More Generator stuff

Continuing on this thread of small generators, particularly the ChiCom special, I wrote up some testing that I did last night.
http://www.johndearmond.com/2008/12/24/the-generator-that-could/
Enjoy.
John -- John De Armond See my website for my current email address http://www.neon-john.com http://www.johndearmond.com <-- best little blog on the net! Tellico Plains, Occupied TN It isn't Global Warming.... It's Jerry Falwell arriving in hell.

On Wed, 24 Dec 2008 02:09:07 -0500, Neon John wrote:

Continuing on this thread of small generators, particularly the ChiCom special, I wrote up some testing that I did last night.
http://www.johndearmond.com/2008/12/24/the-generator-that-could/
Enjoy.
John

Thanks, much more interested in the unit now.

Follow up set a.e.h
Neon John wrote:

Continuing on this thread of small generators, particularly the ChiCom special, I wrote up some testing that I did last night.
http://www.johndearmond.com/2008/12/24/the-generator-that-could/

Good stuff, I keep one of these (yamahah motorbike derived??) 2 stroke gensets in my 4x4, it's no longer as easy to start as yours but it gets there in the end.
I have a friend going to Rwanda to help with a school there. No electrcity so she intends to buy a generator there and has opted for the Honda inverter.
I feel they might be better off with the cheap 2 stroke and running dc for battery charging, led ultra brights and laptop rather than attempting to mimic a grid supplied system. Fuel consumption will be an issue though.
AJH

On Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:52:52 +0000, andrew wrote:

Follow up set a.e.h
Neon John wrote:
Continuing on this thread of small generators, particularly the ChiCom special, I wrote up some testing that I did last night.
http://www.johndearmond.com/2008/12/24/the-generator-that-could/
Good stuff, I keep one of these (yamahah motorbike derived??) 2 stroke gensets in my 4x4, it's no longer as easy to start as yours but it gets there in the end.

the trick is in holding the choke lever all the way shut. "Choke" on these things doesn't quite shut the butterfly all the way. Mine is a pull-monster too if I don't do that. I've been meaning to fix that little problem by welding up the old notch and machining a new one but holding the thing shut works so well that I've never gotten a round tuit.

I have a friend going to Rwanda to help with a school there. No electrcity so she intends to buy a generator there and has opted for the Honda inverter.
I feel they might be better off with the cheap 2 stroke and running dc for battery charging, led ultra brights and laptop rather than attempting to mimic a grid supplied system. Fuel consumption will be an issue though.

You are absolutely correct with one exception. Even with an EU, continuous operation will eat her up on fuel costs compared to a battery/charger/generator system. Substitute 12 volt CFLs (or even 120 volt CFLs operated from an inverter) over the LEDs:
http://www.neon-john.net/Neon/Misc/misc_home.htm first article.
She needs to learn from the off-grid folks, none of whom except maybe those few with a large enough hydro plant, do it any other way than with a battery system and inverter for 120 volt applications.
As I've mentioned before, that little 2-stroke is almost perfectly matched to a PD Intellipower 60 amp charger. Using that architecture, the generator is either wide open or off with no fuel wasting idling or almost idling under light load.
One other consideration. She's likely to get bad/dirty fuel in a place like that. Compare the ease of removing the carb (float bowl at least) on the 2-stroke for cleaning with the EU. Getting the EU carb off involves major plastic surgery :-)
John -- John De Armond See my website for my current email address http://www.neon-john.com http://www.johndearmond.com <-- best little blog on the net! Tellico Plains, Occupied TN Serenity: That feeling of knowing that your secretary will never tell either of your wives.

Neon John wrote:

I feel they might be better off with the cheap 2 stroke and running dc for battery charging, led ultra brights and laptop rather than attempting to mimic a grid supplied system. Fuel consumption will be an issue though.
You are absolutely correct with one exception.  Even with an EU, continuous operation will eat her up on fuel costs compared to a battery/charger/generator system. Substitute 12 volt CFLs (or even 120 volt CFLs operated from an inverter) over the LEDs:
http://www.neon-john.net/Neon/Misc/misc_home.htm first article.

Fine but my understanding is that her students have no home lighting either, I was advocating also charging some gel batteries or nimh cells so that they might take a led reading light home.
We have 12V CFLs here in UK which are nominally 11W and use ordinary mini ES thread fittings but I wonder what will be available in Rwanda. These would function as per your test with a gel battery.

