Ham Radio Help Desk » Honda

Field Day Power Topics

kx4o — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:05:38 +0000

Last year I made three posts about power in the generator category all related to issues we had with generators, UPS devices (why they don’t like some generators) and a thought about that dang fuel cap on the Honda EU2000.

If you are using generators at your Field Day please have a look at these posts for some previous lessons learned…

Generator Subject Posts

The Honda Inverter generators are, by far, the most fantastic generators ever to hit the market. Even with that fuel cap issue, they are still worth it. So very quite and such clean power… nice.

APC UPS Compatible with Honda EU2000

kx4o — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:12:11 +0000

During our Field Day 2008, we experimented with many power options. Since it is a well known fact many UPS devices are not compatible with the power generated by certain generators, we will report the combinations that work.

The “APC Back-UPS ES 500″ runs just fine on the output generated by the “Honda EU2000″ generator.

We used this UPS to power the computer running as logging server for the N3FJP software as well as the Linksys WRT54G router.

Fuel Cap on Honda EU2000 Will Shut Off Generator

kx4o — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:30:36 +0000

The manual for the Honda EU2000 clearly states this, but you need to be sure you adjust that little circular knob on the Fuel Cap to the operating position or the generator will certainly quit after a few minutes operation.

Fuel cap with knob on Honda EU2000 Generator

Our problems occurred during the ARRL Field Day 2008 and were the result of tired operators stumbling around in the darkness dealing with the generators. We were quite safe with the refueling process, but always managed to forget that fuel cap switch.

Oh well, you learn something everyday.

I will note the Honda EU2000 generator is one of the finest small generators ever built and well worth the money. There are very quiet, provide more than enough power for multiple stations and run for quite a while on a tank of gas. Another measurable benefit is the inverter approach to generating power. The very clean and frequency stable 60 Hz waveform these units provide was compatible with the UPS units we used to power our logging server computers and wireless router.

Be sure to shop around for a good price. You should be able to find this for under $800 shipped to your door. My local Honda dealer wants about $1,100 for the EU2000; I do very much like supporting local businesses with purchases like this, but my charity only goes so far.