17' Series Generator

Digger12

Member
Jan 22, 2013
33
3
8
Western suburbs melbourne
Gday guys. Thinking about purchasing a Honda EU20i generator.
Are they any good. Mainly wanting it to run the air con / heater and charge batteries in our expanda. Any feedback would be great,
T.I.A
 

gspy4u

Active Member
Apr 27, 2012
235
112
43
Ipswich
yeh but pricey just like the yamaha's. Depends on what size aircon too. We just got a cheap supercheap one. It does all you ask for including running our aircon. Hasn't missed a beat in the 180+ hours it has been used and only cost us about $600 when they were on special. Not as quiet but not that load either.
 
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Drover

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2013
12,723
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QLD
I like my Honda 2kva, not heavy, runs my aircon and best of all not noisy like some of the cheapies.. .........The thing to do is borrow a 2kva and see if it will run your AC, sometimes they won't and you need a 2.5 or 3 kva to do the job.. ....run Genny for a few mins to get warmed up then making sure the HWS is OFF turn on power to van, start AC at a low setting and slowly build up, just firing it up at full noise puts too much load on Genny...........4 stroke Invertor Genny only way to go, 2 stroke, noisy, thirsty and could fizz some electronic gear, like chargers, TV etc.
 

Crossy

Member
Dec 3, 2017
18
31
13
55
Canberra
Hi Digger12

I purchased one of these for a trip over Christmas. Bought last minute and they expressed it from Melbourne and I got it next day. Worked really well, ran it for a total of around 10hrs over 5 days. It is exactly the same as the Cromtech one mentioned above, I looked at the Yamaha 2.4 but couldn't justify the price for the amount of time I would use it.

http://www.bluedm.com.au/inverter-generator-petrol-2-4kva/

Overall pleased with it, simple to use and ran everything including coffee machine and air conditioner on full (not at the same time!)

Crossy
 

MarkAW

Member
Jan 25, 2017
61
34
18
46
Point Cook
We have the Cromtech, runs the Heron 2.2 heater and aircon without issue

Also couldn't justify the price of the Yamaha 2.4. The Honda 2kva is guaranteed to work provided the lead is no more than a few meters and nothing else is on. When i was looking into it the Honda would be running close to ma output

We are happy with the Cromtech
 

Drover

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2013
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I think it all depends on the AC or units that you want to run, my Honda2kva ran the old Heron 2.2 okay she would give a spit every so often but it runs the Dometic 3000 in Big Mal very well, a bigger system by miles but is only at about 3/4 throttle not revving it's guts out, yet I have seen them just die on other units, I just use my short van lead to run it, 10m long.............................The genny and the AC condition plays a big part I think.
 

Chris Daly

New Member
Sep 4, 2017
14
7
3
53
Malmsbury
We got a kings 2kva one for 354 dollars, runs aircon (roof mounted) lights, has done 100’s of hours, yeah, more noisy than expensive brands but who cares on a hot day. Was at the Bendigo caravan and camping show and the kings one ran more than the Honda for heaps of $$$$$$ less. If it blows up I’ll just buy another, and if some junkie steals it off the Ute I’m not gonna cry for too long.
 

Brougham

Active Member
May 22, 2016
165
170
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Perth, WA
www.customphoto.com.au
We got a kings 2kva one for 354 dollars, runs aircon (roof mounted) lights, has done 100’s of hours, yeah, more noisy than expensive brands but who cares on a hot day. Was at the Bendigo caravan and camping show and the kings one ran more than the Honda for heaps of $$$$$$ less. If it blows up I’ll just buy another, and if some junkie steals it off the Ute I’m not gonna cry for too long.
We've got a Yamaha 2.4 and it runs a dream. when we were in karijini, there were 3 guys with the kings generators. they all had heaps of issues starting and running due to even tiny bits of red dust whereas our yam was on the drawbar, no protection, dusty as hell and still started first pull each time and ran smoothly.

Sure it cost me more, but it'll be way more reliable when I need it
 

Brougham

Active Member
May 22, 2016
165
170
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Perth, WA
www.customphoto.com.au
The normal 3-way fridge? Of course. But why would you when it runs better and heaps more effectively on gas.

My 2.4 Yamaha will run everything at the same time with the exception of the microwave and aircon. Can’t run those two together. But can run all lights. Recharge devices, hot water and air con no worries.
 

Drover

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2013
12,723
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113
QLD
Fridge is no drama @Corey MacDonald but you would need to run the genny non stop, gas is way better as you only want to run a genny for the minimum amount of time, when out bush we mostly run ours for the washing machine so I take that opportunity to charge up all the battery stuff, laptop, drill etc and give the aux battery on the Ute some extra boost as it only has a small solar to work it.
 
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Brougham

Active Member
May 22, 2016
165
170
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Perth, WA
www.customphoto.com.au
Yep, what Drover said. We've got solar on our OB and it runs pretty much everything, we've got 12V tv, fridge is on gas, HWS on gas, devices all have 12v chargers. when free camping the only things we need to use 240V is to charge laptop, run microwave and aircon (which is rare we need to when free camping).

oh and the coffee machine. that's the sole reason we take the generator. :D