Now it's time to write about the last one I picked up:
The Yamaha EF1000iS
It's a 1000 watt unit.
It's made in Japan
Weighs 27 lbs.
It's quiet. Noise Level 1/4 Load/ Full Load 47 dBA / 57dBA
After thinking about what it's being used for I decided to go lighter since it's going to be used for cooling my daughter and I during the hot days at the track meets. It's much easier to carry around.
I'm still breaking it in. But the unit handles loading very well. After running it for a couple hours I decided to see if it would start the house refrigerator. It would not. But, the controller did what it was so posed to do. I took the unit off econo mode and once the refrig. Tried starting the engine ramped up to full speed, the overload light came on and it disconnected.
I can live with this unit. I bought it with intentions of just using it during track meets and practice during hot days.
Even though the generator is only 1000 watts it is a very nice refined unit. The bottom line is it looks like you get what you pay for.
$799.00 is a lot of money. But it's cheaper than an emergency visit at the hospital for heat exhaustion. Plus the cooler my daughter can stay the less fatigued she will be before her events.
I'm still running it with varied loads and there are no glitches. I am trying to get 4 hours on it before tonight. It will be used all day Saturday.
Just got a call from Cabelas roughly an hour and a half ago. It was the customer service manager I spoke to yesterday about the box which the Yamaha was packaged in. His concern was that everything was ok because the box was damaged badly. In turn he ask when I can come over so he can give me a 15% discount on the purchase I made. I just received $128.10 :) I guess I was at the right place at the right time. So the total cost of the generator is $679.99
Just registered the generator on line and found out Yamaha has a promotion and is giving an extra year warrantee until june 5th. So the generator is covered for 4 years.
Quote from: Dualfuel on May 28, 2015, 06:35:18 AM
Thanks for your honesty...good to know...I have a Honda EU3000i and it will run the mig welder in a pinch but I prefer the CCK Onan for that appliance. The Honda is going on 4 years old now and the only issue has been the fraying starting cord. It was $1800 new though.
I suppose, down the road, these less expensive generators' quality will improve. Who wants to be the guinea pig though?
The Honda EU3000i is one nice piece. It would be my #1 choice for a 2800 watt inverter generator.
Quote from: thomasonw on May 28, 2015, 10:45:58 AM
Ya, too bad - esp after they made such a point about the Yamaha engine being used! And USB to boot! (Err, wait honey, need to charge the phone!) :D
Hey, FWIW: I was able to use our Honda brand 2000i generator to run an old 1/2HP craftsman table saw. Did need to disable to smart speed mode, but it worked Ok spinning things up and would power through even thick purple heart wood. No idea the real 'watts' being asked from it.
-al-
It is too bad, there was nothing wrong with the engine. That was fine. I looked at the Yamaha EF2000iS and the Smarter Tools and I do know the engines are the same. I don't know about the alternator, inverter and other components.
Quote from: BruceM on May 27, 2015, 06:18:23 PM
The cold inrush current for a heating type appliance is likely to be substantially above the rated current draw. The specs for the inverter are likely overly optimistic (marketing BS) with no head room for even a minor start surge.
It seems 2000 watts is referred to as headroom for surge startups. After talking to the manufacture I got the impression that if it's over 1600 watts the inverter will have problems on startup or running equipment.
Since I went with the Yamaha EF1000iS I found out that it's rated as 1000 watts startup. But from what I was told the little unit will run at 1000 watts for 20 minutes. The unit has a true 900 Watt continuous output. I did test the continuous rating and it is a true 900 watt continuous output. It seems like it would for done 1000 watts for a brief time. It seems like the little Yamaha has true ratings.
The Honda or Yamaha inverter generators are hard to beat if you want to pay the admission fee. You do seem to get what you pay for. I read that there is a yamaha inverter gen of about 3000 watts with electric start that will dip into the starting battery for an extra surge of power when needed. If I was in need of a generator for an RV I would consider that one and just grit my teeth when I pull out my wallet :'( !
I believe I did get what I paid for. $679.99 is a lot of money for a 1000 watt inverter generator. But that little generator did everything that the manufacture claimed. Yesterday was a great day for testing it out.we got at the track by 7:00 am and the generator was running by 7:20 am. There was a family that set up about six feet from the generator. Later in the day I apolagized about the noise. The parents started asking questions about the generator. They were surprised how quiet it is. The husband said he already went on line and checked it out. So many people stopped and showed interest about the Yamaha and the noise level was the #1 topic.
