Will the A/C not run at all or will the genset overload when the A/C is turned on/compressor kicks in?
Have you tried running the A/C on mains power at home recently? If a capacitor or other motor failure is present on your Herron I’d expect it to trip out or not run off mains power either... trip to the A/C repair man warranted.
The only other reason I can think of is the start-up current is too much for the genset but that doesn’t explain why an the Honda2 will start the same A/C elsewhere... After starting, running the Herron 2.2 off a Honda2 doesn’t look like it’d be an issue for cooling.
Know any sparkies? Ask them why a locked rotor current of 18A doesn’t trip out a 15A/10A breaker on the mains feed or 8.3A genset? Some of air commands other A/C models show 20A LRC. I’m guessing, again, that it’s only for a split second that allow it to kick off the motor then keep running at operating current without tripping a breaker or genset overload. Borrowing a tong tester to check current draw when running of mains might be helpful to see what current it really pulls when the compressor motor kicks in, and thus show how hard a genset has to work to run your specific A/C.
kW = effective power flowing from the source to the load. Honda EU20i = 240V x 8.33A = 2000W or 2kW max output / 240V x 6.66A = 1600W rated output
kVA = is the power circulating between the source and the load and is also known as the reactive volt-amperes, which is the useable power of a generator. AC devices require reactive power, which also has to be supplied by the generator known as the power factor (pF). Honda rate the pF at 1.0 so the kVA is essentially the same as the kW rating, some other brands use pF of 0.8 generally resulting a lower usable power rating…
From the manufacturer’s specs - to run the Herron 2.2 on:
Start-up: Locked rotor current of up to 240V x 18A = 4320VA. (typical start up power at 4.5 x 4.0A running current for split phase motors) Might only be for a split second allowing the Honda to keep running whilst the A/C compressor motor kicks off. The Honda is rated for 2000VA max = 8.3A.
Cooling: 240V x 4.0A x 1.0 pF = 960kVA = OK load to run of Honda EU20i. Plenty of capacity to keep the Herron running. As @Coastrunner mentioned an EU10i has enough power to run the Herron 2.2, although I think it would struggle with hot ambient temps. (2.2kW cooling capacity is the energy rating the A/C can cool the air/remove heat from the air).
Heating: 240V x 6.5A x 1.0 pF = 1560kVA pushing the genset to its Rated output (1600kVA), so not as good – go for a bigger genset. (1.5kW heating capacity is the energy rating the A/C can heat the air).
