Kipor suitcase generator

[junior]

I'm looking at getting a generator to help charge my batteries. I only have 12v appliances on my boat and no inverter. I have a shorepower 'in' facility to enable powering my Stirling Pro 30amp battery charger, so the only thing the generator will need to power is this battery charger.

 

By reading various old threads on here it apparent that the Honda Eu series of silent suitcase generator is the most highly recommended. Sadly I can't afford one of these so I need to look at what is second best. I've ended up at Kipor.

 

Having looked on eBay (used not new) there seem to be a few different types. There is a KG3 1300TC which is red in colour and called a 'Camping mate' and this seems to be cheaper than the yellow ones. In the yellow ones there is an IG1000, IG2000 and IG2600. Which one do I need?

 

Does anyone have any general comments on Kipor generators?

 

It will be a back up to solar in the summer and physical cruising (alternator charging) in the winter so I'd imagine it will only end up being used sparingly so it won't be getting used for a couple of hours every day 365 days of the year. To this end, could I be better off buying one of the cheaper quality (Clarke/Machine Mart) generators from new?

 

I have about £250 max.

[by'eck]

If you can get a good secondhand Kipor IG2000 or IG2600 within your price limit I would go for one. The IG stands for inverter/generator providing a clean pure sine waveform output and such that the engine only runs as fast as it need to to cover the load (auto-throttle). Less than half the overpriced Honda equivalent with a good reliability record.

[junior]

Will an IG1000 power my battery charger?

 

The IG series generators do seem to be more expensive than the KGE type. Do I need PSW to run the Stirling battery charger? If I don't need PSW I'd rather not pay for it.

[Taslim]

Will an IG1000 power my battery charger?

 

The IG series generators do seem to be more expensive than the KGE type. Do I need PSW to run the Stirling battery charger? If I don't need PSW I'd rather not pay for it.

IG every time. I don't know if your Stirling kit is OK with mucky lecky but even if it is PSW future proofs you should you want to run other kit that might be fussy.

[onionbargee]

Kippers have a shorter life than Hondas, because they're made down to a price, so a used one with no warranty should be a low price. The main component is the inverter board, its a sealed unit and costs £240 to replace, that's why there are dozens of kaput kippers on ebay. The EU10 has a cheapo engine and is only for low hours use, the EU20 engine is a top quality one though.

 

The KGE is the old discontinued model, virtually the same as the IG though.

 

some Honda EX models ( 650 ? ) have a reasonable sine wave out put, with the bonus that they are bombproof.

Edited April 9, 2014 by onionbargee

[junior]

I've just looked at some Honda's. Would something like a Honda EX650 power my 30amp battery charger? Or a Honda EX100? There are a few of these on ebay for under £200.

Edited April 9, 2014 by junior

[lexicon]

I have a ig2000 that I got on eBay for 250.

Runs fine, not too noisy and 3ish literes of petrol lasts 8 hours or so with the smart throttle on.

The advantage of the bigger genny over the 1000 ones is taffy you can run things like a Hoover or power tools from it also and 12v charging socket which is a good emergency back up if alternator and or battery charger pack up as can happen with the Murphy's law of boats.

[junior]

I have a ig2000 that I got on eBay for 250.

Runs fine, not too noisy and 3ish literes of petrol lasts 8 hours or so with the smart throttle on.

The advantage of the bigger genny over the 1000 ones is taffy you can run things like a Hoover or power tools from it also and 12v charging socket which is a good emergency back up if alternator and or battery charger pack up as can happen with the Murphy's law of boats.

So is that the only real advantage? Because I don't want to run power tools.... or a hoover..... or anything other than a battery charger. So if I can save myself some money and make do with the IG1000 then I'll be a happy man.

[by'eck]

So is that the only real advantage? Because I don't want to run power tools.... or a hoover..... or anything other than a battery charger. So if I can save myself some money and make do with the IG1000 then I'll be a happy man.

 

The Kipor IG1000 is only rated at 900 watts continuous, 1000 watts momentarily.

 

My Sterling 50 amp charger used to occasionally trip a 10 amp AC breaker on start up. Pro-rata In your case the 30 amp charger you have may take over 6 amps at start up. That's equivalent to over 1400 watts. I'm sure the price difference secondhand narrows so I would seriously consider the larger versions, IG2000 or IG2600.

