Suitcase generators

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CaptainCava

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A recent thread on this site was talking about fixed gensets, but several people also mentioned the Honda suitcase generator. Everyone I've met who owns a Honda seems to praise them, but does anyone know anything about the much cheaper Clarke IG1000, which Machine Mart sell for just £287.00. Is it a case of you get what you pay for, or is it just that you are bound to pay more because Honda is a quality brand?
 
GenSets

Think you will find you get a longer guarantee with the Honda usually 3 years .. You will also find the honda quieter as it can run in snail mode when you are not drawing alot of power .. Found our Honda 2.0i worked very well but had problems with a pressure washer so I swapped it for something larger .. Always worried when used on board about the noise and disturbing others .. Have a look at the specs CAREFULLY .. Clarke .. Noise level of 64dB(a) at 1/4 load at a distance of 7 metres .. Honda is 52db at a distance of 7 meters .. Also note that the Clarke is rated at 1/4 Load .. SO ITS GOING TO BE CONSIDERABLE NOISER AT FULL Load
 
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CaptainCava said:
A recent thread on this site was talking about fixed gensets, but several people also mentioned the Honda suitcase generator. Everyone I've met who owns a Honda seems to praise them, but does anyone know anything about the much cheaper Clarke IG1000, which Machine Mart sell for just £287.00. Is it a case of you get what you pay for, or is it just that you are bound to pay more because Honda is a quality brand?
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I just bought a Honda G200 generator secondhand, lightly used, dual volt for £100- not a suitcase model but a reasonable compromise- if it fails, well I guess it will have to be repaired, but I reckon on it being a bargain.

Shop around and be willing to compromise, is my recommendation
 
I got a 1kw gen 2 stroke chinese for 39£ from aldi had 2 years got soaked a couple of times had for 2 years never fails to start and its relatively quiet.

Not as quite as the little honda 4 stroke I had but that was only 650 watts and its valves were always sticking

this little 2 stoke has 240 volt plus 12v output for battery charging I have seen a similar gen in B+Q fo 99£
 
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This has come up before and I've already stuck my 2ps worth in but repeating myself's nothing new, ask SWMBO.........

We ran the 1k Honda's on our market stall for many years, two in fact. When the first packed in (mainly due to lacklustre maintainance on my part) after three years (running everyday from autumn to spring) we replaced it with a Kipor. The Kipor was noticably louder, in fact I had to make up a sound proof box to put it in because it was too loud for the street. It lasted 2 months before packing up. We sent the thing back to where we bought it, where it stayed. Due to the non availability of spares, apparently..........

It was Christmas at the time so we couldn't wait for it's return. A new Honda was bought which lasted seven years. In fact it's still going strong.

Make of that what you will.............
 
I've had a Clark one for must be coming up to 10 years and had no problems with it so would recomend one for sure. I don't use it every weekend but during the winter it gets a lot of hammer working on the boat.
 
I have a little Kipour unit bought from ebay seems to stand middle ground well noise wise between the hondas and the real cheappes. I was told it must not be overloaded though or it could cause damage to the electronics. I have used it this year for charging the batteries and running a small sander for the varnish work. So overall pleased and about 1/3rd the price of the honda.
 
Size of generators matters (to me)

I pitched in and started this thread some time ago, looking for a bargain.

I now realise I was a bit of a numpty. Really, given my tiny wee boat, my question should be: "Which is the physically smallest generator which can be sensibly used on a boat?"
 
Generators

Older generators used a straight drive to a 50hertz alternator. This required that the engine run at 3000RPM or in some diesels 1500RPM this being the rotation speed required for 50 hertz output.(depending on number of poles of field coil) The output however is pure sine wave.
Of recent times it became cheap to generate a wild frequency AC which is converted to DC then to 50 hertz AC in an inverter. The advantage being that the engine can run slow on low load coming up to max speed (power) at full load. The disadvantage is that usually you only have a modified sine wave output which can give trouble with some electronics and induction motors ie fridges.

So if you are buying new then look out for what AC waveform is produced. in the fine print you may see it is not recommended for some applications. good luck olewill
 
While not being a "must have" on either of my trusty vessels, a microwave oven sure is a useful device.

