Air Conditioner startup capacitor? - Page 2

**Bill** · 03-30-2018, 11:56 AM

Not meaning to hijack the thread, but I've found that a 1 KW generator such as the EU1000 will do just about everything except run the AC. The 1 KW gen will easily handle all the lighting and battery-charging needs. My wife's hair curler draws only 86 watts (surprise)! Her hair drier draws 800 watts on LO, which is still hot enough to burn my hand. The other small needs such as a TV (100 watts or less) are easy. And a smaller gen it is a lot easier to carry than a big one.

We too use propane for coffee, heating up water for a French Press. Quick, easy, and good coffee.

Bill

tentcamper · 03-30-2018, 03:28 PM

I have an old Honda ex800 which does just fine recharging the battery.

Craigrrr · 03-30-2018, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larryjb

Craig,
I, too, am thinking of getting a generator, perhaps next year. I was wondering what else you would want thetor for besides the AC? The main reason we would get it is for the AC and charging the TM battery. We do coffee on a stove top percolator, so the only thing that might need AC electricity is the TV.

Larry, I also use medical equipment so that was my other concern , as far as getting say a 3000 Honda inverter type. I will probably do the micro air soft start just for the AC and use solar for coffee pot and then medical as it does well on the solar setup ..

Craigrrr · 03-30-2018, 03:38 PM

Larry, I also sent you a PM

**Larryjb** · 03-31-2018, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craigrrr

Larry, I also use medical equipment so that was my other concern , as far as getting say a 3000 Honda inverter type. I will probably do the micro air soft start just for the AC and use solar for coffee pot and then medical as it does well on the solar setup ..

Well, that's kind of important. For us, we're debating whether we would even need the AC. Inland temperatures away from water tend to drop to quite comfortable levels at night, so a smaller generator to recharge the battery maybe all we need if we do the Harvest host thing a lot.

Shane826 · 03-31-2018, 07:27 AM

I’ve thought about what to do with medical equipment... My wife uses a CPAP machine. But I don’t think most places would allow a generator to run overnight. So if we ever get into dry camping, I would probably look into a battery operated CPAP machine for her.

Craigrrr · 03-31-2018, 07:59 AM

Most cpaps are capable to run off 12 volts, check online for a 12 volt acc. kit for her model cpap. When we camp in the desert and going cross country the AC would be a nice feature to have running in the summer, as the desert camping goes it's on blm land and if someone wants to be that close they have to deal with the generator. But then it is a Honda and it is quiet .
here is just camping in the campurban,would like to have a roof top ac on this thing too. lol

Padgett · 03-31-2018, 09:31 AM

The Honda eu2000i is somewhat underrated in my opinion but it is an older design. My Westinghouse is rated about 200W higher continuous but is plenty and has a bit left over. My coffee maker is rated at 770W and pulls 64A of 12V DC through the inverter (measured). A 3 minute cuppa takes about 24 minutes for the solar to recharge. I have a lot of battery and matched solar so that I do not need the generator for much other than the AC (necessary in Florida). Even so it has plenty to support all normal operations and everything if AC is not needed.

Brittany Dogs · 03-31-2018, 11:20 AM

I am a big advocate of the Micro Air unit and installed it on my low profile penguin AC unit. It will run on the Honda 2000 nicely in most cases. However I have found that on a fairly hot, muggy day, using even just the 30 foot 10AWG cord to the generator, the overall system was failing. What would happen is the generator was generally in a hot environment which derates capacity, the power cable is laying in the sun which also derates it, the camper has a high solar load on it while in full sun. The generator would give it everything it had but after 20 or 30 minutes, the voltage would creep down to about 100 volts, which increases amperage, and after 30 seconds of that, the micro air would kick out the compressor because it sensed a brown out condition.

I then experimented with using my pig tail cable, that is only one foot long, hooking up the Honda 2000 to that and it worked. As soon as I used the 30 foot, it was taking the system too close to the edge and the above brown out would happen. If I used my 10AWG extension, making the total length 60 feet, it would kick out sooner. I also noticed the Honda really grunting as it approached the 20-30 minute mark.

On cooler days or if everything was in the shade, the Honda 2000 worked even if I went for my real long extension, 100 foot of 10AWG.

So... I went out and bought a Honda 3000 Handi and now I can run AC in full sun on hot, muggy days without any problem, even with some of my longer extension cord sets (all 10AWG).

**Bill** · 03-31-2018, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brittany Dogs

I then experimented with using my pig tail cable, that is only one foot long, hooking up the Honda 2000 to that and it worked.

Dogs -

Somehow I'm not clear on what your pig tail cable is, and how you used it to connect your generator to your TM. Specifically, what did you plug it into on the TM end?

Can you help me out here? Thanks

Bill