Portable generator

peter devine

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Hello again,
I know there was a post re: Honda 2000IU generator but I cant find it.
My question is,
I have my shore power cord plugged into my home 15 amp circuit. I do not have AC. I have a Freedom 10, 1000 watt invertor, with
microwave
water heater (dont even know if it works or how to fill it)
cd player
refridge
lights in cabin, plus all white when anchored. Everything is fine with one 15 amp at home.
I am now at a mooring so i need power. Will this Honda do it?
Thanks
Peter
 

Tuna Man

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Your 15 amp outlet at your house is equal to 1800 watts all day long. The Honda EU2000 is rated at 2000 watts maximum (for about a second) and 1600 watts all day long (unless you run out of fuel first).

Microwave probably draws about 850 watts (AC power)
Water heater probably draws close to 1500 watts (AC power)
CD player is probably about 25 watts (DC power)
Fridge is probably about 750 watts (while running on AC power)
Cabin and anchor lights about 50 watts total (DC power)

Simple formula: amps x volts =watts

In your case I think you would be fine with the Honda 2000. You did not mention spreader lights, battery charger, livewell, saltwater washdown, tv, etc.

Many from this site have studied this exact issue many times, I think as long as you don't attempt to turn on too many things at once you'll be fine.

Here is one of the links,
http://www.greatgrady.com/forum/viewtop ... ght=eu2000
 

freddy063

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should work, just make sure you don't co2 your self running it at night. Maybe get a smoke/co2 detector for the cabin.Running a generator to charge battarys for a hour befor night should be all that you have to do, then in the morring if needed. And don't run everything at the same time.
 

Grog

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You didn't say if you had a battery charger. You'll need one for your 12V power, the batteries will only last so long.

The only load you have to watch is the water heater. That with the microwave or maybe the 'fridge will put you over the edge. Unless you're taking a shower you don't really need the hot water.
 

peter devine

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RE: battery charger

Yes the freedom 10 invertor has dual batery charging capacity with 2 temp leads to check battery. I will not run hot water heater. I am in the food business and wash out the 35lb plastic containers my vegetable oil comes in. Leave them in the sun and presto hot water.
I dont think I will have everything on at once. I guess my main concern was running out of power offshore.
Thanks
 

freddy063

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ok offshore, thats a word that many people have there own meading. I spend some time in the area I boat, and an helper is a solar tricker charger, and a unit that switchs open if the voltage on the port battary falls below starting power. So out of the 3 battery the port will have the power to start one of the motors.my tv and dvd are the 12 car type and work better at the 12 volt pull than the ac convert to dc cross over losses. but the most inportant thing is know what you need for power and use only what u need when it counts.
 

gradyfish22

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You should be able to run all of that, but typically you will need to drop the load when microwaving, that is typical for some reason they seem to draw more then advertised, but I see no reason why you shouldn;t be able to run all of that.

I run 2 vhf's,FF,gps/chartplotter, stereo, anchor light, and has 24amps of lighting last yr and got 6 hours before my batteries drained a little. I now have 8 amps of LED lighting, shouldn't be an issue at all. I would highly recommend having the biggest batteries you can fit for starters, that will allow the batteries to handle some load if necessary for small items and your dc side since your AC side is what is draining more typically, especially with the microwave or hot water heater.

As for hot water heater and microwave at the same time...almost no boat under 30 ft can do that unless it has a big built in generator, and even some of those have issues, you will have to choose one of the other to run at a time.

Yuo will never run out of power as long as you have fuel, at worst the batteries will drain like in my situation due to my 24 amps of lighting, honda only charges at I think 13.3 dc amps, so you can see I was already outmatched not including my other items. Even with the lights dimming, we shut them off for 5 min total and ran the gen and started the engines right after. As long as you have fuel, you will be able to recharge and start up. Also, I recommend shutting the other bank off to have atleast one engine to start, you can always change to ALL and get the other one started as well.