As I've mentioned before, that little 2-stroke is almost perfectly matched to a PD Intellipower 60 amp charger.  Using that architecture, the generator is either wide open or off with no fuel wasting idling or almost idling under light load.

I missed that, do you have an article number?

One other consideration.  She's likely to get bad/dirty fuel in a place like that.  

Agreed, also the 2t is fairly fool proof once the fuel is mixed.
AJH

andrew wrote:

We have 12V CFLs here in UK which are nominally 11W and use ordinary mini ES thread fittings but I wonder what will be available in Rwanda. These would function as per your test with a gel battery.

I don't know about Rwanda, but I was in Kenya a couple of years ago and both the 12V (for the solar/battery users) and 230V versions (for the genny/grid users) were readily available in the town shops.

Tim Jackson

Tim Jackson wrote:

andrew wrote:
We have 12V CFLs here in UK which are nominally 11W and use ordinary mini ES thread fittings but I wonder what will be available in Rwanda. These would function as per your test with a gel battery.
I don't know about Rwanda, but I was in Kenya a couple of years ago and both the 12V (for the solar/battery users) and 230V versions (for the genny/grid users) were readily available in the town shops.

Oh, yes, and a tip. If you ever find yourself using (AC) CFL's directly with a generator, always start the generator off-load. We made some pretty and expensive firework displays by naively ignoring that advice. CFL's (at least those available in Africa) aren't very tolerant of voltage surges.
Tim

Neon John wrote:

Continuing on this thread of small generators, particularly the ChiCom special, I wrote up some testing that I did last night.
http://www.johndearmond.com/2008/12/24/the-generator-that-could/
Enjoy.

Intersting, though kinda comparing apples and oranges. How about a comparison with the Honda, Yamaha and the ChiCom clone of the Honda? I see there are ChiCom clones of both the EU1000 and EU2000.

Neon John wrote in news:bmc4l4dfesm7h5mlc8oomn29kb2fh2v7tk@4ax.com:

On Wed, 24 Dec 2008 11:52:52 +0000, andrew <news@sylva.icuklive.co.uk wrote:
Follow up set a.e.h
Neon John wrote:
Continuing on this thread of small generators, particularly the ChiCom special, I wrote up some testing that I did last night.
http://www.johndearmond.com/2008/12/24/the-generator-that-could/
Good stuff, I keep one of these (yamahah motorbike derived??) 2 stroke gensets in my 4x4, it's no longer as easy to start as yours but it gets there in the end.
the trick is in holding the choke lever all the way shut. "Choke" on these things doesn't quite shut the butterfly all the way. Mine is a pull-monster too if I don't do that. I've been meaning to fix that little problem by welding up the old notch and machining a new one but holding the thing shut works so well that I've never gotten a round tuit.
I have a friend going to Rwanda to help with a school there. No electrcity so she intends to buy a generator there and has opted for the Honda inverter.
I feel they might be better off with the cheap 2 stroke and running dc for battery charging, led ultra brights and laptop rather than attempting to mimic a grid supplied system. Fuel consumption will be an issue though.
You are absolutely correct with one exception. Even with an EU, continuous operation will eat her up on fuel costs compared to a battery/charger/generator system. Substitute 12 volt CFLs (or even 120 volt CFLs operated from an inverter) over the LEDs:
http://www.neon-john.net/Neon/Misc/misc_home.htm first article.
She needs to learn from the off-grid folks, none of whom except maybe those few with a large enough hydro plant, do it any other way than with a battery system and inverter for 120 volt applications.
As I've mentioned before, that little 2-stroke is almost perfectly matched to a PD Intellipower 60 amp charger. Using that architecture, the generator is either wide open or off with no fuel wasting idling or almost idling under light load.
One other consideration. She's likely to get bad/dirty fuel in a place like that. Compare the ease of removing the carb (float bowl at least) on the 2-stroke for cleaning with the EU. Getting the EU carb off involves major plastic surgery :-)

Actually pulling the carb is pretty easy on the EU -- you open the air cleaner and remove it with 1 8mm bolt and undo the two 8 mm nuts on the carb, unhook a wire and pull a few fuel lines and it comes right off through the plastic access door.
I had a dirty carb and rather than trying to clean it I just swapped it for another one I had lying around that was already clean. Took about 10 mins the other night (all while also making pasta .. you can start your water to boil and have it done by the time your shells are al dente).
Its the ONE thing thats fairly easy on the ol EU -- everything else is a pain in the ass :)
But man I might spring for one of those chi-com units .. just to have in my truck or as a backup power unit. Could be very useful.
Do you have to mix the fuel or is there an oil injector?
thanks for the write up man!
-zachary

