Has anyone charged his Vectrix from a small portable generator such as the Honda EU2000i?

You get what you pay for. The Hondas are used by many campers around the clock and are just impressive little reliable beasts. All these genies are cheap Chinese knockoffs. I have two Honda genies. One EU2000i one EU6500i which I use for the whole house as a standby. I also have a ten year old Honda lawnmower that inspite of much abuse won't die. They do know how to make an engine. While it was painful to shell out the money for the genies, I truly think they are worth every penny. I have an oscillsocope and tested both of them under load. True sinwave and no drop in voltage at all. In fact the waveform is cleaner than what I have from my utilities.

I have particular worries about the name: "Fuji Micro (TM) Electronics" .
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SILENT-INVERTER-GENERATOR-2-6KVA-caravan-camper-fishing_W0QQitemZ270521345326QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Busine...
Are they trying to lure the unwitting into believing that this is a Japanese built product? Or is it in fact Japanese?

The price is certainly Chinese!

I ended up getting one of these Honda Generators (EU2000i). Not to charge my Vectrix with but I haven't needed to yet. I might try it at some point just to see if it can adequately.

Anyway, it's a great little generator. I've had to use it a few times and really like it. Not cheap, but it does indeed run really well.

I ended up getting one of these Honda Generators (EU2000i). Not to charge my Vectrix with but I haven't needed to yet. I might try it at some point just to see if it can adequately.

Anyway, it's a great little generator. I've had to use it a few times and really like it. Not cheap, but it does indeed run really well.

Have you tried it yet?

I just bought a Honda EU20i, used, and it does not work to charge the Vectux!

Like two previous posters above reported, "it struggles".

Well, it does not struggle, but rather get's beaten into submission by the Vectrix charger. This cannot be good for either generator or charger!

What seems to be happening is this:

The generator runs OK for about two minutes, then the charger goes into a runaway current demand situation. Each time!

5633W max consumption logged by my meter!

The generator revvs up repeatedly, while the speedo needle drops and jumps back up; once this starts, the voltage falls further and further.

It is the same phenomenon that "R" experienced when charging together with other EV's at the same outlet.

I think it is actually the Vectrix charger that causes the problem! And it would not surprise me at all if similar events have often preceded charger failures.

This violent JOJO-current draw would probably get worse until the charger fries due to IxIxR heat generation.

A little video will follow...

I just tested this generator with a resistive load: It starts out providing 1650W (but not much more without immediate power fluctuations), and then falls to 1500W or so. So my generator is not performing as specified!

Will have to see if this can be fixed somehow, repair service book is in the mail.

Here is the video of the Honda EU20i / Vectrix interaction:

Here is the video of the Honda EU20i / Vectrix interaction:

There are a lot of false Eu 20i generators. Have you checked it is original?

How would I do this? Any hints?

What I did so far is this (and I did not see any discrepancies between the hardware and the users manual, nor any poor quality parts):

I gave the genny a good workover. The performance might have improved a little bit, it seems to cope with 1600W heaters now, but still gets into the same trouble with the Vectrix charging.

I took most of the plastic panels off and removed dirt and oil. The oil might have been from accidental spilling during oil changes. Only a long run will tell if it starts to leak again, any oil from the motor needs to seep through some small gaps between plastic panels before it gets to show up underneath the genny.

The spark arrestor is missing, so that cannot (???) be the problem. (That's a small metal grille in the exhaust system)

The air filter was soaked with too much oil, I think, I squeezed out all I could. The spark plug looked OK, I cleaned it. Will get a gauge and a new plug just in case, but I don't really expect that it will fix the problem.

I also unplugged all electrical connectors, cleaned them with contact cleaner and put them back together.

That's all I dared do without a repair manual. The electronic parts look like they are all "potted" so no individual components can be replaced easily. But maybe that's what it needs, a new capacitor or something. Could also be that the permanent magnets (am not totally sure it has any!) weaken over the years, reducing the maximum power available.

Will just have to wait for the workshop manual for now - or go to Honda for a service, what a strange idea.... ;-)

yes have a genarator does the job better than honda although is slightley nosier than honda ..

its called trent and costs aprox £300 yep thats right al take to show shortley av converted a beach bag ..
So it looke just like a noisey bag....
it charges the vectrix up no probblems as thinks it kick out 2.2 or 2.5 ave forgotten so its on top of job and its sinewave aswell.
Its suit case type think the engine is 170 cc

Ihave great idea please help ?? just idea at mo well i may strip this gen down and convert the under seat storage with engine in and fit
sprockt to vectrix with chain drive to engin and throttle to engine so if want to have drive it will run off engine or if engine started and v
stationarey it genarates electric to charge up
vectrix up ??????????????kev

the only way round the honda thing charging .
Is to make shour that the v is at least half full ?? may be as the more its topped the less the charger needsjuce >>>?

the only way round the honda thing charging .
Is to make shour that the v is at least half full ?? may be as the more its topped the less the charger needsjuce >>>?

unfortunately, the Vectrix charger pulls the same amount from the mains during the CP phase, when the pack voltage is between ~100 and the CP xxx limit.

Matt