shut off but then they would cycle back on. We never lost power and the generator on econ mode never ran at higher rpm signaling more need to produce power. We even took it off econ mode to make it run harder and produce more power to see if that helped but it did not. We had the battery charger on, but it said only one bank was charging, which was the house battery bank using the power, that should be correct I think. We had a vhf radio, my Furuno FF and 3 4x5 Halogen spreader lights running which draw just under 5 amps each. From time to time we would use the SW washdown but never left the pump running, and from time to time we would turn on the 2 stock Hella marine spreaders in addition to the three new lights. When we started to experience these conditions and cycling of power, we shut off the new lights and the FF and only ran the vhf and the two stock lights, this did not seem to have an effect which makes me think it has nothing to do with my power load or generator. The generator itself was load tested when bought and ran perfect. The batteries had enough juice to start the engines right away, but that was after running the gen for 5 min after shutting all lights off. Was I doing something wrong or do I have an issue with my battery charger not being large enough or maybe wiring not ment to push that much current? Any insight or help would be much appreciated!! A friend of mine was also at the Tom's and had similar conditions on his boat except theirs started sooner and he had the reverse polarity light on from the beginning. It was also his first time running the gen overnight. His gen was wired and set up by a local Grady dealer. I may be running back out this weekend and hope to solve this issue to avoid any more sleepless nights offshore. Thanks!!
Tom
S.T. Barb II