Hello Fellow Boggers,
We have a mandated new gas required for the AC units, part of a world wide shift to more "Environmentally Friendly" gases, and Dometic is the first to implement this… This new compressor system will reportedly run at higher compression… And it is a truly reverse cycle unit, in that it runs in both directions: One way for heat and another way for cooling, with the condenser and evaporator changing roles with electric solenoid valves… Mind you I have not torn one apart yet... Any way the point:
There have been problems as reported in a Thread on the Owners
Forum, with a small number of Honda 2.0i Generators shutting down in really hot weather when used to run the air conditioner that we have been using for many years.. For the 98% of people using it, it has proven satisfactory, but about 2% maybe 2-3 out of 100, have had the generators shutting down on overload in the really hot weather. It is just on the edge of marginal maximum duty cycle in 38-40+ hot weather for two principle Engineering reasons:
1) Firstly in 38-40 degree weather the compressor pulls slightly more current principally due to heat generated resistance loads and higher gas back pressure…
2) And secondly in the same weather the generators actually lose capacity with heat loading and these two factors go in opposing and antagonistic directions… Most people get away with it, but if you have been reading the Owners
Forum, a very few Boggers for one of these reasons or another, have had the generators shutting down…
There is a new factor in this which can sway the outcome:
We are using this new Air Conditioning unit now. All other brands will be forced to comply and switch over to the new system in the next 12-18 months. We have a request in to the Manufacturer, from the National Distributor, to see if the loadings on start up will aggravate the current conditions listed above or not. While the “Say” the start up loads are comparable, I want to know exactly which side of the line they are on. The compression is higher, which makes me think the current loads might be on the higher side, aggravating the situation. We have email in to the Engineering Techies now, and should have an answer which I will Post when we receive it in the next couple of days. In the mean time I think you New Boggers should re-evaluate your generator needs, and hold off on purchase for just a little bit…
There is a Honda 3.0i retails for twice the price at $3999, twice the price of the 2.0i, slightly quieter, but it weighs in at 60 kg…!!!! Too heavy to move… This is not an option in my opinion, although we have several running them on slide out trays and electric start. I would favor this idea: You can buy two of 2.0i units for the same money, the linkage kit is about $300, and run one in normal conditions or run two units in the extreme conditions if you are having problems… We have a number of Customers doing just that. Or you can look into the other generators available like Yamaha. The Honda 2.0i weighs in at 20 kg, and has a good longevity track record going back 25 years with Yachties all over the world, it is just flat out the worlds Leader. The Yamaha “Blue Whisper” series in 2.4 kva, is copying he style and is a serious Contender, but also a serious weight problem as the EF2400iS weighs a Whopping 32 kg, almost as much as two Honda 2.0i units!!! I am not sure this is an attractive option either….. Not when I was grunting it off the ground and into the locker.
You might consider the other options, but forget the cost, look at what you have to live with in terms of weight, and noise. If one of the many alternates comes in reasonable guidelines, then I would suggest you consider it as an alternative. But I do not know of an attractive alternate, mind you I have not spent much time looking either. I do not think it is worth fooling with the cheap Indian or Chinese generators that could put your electronics at risk or ruin the compressors with off frequency or off voltage variations. I would stay with the Japanese generators, but I would look at the alternates to Honda like the Yamaha IF and I say IF they were about the same weight and decibels of noise level… OK? The Honda is number one, because it is the lightest, quiet, and has an amazing track record for long life. The same in the Outback for Quad bikes. Professionals like Honda as the best, but you can always buy cheaper, just not sure about better.
I will Post the report from the Engineers when it comes back. FOR YOU NEW BOGGERS: IF it is on the heavier side of things, in trying to take care of you I would suggest you not depend on the Honda 2.0i running alone. Either get one of the alternates or two 2.0i per above. For now, hold off on buying a generator until I get this report back…
For you Veteran Boggers, and older vans: Look, the Honda 2.0i is still the King, and about 98% are running them satisfactorily.
Regards from LR, trying to take care of everyone… Dats my job, 24/7….
P.S. P.M….. Rabid Greenie? Please do not read the following:
With regards to the new gases, hybrid cars and new whitegoods: I am not convinced it is people that are the sole cause contributing to this global warming, as it is a cycle that repeats itself, proven back to the dawn of time with records in the permanent Ice Fields drill cores… I am fairly well educated, and it appears to me to be a lot of economic hype to stimulate the economy and sell new products like hybrid cars and new refrigerators and new AC units and new Automotive air conditioning and the rest… Yes we are having a mild global warming, but did you know that this solar cycle of activity hits a peak around 2011? It may not even be much of a contributor, but there have been global warming and global cooling cycles with some frequency from early this century well recorded as far back as the great global cooling cycle of 1250 AD that deep snow drifted Paris and contributed to the “Dark Ages”… Most people do not know that this is a reoccurring cycle as frequently as 50 years. It just happens, back before fossil fuels and before we as humans could have contributed to the cause… Yes it is happening right now, that is not a question, but it has been happening for thousands of years in a Sine Wave fashion of global warming and global cooling cycles since before man could have affected it!!! Now it has been seized upon by the Leftists that want Socialism. Now it is being force fed to us; forcing us to buy new styles of white goods and automotive goods… ?? Maybe I am just cynical, but I am also fairly well educated and I just don’t buy it 100%. We are not even a microscopic flea on the back of the huge Cosmic forces that cycle our global temperature flux higher and lower; and these cycles are proven for thousands of years before we were burning fossil fuels, with records preserved in the ice fields. Now if there are any Rabid Greenies out there, you can hate me, but I would bet I am right and this whole thing will pass…. I think it is just socially correct and popular, but based on economic stimulus to cattle prod us into spending on new styles of equipment to stimulate stagnant world economies….. And Politically correct, to try and decouple our dependence on Muslim controlled oil supplies… But I would bet it has really little to do with the current global warming cycle…
Yea, yea, my Rave for the month… Anyway…. Bloody Redneck lone Ranger, what does he know?