Grandview Trailer Sa
Senior Member
That is not the way to get started around here......
Portable Generator
- Thread starter tom taylor
- Start date
Wolfpack Fan
Junior Member
Here's my 2 cents worth on this. We've got an onboard 7000 watt Onan that's plenty of power for everything, but it's a little hungry for fuel, being a 2 cylinder engine. We wanted an auxiliary generator we could use that would be enough for running tv's and other light weight appliances. We started out with a chinese made power house 1000 watt purchased off of craigslist. BIG mistake. Would barely power anything. Decided a 2000 would be enough to power electronics and microwave. Not air conditioners though. Started checking out all the manufacturers and reading any review I could find on them in printed form or on youtube. It seemed that hardly any of the chinese generators made the power they stated. Not the case with the Honda's and Yamaha's, which I believe are the best you can get. We decided on a Yamaha 2000, over the Honda for these reasons.
Honda EPA certification period is 250 hours, Yamaha is 500 hours. Chinese by the way are 125 hours. This to me translates as better build quality. Just my opinion there.
The Yamaha has a fuel gauge. The Honda does not. No need to take off the fuel cap and shine a light in to see fuel level.
Not a major issue, but the Yamaha is a couple pounds lighter and slightly quieter at 1/4 load, 2db. Yamaha is slightly louder at rated load, 2db.
The Yamaha has a separate shut off for ignition and fuel. The Honda's is combined. With the Yamaha I can shut off the fuel, leave the ignition on and run the carburetor empty, if I need to store it for a while.
The Yamaha and Honda both can be paralleled to each other to double the output, if a single 2000 isn't enough.
The Yamaha's air intake is on the side, instead of the bottom. Less dust to get sucked in if it's sitting on the ground directly.
The Yamaha is blue. My favorite color.
I don't think the Honda is a bad piece of equipment in any way. I love anything made by Honda. Incredible products! I just prefer the Yamaha for the reasons stated. With Honda/Acura and Toyota/Lexus being about the best cars on the road (we own both) I just wish Yamaha would start making cars.
Honda EPA certification period is 250 hours, Yamaha is 500 hours. Chinese by the way are 125 hours. This to me translates as better build quality. Just my opinion there.
The Yamaha has a fuel gauge. The Honda does not. No need to take off the fuel cap and shine a light in to see fuel level.
Not a major issue, but the Yamaha is a couple pounds lighter and slightly quieter at 1/4 load, 2db. Yamaha is slightly louder at rated load, 2db.
The Yamaha has a separate shut off for ignition and fuel. The Honda's is combined. With the Yamaha I can shut off the fuel, leave the ignition on and run the carburetor empty, if I need to store it for a while.
The Yamaha and Honda both can be paralleled to each other to double the output, if a single 2000 isn't enough.
The Yamaha's air intake is on the side, instead of the bottom. Less dust to get sucked in if it's sitting on the ground directly.
The Yamaha is blue. My favorite color.
I don't think the Honda is a bad piece of equipment in any way. I love anything made by Honda. Incredible products! I just prefer the Yamaha for the reasons stated. With Honda/Acura and Toyota/Lexus being about the best cars on the road (we own both) I just wish Yamaha would start making cars.
H2H1
Senior Member
well I have a power house 3100 and it powers everything, even my 2 air conditions at the same time. The advanage is, it is remote start, key start, and old stand by the pull rope. It does have fuel gauge, and a economy switch to run things a little less RPMs. I have used this at race tracks and it was perfect. BTW, my motor home as a 3500 kw genset on broad. And like most on broad genset, it love fuels, so we take the powerhous with us for tailgateing. One more thing, I got it from Ken at GTS.
G
Guest
Guest
well i guess i am outta the realm ,, "on why" u need another genset ,, i have used mine for 4 days straight and only burnt 1/4 tank of fuel ,, so what ,, but why buy another genset when u have one already ,, u still have to put fuel in it ,, i guess i am thinking wrong ,, but oh well ,, i don;t know anything anyways ,, to me it is only money wasted ,, but JMO ,, i would think the money spent on the alt genset would over come the cost of fuel for the onboard set ,, but oh well ,, it does not matter to me ,, fuel is no problem
Wolfpack Fan
Junior Member
I like the idea of being able to generate electricity without having electricity. If all the batteries to everything go out, I can still pull the starter rope. One of those survivalist instincts I guess.
Hey Tom,
A great suggestion would be checking out some sizing guides or wattage guides online as well to help you make a more strategic decision. Some grate places to start looking would be www.Norwall.com they have a great guide for sizing generators, and specifically portable generators. They let you know what to consider when choosing your generator, the sizing, what kind of load capacity you're looking at and more. When we were looking to buy our home standby generator this guide in particular came in very handy but there are also others out there that may help out. I believe I remember seeing a guide on honda.com as well.. Anyways hope this help's some
A great suggestion would be checking out some sizing guides or wattage guides online as well to help you make a more strategic decision. Some grate places to start looking would be www.Norwall.com they have a great guide for sizing generators, and specifically portable generators. They let you know what to consider when choosing your generator, the sizing, what kind of load capacity you're looking at and more. When we were looking to buy our home standby generator this guide in particular came in very handy but there are also others out there that may help out. I believe I remember seeing a guide on honda.com as well.. Anyways hope this help's some