Here is a log on the runtime:
Fuel capacity: .66 gallons
Started 7:20 am
Checked fuel at noon.
At 3:43 pm The engine started surging from lack of fuel. Shut down, refilled and restarted.
At 9:13 pm all equipment was disconnected and let generator run with fuel turned off.
Total run time: 13 hours, 53 minutes
The generator load was pretty much a continuous 500 watts throughout the day.
I did read about a generator that uses a battery for higher surge starting capability. I believe your talking about the Yamaha EF3000ISEB 2800 watt inverter generator. I think it has a surge rating of 3500 watts. It's a nice generator.
Overall I feel you do get higher quality generators when you pay more and this is why Honda and Yamaha inverter generators are costly. I also feel other manufactures will be catching up. But as of this time I feel it's best to stay with Honda or Yamaha. They have proven to be very reliable.
Did the second oil change and there was less iron on the magnet. The unit is ready for this weekend. It will probably see at least another 10 hours.
Neighbor who spring,summer fall camps on the old family estate used a Yamaha 1000 inverter most of the time and a pair of Champion 2000/1600 to operate the air conditioner. Both setups carried the respective loads.
Any brand "X" generator is would consider 1/2 to 2/3 of rated load as max. A real brand name Yamaha or Honda, 80% continuous of rated load is lots.
here is a link to a harborfreight inverter generator it is supposed to have 2200 running watts but some report testing with calibrated test equipment and only getting around 1800 or 1900 watts, still not bad for 499. The reviews are pretty good on the website and I think you can get an extended warranty that will take it out to three years but I don't know the cost of the extended warranty. just food for thought.
http://www.harborfreight.com/2500-peak2200-running-watts-47-hp-125cc-portable-inverter-generator-61171.html
Quote from: buickanddeere on June 04, 2015, 04:09:42 PM
Any brand "X" generator is would consider 1/2 to 2/3 of rated load as max. A real brand name Yamaha or Honda, 80% continuous of rated load is lots.
This is what I experienced with brand X units. The Yamaha EF1000iS does run it listed ratings.
Quote from: Carlb on June 05, 2015, 04:15:26 AM
here is a link to a harborfreight inverter generator it is supposed to have 2200 running watts but some report testing with calibrated test equipment and only getting around 1800 or 1900 watts, still not bad for 499. The reviews are pretty good on the website and I think you can get an extended warranty that will take it out to three years but I don't know the cost of the extended warranty. just food for thought.
http://www.harborfreight.com/2500-peak2200-running-watts-47-hp-125cc-portable-inverter-generator-61171.html
Not bad for the money,
Drawbacks:
64dB, that's loud.
Heavy, not one I would want to carry around.
Over time brand X generators will get more refined and should be able to compete with Honda and Yamaha.
The Yamaha has been working very well. Just did the 3rd oil change yesterday afternoon. This past Saturday the four fans ran at full output and they kept us comfortable. The setup is worth every cent that's been invested.
Just put another 14 hours on the Yamaha. I checked the oil and the magnet had just a touch of fillings. I would say it's just about broken in. I found an original Yamaha hour/tach meter from the 15 hp outboard I had. Never installed it. Thinking of installing it inside the case. Some time I need to take some pictures.
Visiting with folks living on the front range of the Rockies beyond the electric grid I've heard first hand stories of Eu3000 units going 3500-5000 hours run time, and the Eu2000's making 2000 hours before the bottom end cranks loosened up and let go.
Amazing.
A bunch of years ago I went with Kipor Inverter generators to have as emergency units, I got a 3000 and a 2600 unit shipped for less than the cost of one Eu3000. The deal then was Kipors were made under license from Honda with 98% interchangeable parts; just cruder moldings and controls, etc. They are big in Europe and Australia-asia but there is a Nort American division, never needed to know if these were grey-market units. Anyhow, they've worked the once or twice a year they were need for the last 12 years. Prices have crept up about 50% from what I paid.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=kipor&mfe=search
Some of those Yamahas have a spark trap on the exhaust. If lightly loaded, operated with a high ash oil etc. They can eventually run rough, loose power etc as they become bunged up.
Yes it does have a spark arrestor. One of the maintenance schedules is to remove it to check, if it needs cleaning. They are not too expensive. I would just replace it. Most loads are around 400-500 watts. It seems to like these loads.
We have the Yamaha EF2000is model, love it. We use the crap out of it, had it on tractor cruise recently and used it with pancake air compressor, air jack and impact to change a flat for a guy. One thing we have noticed is to make sure you disable the auto-idle mode and let it wind up before trying to start an electric motor. Even if the motor draw isn't too bad, the low voltage situation there on trying to start the motor before the inverter picks up can cause some problems. As long as we turn that off before kicking on the air compressor though it works great.
