We Melbournites had a hot weekend, so it was a great opportunity to test the Kipor 2kW generator and Ibis aircon combo in some trying real world conditions.
Firstly the specs for the Kipor GS2000 2kW generator is almost identical to both the Honda and Yamaha 2kW models, so although every genset and every Ibis is slightly different it will serve as a starting point.
The temperture reached 35deg and it was a dry clear and hot day, more so in the direct sun. The aircon isn't proportional, its either on or off, so as long as the compressor was pumping, the ambient temperture shouldn't make a lot of difference to the aircons performance, and power requirments. Most of the variants would come from the genset itself i.e. ambient temp, air viscosity, lead length and size and output.
I sat the genset in full sun to give it as much of a hard time as possible, and ran a full 20mtr 15 amp lead . The temperature in the full sun was 44 deg.
The first test was running the aircon, setting the temp as low as would allow to keep the compressor constantly running, and running the Kipor on full throttle. The easiest ask for the Kipor i.e. no compressor thumping in and out, and no smart throttle cutting in and out. The combo worked fine and the over the 2 hour test, and the Kipor used exactly the spec listed 1ltr/hr of fuel ie 2 ptrs for the 2 hour run time.
The second test was setting the aircon temp at a more realistic 25deg, and setting the Kipor to smart throttle to measure any difference in capability and fuel consumption.
The Kipor had been warmed up for 5 minutes on full throttle, then before the Ibis was turned on the Kipor was flicked to smart throttle. The Ibis takes 3 minutes to cycle the compressor after starting. The Kipor had idled down per the smart throttle, and the first thump of the compressor knocked out the Kipor.
The Kipor was reset, and left with at full throttle. The Ibis was turned back on and after 3 minutes the compressor kicked in; and at full throttle the first test showed the Kipor would be fine with that. I switched the Kipor to smart throttle after 3 or 4 minutes, but as the compressor was running constantly bringing the van temp down from 29deg, the smart throttle was running at full anyway.
Once the van temp got down to the preset 25deg, the Ibis started to cycle. The trick was clearly not starting the Kipor on smart throttle, but allowing it to run for 5 minutes on full throttle before turning on the smart throttle. The test time was 3 hours, and Ibis cycled about every 3 minutes. The Kipor survived the compressor thump about 50 odd times, and the fuel usage pushed out to 3 hours for the same 2 ltrs used in the hour full throttle test.
Ill start a Kipor generator review thread and post the same info there for people to search