Best generator

[prroots]

I would appreciate recommendations for the best air-cooled, gasoline powered generator for the price these days. Quietness, efficiency, compactness, and reliability are important. Thanks
Pete

[ebs001]

Honda 2000

[joeybkcmo]

Honda eu2000 is great and very quite as long as you are running the eco-throttle. even with no eco I think they are still more quite than other generators. cost is high, but reliability is great and they tend to hold value more than other brands.

[MikeOReilly]

We have used a Yamaha 1000 watt generator for many years now (seven or eight I think). It's used exclusively as a backup battery charger, so don't actually use it very much. But it has performed flawlessly.

I chose it over the Honda only b/c it was rated as slightly quieter. The Honda's are great too.

[prroots]

Thanks for the great feedback. I've decided to go with the Honda EU2000i. I now have another question that concerns charging time. Unfortunately, my new battery charger is only 40 Amps which suggests a quite long charging period. Has anyone used the DC output of this generator to achieve a faster charge? Is it possible to set the DC output voltage for this purpose. The specs say it's only 8 Amps so maybe it's not enough to make it worthwhile. I have 4 golf cart batteries.
Pete

[btrayfors]

It's not enough to bother with, and might confuse your charger.

Better to get a bigger charger. Best value would probably be the Iota DLS-75/IQ4. This is a 75A charger which will put out that current as long as needed, and the EU2000i can handle it.

BTW, in terms of time to get a full charge, remember that after about 80% state-of-charge (SOC) for flooded batteries, the charge efficiency drops to less than 50%. In other words, you have to "put in", e.g., more than 50AH in order to increase the battery's capacity by 25AH. It takes time.

Bill

[prroots]

Originally Posted by btrayfors

It's not enough to bother with, and might confuse your charger.

Better to get a bigger charger. Best value would probably be the Iota DLS-75/IQ4. This is a 75A charger which will put out that current as long as needed, and the EU2000i can handle it.

BTW, in terms of time to get a full charge, remember that after about 80% state-of-charge (SOC) for flooded batteries, the charge efficiency drops to less than 50%. In other words, you have to "put in", e.g., more than 50AH in order to increase the battery's capacity by 25AH. It takes time.

Bill

Thanks. I would much rather have a 75 or 80 Amp charger, but I don't want to give up my nice Xantrex TrueCharge 2 40 Amp charger which works great when on shore power. Any ideas on how to arrange a second, larger charger for use with Honda? It should be quite inexpensive since the cost would be in addition to the Honda. I'm wondering if some type of direct connect, portable system wouldn't be the way to go. Maybe the charger could be inexpensive if I'm not using it to float. My idea would be to charge from SOC of 50 up to 80% on a daily basis. Any ideas on how to get the job done economically?
Pete

[prroots]

I just had another idea. Why not purchase a 2nd 40 Amp charger and run the two in parallel when the Honda is in use? That saves money (as compared to a 75-80 Amp charger) and adds a level of redundancy. I'm not sure if the outputs from the two chargers would conflict though. Maybe if they were the identical make and model (ie, Xantrex TrueCharge 2) it would be ok?
Pete

[prroots]

I just discovered on the manufacturer's website that my Xantrex True Charge 2 40Amp can be paralleled with another one. That would offer the following advantages:
- redundancy
- less expense buying another 40 rather than replacing mine with a larger one
- allow use of other AC such as appliances since it's a permanent install
Pete

[prroots]

Originally Posted by btrayfors

The two outputs could well conflict, rendering one of them less than effective, particularly as the SOC begins to rise.

I'd go with a separate, decent quality, economical charger that can REALLY put out 75-80A and get those batteries charged fast with the Honda. I don't know any better ones for this purpose than the one I mentioned above.

The good "portable" chargers I know of -- like the West Marine 30A red one -- don't have enough capacity to do what you want. So, you'd want to install a 2nd charger. How? Easy. Put it somewhere dry and fairly cool. Attach the output cables to the battery bank, with a 100A ANL fuse in the positive cable located close to the batteries. Plug it into the Honda generator. Presto!

Bill

Thanks. Did you see my post above that my Xantrex is designed to be paralleled? Why wouldn't that be a good solution with the advantages I mentioned?
Pete