Neighbour that camps at the old family estate on our road just had Yamaha 1000 problems. There is 120V potential between the receptacle's ground and neutral . Did not even know it until he tried to power up the trailer which has a neutral bar to ground bar connection in the breaker panel. The Yamaha would output 12 Amps for a few seconds and trip on the dead short.
Have yet to open the unit up and have a look.
The Yamaha EF1000 has been so reliable throughout the year. It's been used mostly for running fans at track and field events. But it also became handy around home and on some side jobs. It is enough to operate, a skill saw, 4" hand grinder, millwalkee right angle drill, Sawzall, electric impact gun and more. I can't say enough good things about it. No regrets purchasing it. It's the quietest generator I've purchased.
Very interesting new Board you have set up here Mr Henry.
I too am now going over to inverter/generator using.
It all started with wanting to buy for the Wife her very own "girl" generator.
Even though I can make/generate electricity three ways on three fuels none of my systems are really just fuel-up, pull-start and just plug-in use. Well the Miller/Kohler 12kW welder-generator is at 1/2 gallon gasoline minimum per hour. Then ~300 feet of cords. And IF the consarned battery isn't dead.
So did my due-diligence research. Found that ONLY the Honda EU2000's were being rented out. Paid $40 USD to rent an in-service 2 year old unit for four hours. Rushed it home and tried it on every TV, VCR, microwave. Operated all of these electronics. Then had it oprate both the Maytag washing machines: the newer electronic one and the old twisty dial controller one. Ran all of the refrigerators 1994-2014. Ran all of the big chest freezers. Old, old.
Critical - even ran the wife hair blow dryer! Coffee drip machines - of course.
Then I took it out in the shop and tried to kill it. Would power up usable and operate the skillsaw, metal chop saw, ect. Stihl electric chainsaw would kick it out under a sawing loading. My 15 amp airless Sear commressor would pump up but cycling and would kick it out of AC charging too. Expected. Expected.
It did not die. Recovered from me, and probably hundreds of other renter abusers.
So what I bought for her.
After two break-in initial oil changes I did cases split it and remove the Honda plastic link for the IG kill switch from the fuel shut off. Added in my own toggle snap switch so it can be "Yamaha" fuel shut off ran and all of the fuel lines, pulsator pump and carb ran out fuel dry now. Just fuel draining at the factory bowl screwdriver drain would not do all of this. Plus a teaspoon puddle of gasoline out the drain hose!
After ~50 hours added an hour meter. 156 hours on that now.
Operational lessons learned?
Pour in fuel through a paper painters cone filter. A plastic sliver from a fuel can tread got into the carb partial blocking the main jet. At only 0.09 gallons per hour at a 400 watt loading these carb orifices are tiny, tiny.
DO LOAD at least to a 400 watt output loading to get rid of the no-load burbling. This is actually misfiring. That cylinder full of non-combusted makes for exhaust smell and will slowing carbons up the piston top, combustion chamber and valves. Burn loaded hot to burn clean and most fuel efficient.
One hundred hours will be pushing the oil changes! Use oil coloring as a guide. Will depend on the actual fuel, loading and outside conditions. At 12 ozs per fill you can do 13 Honda inverter changes in the five quarts for a single common vehicle. Buy you at least 1300 operating hours, cheap. These run very cool-ish. So I am using now a 0W-40 synthetic.
WE had 9 Grid-down power outages in 2015 from one hour to 48 hours. Four already this year.
Experienced: these have never been a big deal to us. Woodstoving 250 days of the year, battery lanterns, LED headlamps, propane camp stove we know how to deal.
Ha! Now it is just go fuel up the Honda out on the porch. Cord in and truck-on with the day. Easy flip switch coffee, shower, hair wash and blow dry.
Now to get her off my case for almost daily using her Honda for this and that (packed to JD tractor/Miller/idled trucks batteries charging; lighting, and Honda geberator shed off Heats in the greenhouse ~60-80,000 btu's oh-my!) I am saving up for my own Yamaha EF2800i unit.
MO-Power for the electric chainsaw and air-compressor. And an open frame design, friendly to be woodgassed fueled.
Enjoy your now commercially available inverter generators as proof everything does just not have to be such a big elaborate "projected" deal for daily usable CHP.
