T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] Portable chargers?

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Re: [Electric Boats] Portable chargers?

There was an interesting post about using compact gensets in a posting not so many months ago. In brief, they are packed into their housings very tightly, and have shortfalls associated with vibration, heat, specialized components, and general longevity. The post was made by an experienced author who has been through several Honda's, and replaced them using an open frame, synchronous type from the local auto parts store. The open frame gave access to the fuel filter, the electronics for exciting the armature is simple, and engine service didn't require specialized parts. While compact genny's are fine for weekend camping, and will get get you out of a pinch, they are not designed for marine application. A stuck float valve will drain fuel on the boat, not kill the engine. The Honda 5hp general purpose engine installed in a jet kayak sucked a shred of plastic from the fuel tank into the side-draft carb's float valve, and emptied a 1/2 gallon of unleaded
into the motor compartment before stalling on the vapors. Trying to re-start the motor allowed the fumes to catch my attention. I would have been cooked to a crisp if the damn thing had lit up. I haven't used it since, but I do have a nice electric motor ready to try, someday. Marine engines have downdraft carbs, so flooding from a stuck needle valve kills the motor immediatly.
In brief, don't place confidence in compact generators for for either longevity or marine-grade reliability. If you have no choice, make sure its position won't allow any fuel leakage won't accumulate.

Arby

________________________________
From: Eric <ewdysar@yahoo.com>
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2009 4:27:24 PM
Subject: [Electric Boats] Portable chargers?

Does anyone know if the Honda 1000i will run a 48w 15A charger? If the charger is 85% efficient, then the 900w output of the 1000i should cover the load.

Does anyone know if the Honda 2000i will run 2 48W 15A chargers at the same time? This time the 1600w continuous doesn't really cover the requisite 1440w output to run 2 85% efficient chargers, it's 80w short.

Does anyone have any practical experience with this issue?

Thanks,
Eric

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