Of course it is the power requirements that are the limiting factor. I suspect that until nuclear reactors have been miniaturised and are economical enough for us sailor types to buy, not many vessels will have a microwave oven in their galley.

Mind you, some canal boats have washing machines, tumble driers and much much more.

Mmmmm......, wonder how "pure" the sine wave is from a miniature nuclear reactor? I bet there is someone on this site that has one installed and can tell us ?

73s de
Johnth
 
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Amulet

I have an old Honda 1000w suitcase that does things like battery charging, a string of 240v lights, drills, suction cleaner, etc, when there is no mains or the big genny is not running.

It has about the same volume as a 25 l fuel can, but in a more cuboid shape.

Extremely quiet and about 4 hrs running on one filling.

They do turn up on eBay if you are prepared to wait for a good 'un.
 
I pondered long and hard as to what would be the best genny for us and eventually settled on the Honda e20i.
It heats the water, microwave, kettle, even a hair dryer!! charges batteries etc.and whilst I wouldn't be without it you should be aware that when running at full belt it makes a hell of a racket!
Now, if it's accepted that the Honda genny's are generally the best in the suitcase range then I wouldn't like to think what the cheaper gennys sound like at close quarters.
 
I don't know why the kipor range has such a bad rep - I've used the IG2000 for 4 years now and it's perfect. It is less than a third
of the price of the Honda it's copied from, and the only time it's let me down is when I filled it with two stroke from my outboard fuel can. Even then, drained and new plug, runs fine again. Pure sine inverter output runs everything on my boat no problems, including tv, microwave etc... Cheap and reliable, maybe not as quiet as a Honda, but I don't run it after dark anyway. Few hours in the afternoon to charge the batteries and heat the water.
 
rosssavage said:
I don't know why the kipor range has such a bad rep - I've used the IG2000 for 4 years now and it's perfect. It is less than a third
of the price of the Honda it's copied from, and the only time it's let me down is when I filled it with two stroke from my outboard fuel can. Even then, drained and new plug, runs fine again. Pure sine inverter output runs everything on my boat no problems, including tv, microwave etc... Cheap and reliable, maybe not as quiet as a Honda, but I don't run it after dark anyway. Few hours in the afternoon to charge the batteries and heat the water.
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I have run a 3000ti for many years and have 1000+ hours (at a conservative estimate) on mine and still running fine. If it blows up tomorrow it owes me nothing and I would replace it with a IG2600 which are readily available (from talking to Kipor they are the same machine just rebadged). I have a copy of the workshop manual for the IG2600 and it is identical to the 3000ti as far as I can see.

Granted the 3000ti is a little bulky but the extra kw of power over the EU20I is most useful.

I have run a honda along side my 3000ti and no noticable difference in noise level up to 1.5~1.6kw (honda eu20i limit) although at 2.0kw and above there was a slight increase in noise noted from the 3000ti but still extremely quiet. I added a length of eber exhaust to the exhaust on my 3000ti and that dropped the noise level dramatically and so far no "damage" to the Kipor engine.

Someone posted you could sell a second hand honda for £900 - that I do not believe as for the sake of a few beer tokens I would buy new at £1000 IF I had that sort of money to throw away and could be presuaded that honda were so much better (a honda sales rep actually told me to buy Kipor as honda was overpriced - an honest salesman?)
 
I have a B&S emergency job for house ... 3KW ... with 12 hr tank. 450 quid.

BSGenny005.jpg


In the cellar which got flooded - the genny was hlaf underwater. I thought that was it ... dried it out ... changed the oil ... cleaned filters .... away it went and still going first pull on cord. That was 2 yrs ago the flooding ... 5yrs ago I bought it.
If I was buying again - I would go for the 3 phase + single phase version ... plus the wheels kit option.

My other one is the Wolf 700 ... yes it's a bit noisy but it does what it says ... OK - if I leave it in shed for long period then it's hard to start initially. That's 2 stroke for you ... but once running - for 49 quid - I can't beat it. Starts first pull once sorted out after long period idle. It's now also 5 yrs old ...
 
My Clarke is not the one you mention, an older model giving 800 Watts, I think. Can't claim it has had a lot of use but it has always been reliable. I used it on board for one season, found it noisy and heavy to get out of lockers, so didn't use it all that much. Brought it home at end of season.
 
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