Steve unruh
Good Morning All
Henry I hope you do not mind that I tag on my experneces with my new Yamaha EF2800i onto your Yamaha topic. Ha! It is a Yamaha too.
I've had this now for 6 days and have put ~100 variable RPM/loadings hours onto to it now. On it's second mineral oil change. Synthetic oil next.
Been some real pleasant expectations fulfilled by this unit. Some great surprizes. And only one disappointment so far found.
This has a larger 171cc engine versus the Honda 2000's 98.5cc engine. So the 400 watt loaded gasoline fuel consumtion is a bit higher at 0.13 gallons per hour. Pleasnat surpize it this Yamaha versus the Honda or my Harbor Freight 2-stroke Yammer-clone does NOT need a 400-500 engine stabilization loading to burn NOT-misfiring burbling. The unloaded 2820 Economy (Yamaha Smart Throttle) switched RPM is clean and smooth.
It will power everything I listed above (with one exception) easier, smoother than the wife's Honda 2000. Ha! Including her power gobbling, demanding vacuum cleaners.
This unit is factory rated as a max 2800 watts; with a continuous 2500 watt rating. At 120 vac this is 23.3 & 20.8 amps.
This is what I wanted was a unit that could supply a full normal household 20 amp circuit substitution.
Once broken in well, and with the un-needed exhaust spark arrestor restriction pulled out I was able to added load by load get it up with resistive, inductive and electronic (a CFL and a Sony tabletop AM radio) to 3540 watts without it overload shutting down. And held this loading for 1/2 hour. Was 50F, and I am at 675 feet. The self ramping RPM speed stepped up to a max of 3820 RPM. The Honda 2000's rpm ranges are 3300 to 4300 RPM.
I am sure with loaded inverter heating up it would have eventually thermal heated, sensed and shut down at some point. Count only on the 2500 watts continuous.
Powers the 120vac Shihl chainsaw loaded fine. A variable loading.
WILL NOT Power up my oilless 15 amp air compressor to build up to 185 PSI.
This EF2800i was an original 2004 design and does not like lower PF rated motors at all. The newer designed, lower watts rated Honda 2000 at least tried on the air compressor.
Solution? Use both. The Honda will sync with the pre-running Yamaha.
At 66 pounds I can Solo carry this around to need-musts areas still.
My own lawnmower engine/truck alternator/inverter/deep cycle battery DIY fabs come out to ~130-180 pounds. Need wheels. Or a dolly. And Will not just solo person jump up into the back of a pick-up truck, Ute, or SUV. Hurts! I am just to damn old now.
Geat thing about this open framed EF2800i is the accessibility over one of the super quiet four panels clamshell suitcase jobs.
Four bolts and have the valve cover off for valve clearance/wear adjustments checking. PITA on the Honda 2000!
Four screws and the whole side control panel lays aside for full that side unit accesses.
Two more bolts and then off with the full tank for full across the top accesses.
Then down to just six bolts more for the cylinder head to be off for decarbonizations, modifications.
Life is grand now.
16 daily hours of on demand 400-2500 watts of "No Batteries Required" clean AC power on just 2 gallons of gasoline. Or: ~44 pounds of wood chunks. Easy? No. Cheaper than Grid-addiction power? Of course not.
Freedom loving please-me? You betcha'!!
Regards
Steve unruh
Ha! Well my two gallons of gasoline that should have powered the Yamaha EF2800i for 16 hours only lasted for 12.7 hours.
We had a regional high pressure day driving the Inland Empire continental interior air down the Cascade river valleys past us. The downslope compression air effects drove up yesterdays temps to a record breaking for this date of 89F.
Chest freezers just took more energy.
I have real good conversion number now worked out on the Honda EU2000I unit now.
Within it's best power out generating range of ~900 to 1600 watts it is over 50% fuel heat energy to electrical power out eficient.
At the low stand-by outputs of 400 watts that I have used it of course this conversion percent rate is lower.
As Mobile Bob has said for years your systems BASE energy needs/consumption must to always be paid first before you can ever claim a net benefit.
I bring this up intnetionally for those who would slam me for being pump gasoline dependent.
I'm not.
I have a three cylinder JD/Yanmar tractor that can direct PTO a 10kW 120/240 brusheless Mecc-Alts gnerator head anytime I would want it.
Baseline fuel on that is .6 gallon pump diesel at a PTO min 2200 RPM an hour before any electrical watts could be harvested. IDI engine.
I also have a sweet little DI 7.5 hp JaingDong hopper cooled China Diesel still uncommitted to any generator head.
So I can swing the compression fuels way as I wish.
