[RFI] Honda Generator RFI

[Michael Tope]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim P" <jvpoll at dallas.net>

> Per Honda:
>
>  "Honda boasts a sine wave equal to or better
>   than the current from your household power."
>

I looked at the output of my EU2000i on a 100 MHz scope
and it looked like a pretty darn clean sine wave. RMS voltage
regulation is very good - probably better than the 120 V
outlets in my shack. I haven't checked peak voltage regulation
yet, however.

Anecdotally, I can run my Drake L-7 (wired for 120 V) up to
somewhere between 800 and 1000 watts output before I max
out on the Honda's peak load capability of 2000 VA (it's a little
hard to tell because my line power meter maxes out at 1875 VA).
This is with the exciter running off of a +12V car battery, so
the only load is the amplifier. Note that overall amplifier
efficiency (relative to complex input power) is less than 50%
even though the amplifier plate efficiency is probably closer to
60 or 65%. Turns out there is a surprising amount of generator
load capacity that gets eaten up supplying the filament power
and bleeder power, plus the hit you take due to the non-unity
power factor. This overhead is a bit lower if you run the L-7
in the "CW" position (Ep = 1800VDC vs 2500VDC). I would
guess that you could run a 100W +12V transceiver and a small 
amplifier like an SB-200 (~700 to 800 WPEP output) without 
any trouble using a single EU2000i. 

I now run two EU2000i's in parallel.  This provides 4KVA peak
power capability (3.2 KVA continuous) which is plenty of power 
to run the Astron RS-35A supply +12V that feeds my 100 watt 
solid-state transceiver and the L-7 in the high voltage (e.g. "SSB") 
position at maximum about (~1200 watts output). Although I 
didn't measure the voltage sag on my last outing, I did notice 
that the incandescent desk lamp that I was using to light my
tent didn't dim as much as the same light does in my shack 
when I go key down with the L-7 running full output from the 
120 VAC commercial mains. 

> (The next line(s) represents one URL if it gets
> broken up)
>
> www.hondapowerequipment.com/ModelDetail.asp?ModelName=eu2000i
>
>
> More info, check out the link on that page titled:
>
>    Inverter (Computer Friendly)
>
> Two of these gen units may also be operated in parallel,
> they apparently 'self-phase' ...
>
> As to the 12V DC output, you might be able to get away
> with operating a radio across a battery connected to
> that particular point; for the EU200i only about 8 Amps
> are available from that particular output.

This is an unregulated output with a pretty steep load line.
Open circuit it's something like +20VDC output. The load
line cross +12VDC at ~8 Amps. Not sure how clean it 
looks. It does do a great job charging a dead automotive 
battery (I found this out the hard way), but I haven't had a 
chance to stick it on a scope to see how it looks when 
charging a battery. 

RFI can be a problem depending on what kind of antenna
you are using. Even with a worst case of a screwdriver mobile
antenna sitting right next to the generator with the rig 10 feet 
away and the extension cord for the amplifier running parallel to 
the coax (very pathological setup), a good common-mode 
filter on the generator AC output will get rid of most of the 
inverter noise. There is also some low frequency (160 meter)
ignition noise which you can get rid of by shielding the spark
plug wire in the Honda with a piece of tinned braid overshield. 

In terms of fuel economy, I was able to get by running both
of my EU2000i's at full throttle (e.g. eco throttle disabled) all 
night with about 5 gallons of regular gas total. With the eco 
throttle running, I am sure fuel economy would be significantly 
better (you can't run the eco throttle with a really dynamic load 
like an RF power amplifier in CW/SSB service). One downside
of these generators is the fuel tank size (just over 1 gallon). 
I am thinking of building an external tank for mine so I can go all 
night at full power without refilling. 

Acoustically, the EU2000i's are very quiet. With mine running
I walked up the beach from my campsite about 500 ft at 
which point I could just barely make out the drone of the 
two generators underneath the soft sound of the waves hitting
the beach (it was a very calm night). 

73 de Mike, W4EF...............................