Honda 2000i Runs but no Power

[mtofell1]

+/5 years old and this problems seems to be happening with more frequency. The unit starts and runs just fine but the green "power output" light is off and there is no power output. So, I turn it off and restart it and it produces power. Great.... but why is it doing this and I fear sometime it's just going to stop altogether. Several times I've had to stop/start 3-4X to get it to produce power. I'll likely just take it into a Honda dealer but in the meantime am curious what it going on.

[road-runner]

Not sure if I'm reading the previous post correctly or not. The eu2000i uses a permanent magnet rotor. No brushes, no slip rings, no coil in the rotor.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Rotor excitation circuit is not triggering via rotor residual magnetism. A slight chance this will work:

Find something to fully load the generator. Heaters, lamps, whatever...

Load for 20 minutes. Well, at least this is almost free 🙂

[time2roll]

Look for loose or broken wire, heat damage, general conditions. Maybe search for a teardown on YouTube to see what to look for.
Then you just need to decide to put it back together to go to the dealer.... or let it go.

I just fixed DWs GPS for taking it apart and the power wire was broken. Drop of solder and back to business.

[mtofell1]

time2roll wrote:
Since it is out of warranty I would pull it apart. You will not find anything by kicking it.
Otherwise dealer time.

LOL.... yeah, I can take anything apart 🙂

Not sure what I'll do after that.

[time2roll]

Since it is out of warranty I would pull it apart. You will not find anything by kicking it.
Otherwise dealer time.

[mtofell1]

Sorry for the delay....

Having a load attached or not has no impact on the problem - the light just doesn't come on and it has no power sometimes.

The unit has had a pretty easy life. I really only use it once a year during my annual dry camping trip. I usually fire it up a couple times between trips just to be sure it's still running and always run stabilizer through it.

We just had a terrible ice storm and lost power for 6 days. My in-laws are far worse off than me with no power (totally electric house - I have gas hot water, stove and fireplace) so I loaned the generator to them and they had no problem turning it on/off dozens of times and running it for hours on end. When I get it back I'll play with it some more. Kind of disappointing at only 5 years to be having this trouble.

[magbarn]

Sounds like the inverter board may be bad. Unfortunately that usually means retiring that genny. Did you run it under high load or overloaded for prolonged periods of time?

[enblethen]

Reset is on 120 volt circuit. It should be obvious that is popped out. Button doesn't attach to anything in the circuit breaker until the breaker trips.

[opnspaces]

The reset breaker on mine is also just sloppy and loose and never seems to do anything.

What about starting the generator with no load plugged in, does the green light come on and then go off if you apply load? Or does the light not come on at all?

[pianotuna]

I'm not certain--but I think the reset breaker is for the 12 volt side of the generator--not for the inverter part.

I am going to guess there is a loose wire.

[mtofell1]

As mentioned in OP, green light is not always on - if it is I have power and all is well, if it's off I have no power

Definitely not overloading it. I'm very aware of the capability and don't plug in too much. While testing/troubleshooting I was using a lamp or just an outlet tester

The reset breaker seems to have no purpose.... it's just lazy and loose. I'd be suspect that it needed to be reset but I don't touch it and go from no power to power with cycling the generator off/on. If something with the breaker was the issue I can't imagine it would produce power, then not, then produce power, etc.

Thanks for the replies about the Honda generator.

[BFL13]

mtofell1 wrote:
+/5 years old and this problems seems to be happening with more frequency. The unit starts and runs just fine but the green "power output" light is off and there is no power output. So, I turn it off and restart it and it produces power. Great.... but why is it doing this and I fear sometime it's just going to stop altogether. Several times I've had to stop/start 3-4X to get it to produce power. I'll likely just take it into a Honda dealer but in the meantime am curious what it going on.

Assuming there is nothing plugged into the gen when you start it, the inverter should come on. If you then overload the inverter, it will trip the breaker but the motor keeps running. Reset requires a restart of the motor.

Seems like your inverter is acting up at times, or the breaker is faulty so it sometimes thinks it is overloaded? The inverter gets its power from the "revolving field" of the engine at spec rpm.

If the rpm is not high enough or slows down while running, not enough "field". Is it running at full speed?

[midnightsadie]

just for fun, shake it while running could be a loose wire.

[Boon_Docker]

jdc1 wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
IDman,

I should have bought a Champion 3400 with remote electric start instead of the Yamaha.

You would have been sorry.

He already is sorry that he bought a Yamaha instead of a good ole Champion. :B