I wish there were not so many local boys with big mondo diesel pick-ups locally monopolizing all of the vegetable oils sources. More of them with more "needs" (and guns) than I ever want to fuel stocks compete against.
And as an life long engine mechanic I refuse to go the waste engine oil as a motor fuel source. Space heating burner only for this crap. It's done it first job already getting combustion's craps and metallic's wear particles out of a finely machined engine. This stuff is acids three different ways!
MY free fuel source is off of our 21 acres of woodlot growing trees. We get average of 122 inches of rain a year here. Amazon basin said to average 88 inches. We have less than 100 clear sky solar days here. PV investing hard to justify without Gov'mint hog-trough subsidies. And here those only for Grid-tieing. Not me.
What I also have is a fuel injected Kohler 25hp V-Twin in a Miller Trailblaser welder. 12kW single phase generating. Three phase welding.
Ha! Same .6 gallons an hour dino-fuel base line just to hum along at 3600rpm before usealbe power made.
Woodgassed fueled a 20 pounds an hour system. This is from actual V-twin woodgasing experiences.
SO. . . .this small inverter-gnerator useage is to see the validy of 21st tech inverter going back to an engine based "no battries required" running, stand-be, on-demand AC power system.
I can get these 171cc Yamaha engines for $199. The same block 200cc engine complete is $299 USD.
IMO an engine a year is far less hassle and cheaper than snow clearing, wind/hail damage replacing PV panels. Long term-use cheaper/easier than battery banks watering fussing/equalizing and cell by cell cluster replacing. Done that. Too much in the 70's and 80's.
Besides as an engine guy I like IC engines putzing around, optimizing.
And with our own. owned trees then have on-location the fuel source to support a daily engine "fuel-hog" habit.
No shipping pallets out scrounging for me. I've seen fist-fights over those now too.
Regards
WoodenHeaded Steve Unruh
Hi Steve,
It's been a while since I been at this topic. I just read your posts and it is fine to write about your experiences with your Yamaha.
One thing I can honestly say about the EF1000iS is it's been a very reliable generator. It's used quite often weekly. I just gave it another oil change and there was just a very light trace of metal powder on the magnetic fill cap. The fuel consumption is very good. Some day, if I have a chance I should figure out the fuel consumption of the unit. All I know it ran close to 10 hours on .6 gallons of fuel. Overall it been the handiest genset to date.
Handy these are, I agree.
Today, I will wheelbaroow up my Yamaha 2800 to power the good drill for south-15 acres drilling a 6x6 trated replacement gate post.
The Honda and Yamaha (and others) 1000 and sub sized machines all use aluminum cylinder bores. Their larger 2000 and above machines are all cast iron bores.
ALL do not use connecting rod bearing inserts. But use the machined aluminum rod directly against the machined steel crankshaft. The connecting rods are considered a rebuild replacement item.
Youtube look at a lot of small aircooled engine tear-downs. Shed metals can come from these two areas. Some of the Chinese units have terrible blown-dirt bypassing air filter systems.
Or metals shed from the crank/cam gears. Or from the cam/valve train.
One of the worst aircooled engine series are the single cylinder's with concentric to the crank shaft counter balance units. Some Kohlers and B&S's. These too often wear shed metals at the balncer units killing the whole engine.
As long as you keep oil changing out. Have good starting and useable power you are still O.K.
SHMBO's do object to running smoking though. Leaves a not-BBQ taste on the tongue too.
Steve Unruh
It's been a long time since I posted about the Yamaha EF100is.
Its been one reliable generator. I lost track of how many hours are on it. Still used every week.
Another year went by and the generator is doing fine. Just oil changes and still running ethanol free gas. Will be taking it out to for loose fasteners. It's been trouble free since purchased.
Henry
First hiccup happened. DC charging keeps tripping the breaker.
Other than that it's been a good portable generator. Wish I put an hour meter on it. I have no idea how many hours are on it.
Just used the Yamaha this afternoon. Its pretty much my go to generator for projects that don't require much power.
Lost power last night at around 11:30. Filled the Yamaha up and fired it up. Been running over 9 hours on the fill up. The fuel tank only holds 6/10th of a gallon. I would say this little generator earned rights to get a little praise. The little generator is keeping the battery charged, heat, lights, water and refrigerator going. I switched the water heater to run on propane. Just got done checking everything out and everything is fine.
Success is good. If I run into a deal on one of those generators, I will buy one.
It's been a good one. I think they discontinued the model. I'm not sure if another model took its place.
Henry