How big of power inverter do I need??? CHANGED THE TOPIC

[Christopher Quast]

I was looking at these yesterday and am thinking of buying one, but not sure what size to go with? I was thinking of running one or two 60 watt light bulbs and a TV/DVD Combo, and once in a while a coffe maker and toaster, but not all at the same time.

So given this usage......How big of one do I need?

[DrKen]

I don't know what kind of power supply you are looking at but both generators and inverters are rated in watts. Take the peak watts you anticipate using and then double it and that is the size you should anticipate using. Generally you will find a coffee maker or toaster will use 1500 to 1800 watts alone. Thus you could get by with a 2000 watt generator but it would stress it and you would not be able to run lights and TV at same time. Better with a 3000 watt or larger unit.

[Cold_blood]

i work with honda generators all day and imo they are some of the best i would personally go with the eu3500 for just a lil extra space on the watts to account for any initial surge for those and they are whisper quiet so you don't scare the fish lol

[SomethingFishy*]

Minimum 2000 Watt Honda Generator (EU2000i) Does everything we need except run the air conditioner. For that we hook a second EU2000i up to it with a parallel kit.

Hondas a vre a little more expensive that some of the cheop ones, however I have never met anyone that has regretted the purchase.

[PierBridge]

A 2000 Watt will be more than enough.

I have friends with the Honda EU 1000 and 2000's. We normally run everthing off of Batterys and just use the Generator to recharge the Batterys.

[landscaper]

how many dBA are the Hondas??

I am looking at a DeWalt 6300 watt generator for around the house and maybe on the lake. what i dont get is HOW to hook it up to your fish house to run a T.V. or recharge all the batteries??

thanks

[hoggs222]

I had a honda 500 watt (I think it's an older EM500) generator on mille lacs this weekend. It worked fine for ceiling fan, lights, TV and DVD player.

With everything off, my buddy tried to fire up his one-shot coffee maker and it kept turning off. It started to boil, but there just wasn't enough juice to keep it going. I'm thinking that a 1000 watt would've done the trick.

The honda's are quiet. We couldn't hardly tell it was running and it was probably 20' away from the house.

We'd get around 3-4 hours on less than a gallon of gas.

BTW, this one is around 40 lbs. I couldn't imagine myself lugging out a 100 lb+ generator for icefishing. Ice+weight don't agree while carrying stuff.

[SomethingFishy*]

The Honda EU2000i runs at 53-59 dB. I set mine right next to the v-front of my fish house, It is never more than 5ft away with the exhaust pointed away it's just loud enough that I can hear if it turns off.

Mine will Run 10+ hours off a gallon of gas, with minimal load I have gotten 15 hours.

Weights 47lbs.

[eyebjim]

You probably do not want to run a coffe maker or toaster off a inverter. It will suck the juice out of the batteries very quickly. For the tv/dvd and lights a inverter will work well. You can look at the TV and DVD player at the back and see the UL label. It will have a wattage rating on it. A lot of medium sized tvs are 60 watts. The DVD is likely less. Add up the watts from each and the two lights and then double the value and get an inveter that is that size. For instance if the tv is 60 watts and the dvd is 20 watts and you have two 60 watt lights you add it up and get 260watts so I would get a minimum of a 500 watt inverter. ( I know 260 x 2 is 520 but it is close enough). As for coffee and toast you can get a perkalator camping pot to use on the stove if you have one and they have toasters for stovetops also. Perk coffee is the best anyway.

[hoggs222]

You could always hook the inverter up to your truck while it's running and brew coffee that way. Then you won't drain batteries.

[eyebjim]

Yea but you would need a 2000watt inverter to power a coffee pot. The only problem with that is that you will use more battery power when powering the tv dvd only when you use a 2000 watt inverter than if you use a smaller more appropriately sized inverter. In that case 2 inverters may be a better solution. Inverters do not work real well with inductive loads and if a coffee pot is 1500 watt it will like use more like 2000+ watts becasue of this.

[cold one sd]

how many dBA are the Hondas??

I am looking at a DeWalt 6300 watt generator for around the house and maybe on the lake. what i dont get is HOW to hook it up to your fish house to run a T.V. or recharge all the batteries??

thanks

I went to an electrical supply store and bought the type of inlet for the outside of my wheel house that you can plug the female end an extension cord into (I forget what it is called)and installed it on the outside of it. I have a bunk in it that is all storage under it and I put two 110v outlets on the outside of it and two inside. My batteries and all of my 12v connections are inside of the storage box under the bunk. I attached an onboard charger like you use in a boat to the backboard, wired it to my batteries and plugged it into the 110v outlet. When I run the generator it furnishes power for my lights and computer fans and charges the batteries at the same time. I can also make coffee in my coffee maker using the 110v outlet at the same time. I don't use an electric frying pan or anything because my generator is only 1,000 watts. With your 6,300 watt generator, you should be able to run about anything that you want.