Per Tim Jackson:

CFL's

? -- PeteCresswell

CFL = Compact Fluorescent Lamp
Merry Christmas Vaughn
"(PeteCresswell)" wrote in message

Per Tim Jackson: CFL's
? -- PeteCresswell

On Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:01:03 -0600, z wrote:

Neon John wrote in
But man I might spring for one of those chi-com units .. just to have in my truck or as a backup power unit. Could be very useful.
Do you have to mix the fuel or is there an oil injector?
thanks for the write up man!

You're most welcome. No oil injection. The book lists 50:1. I use the Northern tool smokeless synthetic oil at 80:1. There is just a tiny bit of smoke when it cranks but then it goes away as the muffler gets hot. There is still the smell of oil in the air but it's not bad with that kind of oil.
The northern oil comes in little bottles good for 1 gallon of gas at 40:1. I simply use a 2 gallon tank. I've been running it that lean since new and the thing has thrived. The exhaust pipe is clean and no black mung oozes out. It probably uses less oil than an air cooled 4-stroke of similar size.
One nice thing about this generator being engine-limited instead of generator-limited is that more power is available with a few simple engine mods. I have two of these and I'm thinking about buying a third to take apart and see what kind of hotrodding that can be done. I'd love to get 1500 watts out of it. That would be a very convenient output. Enough to run just about any heating appliance at full output but still in a light package.
I can't believe how handy having a generator in the trunk is. I've had an inverter installed in my car for years but for any serious load, the engine needs to be running (no aux battery) and that means leaving the car open to theft in bad areas.
Just the other day I went with a friend to look at a building he was considering buying. No power. I got the generator out, along with the 100 ft of 18 ga extension cord, a multi-outlet strip and a couple of CFL-powered work lights. that gave us each a light. We explored all over the building, taking a couple of hours.
My car would have idled away probably a gallon or two of gas. The generator barely sipped the gas away from the filler neck. The building was larger than the 100 ft cord would cover so I just carried the generator from area to area, sitting it outside whenever possible. Flashlights would not have done the job. Coleman lanterns would have but I'm loathe to carrying open flame into someone else's unknown property.
I treat the generator as an infinite extension cord capable of 1000 watts. Microwave oven at a picnic? NO problem. Power an amplifier for a band at a camping party? NO problem. Need heat after a breakdown while waiting on the wrecker? No problem. Best C-note I ever spent.
John -- John De Armond See my website for my current email address http://www.neon-john.com http://www.johndearmond.com <-- best little blog on the net! Tellico Plains, Occupied TN Better to pass boldly into that other world in the full glory of some passion than fade and wither dismally with age. -Joyce

Ralph E Lindberg wrote:

In article , "Pete C." wrote:
Neon John wrote:
Continuing on this thread of small generators, particularly the ChiCom special, I wrote up some testing that I did last night.
http://www.johndearmond.com/2008/12/24/the-generator-that-could/
Enjoy.
Intersting, though kinda comparing apples and oranges. How about a comparison with the Honda, Yamaha and the ChiCom clone of the Honda? I see there are ChiCom clones of both the EU1000 and EU2000.
The big issue with the ChiCom clones of the EU series is they lack the circuit to hook them together. My understanding is that circuit is covered under a Honda patent, which they can (and do) enforce

Interesting. I wonder how good a clone they are otherwise. While the paralleling ability is nice for some uses, in many you just need a solo unit and the variable speed eco-throttle is the key feature. A single EU2000 runs my camper A/C fine.

In article , "Pete C." wrote:

Neon John wrote:
Continuing on this thread of small generators, particularly the ChiCom special, I wrote up some testing that I did last night.
http://www.johndearmond.com/2008/12/24/the-generator-that-could/
Enjoy.
Intersting, though kinda comparing apples and oranges. How about a comparison with the Honda, Yamaha and the ChiCom clone of the Honda? I see there are ChiCom clones of both the EU1000 and EU2000.

The big issue with the ChiCom clones of the EU series is they lack the circuit to hook them together. My understanding is that circuit is covered under a Honda patent, which they can (and do) enforce
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