[junior]

 

The Kipor IG1000 is only rated at 900 watts continuous, 1000 watts momentarily.

 

My Sterling 50 amp charger used to occasionally trip a 10 amp AC breaker on start up. Pro-rata In your case the 30 amp charger you have may take over 6 amps at start up. That's equivalent to over 1400 watts. I'm sure the price difference secondhand narrows so I would seriously consider the larger versions, IG2000 or IG2600.

Ok thanks, that's the kind of answer I was after. It's much easier to look for something when you know what you're looking for.

I'll now concentrate of finding an IG2000.

[junior]

Simple question....

 

Will this power my Stirling 30amp battery charger?

 

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=221412633667

[lexicon]

If it's one of the modern chargers I think just about at full load but it will be liable to extra noise running hard and may trip if something is on the 240v circuit at the same time.

[junior]

If it's one of the modern chargers I think just about at full load but it will be liable to extra noise running hard and may trip if something is on the 240v circuit at the same time.

There is no 240v circuit, just a battery chsrger only.

[CaneyJ]

I thought the only real difference with the red camping mate kipors is that they have no eco throttle which might just save a little noise and 20% less fuel. They are still pure sine and capable of running a 50a charger. 60a might be borderline.

[bizzard]

The only trouble with suitcase generators is that if you go on holiday to Costa bomb or wherever, arrive at the hotel, open your suitcase only to find you've gone and brought your generator by mistake.

[Hawkmoth]

If you can afford it go for the slightly larger option. That way you will have a reserve of power and it won't be running hard to keep the load up thus should last longer.

If you do buy the smaller one and then find that either it isn't up to the job or you find that you would like to add something to your boat's power requirements you will be ready for it.

Bob

PS Bigger is nearly always better!

[bigcol]

That's what the wife told me

[by'eck]

Bigger is nearly always better!

 

 

That's what the wife told me

 

Good advice

[cotswoldsman]

I know nothing about generators so my contribution most probably like most of my posts will be useless. I also went down the road of looking at the best generator for my purpose. I live on my boat and am a heavy user of electricity about 5 hours of tv in the evening, fridge, computer etc. so I firstly changed everything to 12v put in LED lights and then had solar panels fitted. I have not needed to run my engine for 8 days now. In the winter I run my engine for about 1 hour a day but on those light winter days I do not even have to do that I would suggest maybe just considering Solar Panels

[i love my narrowboat]

We borrowed our neighbours ig2600 in an emergency and were so impressed we bought the IG3000.... Big mistake if you are looking to carry one around easily..it was far too big and took a lot of room up in the back cabin. We sold it on good old eBay and hubby says best value for money is IG2600, easy to carry and this is what we will be getting next time

[junior]

I know nothing about generators so my contribution most probably like most of my posts will be useless. I also went down the road of looking at the best generator for my purpose. I live on my boat and am a heavy user of electricity about 5 hours of tv in the evening, fridge, computer etc. so I firstly changed everything to 12v put in LED lights and then had solar panels fitted. I have not needed to run my engine for 8 days now. In the winter I run my engine for about 1 hour a day but on those light winter days I do not even have to do that I would suggest maybe just considering Solar Panels

Everything on my boat is 12v. Well I say everything, all I have is LED lights & LED TV, water pump and mobile phone/tablet charging. I don't have an inverter, computer etc and my fridge is gas.

 

During the winter I was getting almost 2 weeks between charges and the lowest the batteries ever got was 54%. I do have 200w of solar but they are pretty ineffective during the winter. When I needed to charge my batteries I would just cruise up to Uxbridge, spend the night there and then cruise back. That would put the batteries back to 100% and give me hot water fot 36hrs+. I've never had to run my engine stationary for electricity and I've only used hook up once to test the battery charger.

 

The only reason I want a generator is for a back up next winter. I'm CC'ing now so this winter coming I won't have the security of the availability of a hook up point like I did on a mooring this winter gone. On the basis I never used the hook up I'm guessing that the generator will be purely a back up to cruising and solar and only needed in an emergency. It's not going to be running for a few hours every day so it really just needs to be basic and the bare minimum to put some juice into the batteries in an emergency.

[cotswoldsman]

Silly question!! Why not use your engine as back up?