Scorpion 2000kw <span class="highlight">generator</span>

To true ................... have a Honda and it runs harder with an electric kettle plugged in than it does whilst running the air con unit. Another good thing with the Honda is that it has eco mode and only runs pending on load ............ a must have unless you want a genny running flat out all the time. One more thing ............... check that the Scorpion is a true 2Kv as many are marked as such but nowhere near it . Spend the extra bucks you won't regret it.
Happy trails

"Will run it in all but the hottest weather"
Why would you buy it to run an airconditioner when it bombs out when you most need it?
The 2kva unit is overstressed by many caravan airconditioners

Hi Alloy c/t, You state "everyone seems to rave on about the honda 20i as beeing the ducks guts as a supposed 2kva , in fact it is only rated at 1600w continuous" Whilst I am aware that the Honda is rated at 1600w continuous I wasn't aware that everyone was raving about it LOL. I am a very happy Honda 2 owner & take on board a few of your comment about Scorpion Generators namely the sw2800s & the sw6800s. Scorpion is an Australian company importing the generators from China. I am aware that the Torini engine is Italian. The sw2800s weighs 47 KG....the sw6800s weighs 90 KG ...both are rated at 70 dB each...very loud IMHO!! The Honda is 21 KG in weight & is rated at 53 dB.

Scorpion , pure sine wave ,,Model -Sw2800S- 2.8kva $799
Sw6800s- 6.8kva $1599
powered by Torini engines , you did mean Italian rather than Chinese did you not , oh and whose "unwritten rule "would that be.

Yes Ditto for us, they are a quality unit.

"It pays to listen to those who own one and have never been disappointed"

What about the cylinder bore glazing issues Honda were most reluctant to acknowledge - if they ever did?

Honda make a quality product but it is not perfect and should not be presented as though it had a recommendation from God.

Nah, I'm not a God Botherer, just a Honda 2KVA owner who is happy the product, as a matter of interest which gennie would you recommend and why?.

One of the causes of glazed bores & using oil, is running generators for long periods with very little load.

There is always one....LOL

"One of the causes of glazed bores & using oil, is running generators for long periods with very little load"

Correct.

So can we please establish at what load percentage a 1KW or 2KW Honda generator should be run in order to avoid this issue - now that we have accepted it exists.

And, people, try not to be so defensive about the products you have purchased - I acknowledged Honda are a quality product I simply don't believe you should present them as perfect just because you invested $X and a significant amount of ego in them.

It's OK Nigel.....no one's ego is involved here.....someone comes onto this site and asks a simple question to which there have been replies....and fair enough.
But it seems there is always a knocker out there for everything who gives a negative report....no matter....that's the nature of this site.
Of course no one minds if the information is correct.

But back to the running of gennies.....glazing is NOT restricted to gennies alone or to one particular brand, it happens to all motors if they are run for long periodsand are not loaded.
Take for example some remote power supplies that are running spinning reserves for long periods...for example 80 mile beach caravan park WA...overnight. Many hours and hardly any load.

Now for the normal user like Kiwibound, he might use his perhaps, like me,would start it at say 5pm and it will run to about 9 pm at the latest ( 4 hours) and because he's tired and shuts it down to put it away before he goes to sleep.
I run the microwave a bit and mostly the TV and laptop and a few lights and the onboard battery chargers as well....so it's up and down as the load varies, never constant.

So far it is working just fine, uses no oil and a bit of fuel, always starts and no power issues. This is the reason I promote the Honda 20i...it is mid range, not too big, not to oversize in KVA and kind to old backs that are nearly stuffed.
So the Honda 20i has to work a bit.

Most of the time glazing is associated with oversizing where the motor does not have to work hard.
Where I work we have lots of lighting plants, of varying sizes, that run at a constant 1500 RPM to give us 50 HZ, and on some of them, glazing was an issue, because the prime mover (motor) too large for the load and so the motor never worked hard enough.
The result was we had to downsize the diesel engines from a 4 cylinder to a 3 cylinder. (They are a air cooled DEUTZ)
Now we are getting longer runs out of them....but as you can see it happens to ALL of them if they are not loaded, that's why it pays not to get one that is too big.

I also want to add with the mine site ones, they dont fail with cylinder glazing but because of timing belt breakages, oil pump failures, fuel pumps and injectors......not cylinder glazing.

I use 2600w Kipor for large loads, Heater or Aircon, microwave. For small loads lights or run battery charger use Honda EM500. Yes i carry 2 Gennys. also 100w solar for 80L Waeco fridge.

Hi Redbakk,
Honda 2kva units are overstressed when running many caravan air conditioners.
If you research the subject you will find that it’s better to oversize the genset than undersize it.
As for those non inverter gensets that gaze their bores, these rev at 1500, irrespective of their load. – Inverter gensets don’t run at constant revs, but thier speed varies with load. Constant revs is a major factor in glazing diesel motors.
Regards Dennis

I’ve met a number of caravan owners whose Honda 2kva won’t run their airconditioners.
The last guy was trying to locate a special starter to allow his genset to get it started.
You are better off oversizing your genset a little, rather than having it overstressed.
I am not knocking the 2kv Honda as they are quality units but are too small for some airconditioners.

Hi Dennis, Yes. As said it runs ours, but we don't know what air con Kiwibound has or what he would need to run his. As the extra power is needed on starting, it is definitely wise to try before buy.

Ours tripped on two occasions on hot January afternoons, but ran successfully when i re-started the genny. Ours is Dometic CAL 136 which was the one generally fitted to vans a few years ago (our van is 1998 model). There was a brand of air con talked about on the forums a few years ago that they wouldn't start, but i gather that the newer models of that brand now do start and run with the Honda.

Most people don't holiday in extremes of hot weather, and Kiwibound has also asked about heating, so he may be heading for cold climates rather than hot. In this case a small fan heater on the floor is more efficient that the heater element in a roof top air conditioner.

If there is any doubt about a Honda doing the job, i would choose the Yamaha 2.4 so long as there is room to store it. I doubt that the cheaper brands would be up to starting most caravan air cons. When we purchased ours, we asked about buying a 3 kva or 2 x 2 kva to run in tandem, but the Honda dealer, without asking the size of our air conditioner, said "no, you only need one; they are made to run caravan air conditioners".

Our Honda will start and run our home fridges and freezer one at a time while on eco, with a few other small draw items at the same time (fish tank pumps, radio and UHF base, lights). It even did this successfully on a day of around 46º when we had no power and a bushfire encroaching. It gets a lot more use at home than it does when we travel!

Mh

Hi Motherhen,
The Honda 2kva wasn’t an option for me - I needed the Yamaha 2.4 as a lot of the time I stay in hot areas at the top of WA. It was a pain to get in and out of the boot so I ended up putting it into an aluminium enclosure (which it runs in) attached to the rear bumper.
Regards Dennis

Turn everything off in the van if Honda trips out. Start Genny turn on A/cond & then other items one by one if required....works for me!

Hi Dennis

I can understand your choice if you live in the tropics; i cannot take the heat. Many people don't have a rig heavy enough to safely add that sort of weight to the rear, and overhang may be too big for their specifications. We have an aluminium box on the a-frame for our genny and a couple of 10 litre cans of ULP.

Hi OREJAP

Why would you have 240 v appliances turned on before starting a genny when bush camping?

Our van is a bit unique in that the air conditioner has a separate connection to the rest of the power outlets.

Mh

Derr, 2000w not kw.

Alloy, you are as bright as ever. You forgot the headline.