CLAN1 Posted June 4, 2019 Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 hi, has anyone experience/opinions on the Auto Jack suitcase generator looking at the 2200w model. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted June 4, 2019 Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 A bit of an 'unknown'. Unlikely to be a 'continuous' 2000w when the Honda 2000i equivalent (market leader) is only rated at 1600w continuous. Don't buy it if you intend running anything over 1600w. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtB Posted June 4, 2019 Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 Or anything with biggish electric motor in it, e.g. a vacuum cleaner. A 2200w electric motor will just stall the genny when you turn it on due to the very high momentary start-up current, despite it matching the claimed genny power. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLAN1 Posted June 4, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2019 Thank you for your replies very helpful, did seem a bit too good, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bramley Posted August 17, 2019 Report Share Posted August 17, 2019 just to follow this up for anybody searching. I took delivery of a Auto jack 1200 watt genny today. It last 3 mins before it cut out. I spent a hour fault finding and found it has no spark and i have no idea why. returned to amazon and chalk it down as experience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted August 17, 2019 Report Share Posted August 17, 2019 (edited) 6 minutes ago, bramley said: just to follow this up for anybody searching. I took delivery of a Auto jack 1200 watt genny today. It last 3 mins before it cut out. I spent a hour fault finding and found it has no spark and i have no idea why. returned to amazon and chalk it down as experience Maybe you overloaded it and the cut-out activated. What were you running off it ? (It is only rated at 1kw) Max. Output - 1.49 KVA / 1200 Watt Rated Output - 1.25 KVA / 1000 Watt Sockets - 1 x 230V 13Amp DC Output - 12v 4Amp Horse Power - 4 HP Starting System - Recoil Engine Type - 4 Stroke Petro l Output Voltage - 230V Run Time - Min 6 hours @ Half Load Fuel Tank Capacity - 3 Litre Overload Protection - Yes Low Oil Shut-down - Yes Mounting - Anti Vibration Feet Noise Level - 58 dB(A) Dimension LxWxH (mm) - 480 x 255 x 425 Weight - 12.1 Kg Barcode - 5060504000864 Edited August 17, 2019 by Alan de Enfield Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bramley Posted August 17, 2019 Report Share Posted August 17, 2019 1 minute ago, Alan de Enfield said: Maybe you overloaded it and the cut-out activated. What were you running off it ? Nothing at all, i just left it running for a few mins as it was brand new. The cut out is a fuse that pops out. Sadly thats fine also Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted August 17, 2019 Report Share Posted August 17, 2019 Just now, bramley said: Nothing at all, i just left it running for a few mins as it was brand new. The cut out is a fuse that pops out. Sadly thats fine also Ok - at least you can get your money back. It is better to spend a bit more and get a reputable make, like Honda or Kipor. You should be able to pick up a 2nd hand 2000i Kipor for not much more than you paid for the "Auto Jack" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtB Posted August 17, 2019 Report Share Posted August 17, 2019 I have one of them Screwfix £140 jobbies. Several years old now and still going strong. Excellent VFM although pretty low powered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily Rose Posted August 17, 2019 Report Share Posted August 17, 2019 27 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said: I have one of them Screwfix £140 jobbies. Several years old now and still going strong. Excellent VFM although pretty low powered. Is it one of these Mike? I'm intrigued and wondering whether it's worth having for battery charging on days when solar is inadequate. I didn't know you could get generators this cheap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 9 hours ago, Lily Rose said: Is it one of these Mike? I'm intrigued and wondering whether it's worth having for battery charging on days when solar is inadequate. I didn't know you could get generators this cheap. Under £100 at Aldi (when they have them on 'specials') Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Brooks Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 9 hours ago, Lily Rose said: Is it one of these Mike? I'm intrigued and wondering whether it's worth having for battery charging on days when solar is inadequate. I didn't know you could get generators this cheap. Be very wary about charging from any 12V outlet, use a mains battery charger with it. The 12V outlets are usually silly low output (4 amps in this case and 7 amps with the Honda i1000) but more to the point they are unregulated and when the batteries are well charged they will be charging at over 20 volts and thus destroy batteries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily Rose Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 4 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said: Be very wary about charging from any 12V outlet, use a mains battery charger with it. The 12V outlets are usually silly low output (4 amps in this case and 7 amps with the Honda i1000) but more to the point they are unregulated and when the batteries are well charged they will be charging at over 20 volts and thus destroy batteries. Ok thanks. I doubt I'll get one anyway but I was assuming that if I did I would plug my shore power cable into it and switch on my smart charger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Brooks Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 14 minutes ago, Lily Rose said: Ok thanks. I doubt I'll get one anyway but I was assuming that if I did I would plug my shore power cable into it and switch on my smart charger. That is the way to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtB Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 10 hours ago, Lily Rose said: Is it one of these Mike? I'm intrigued and wondering whether it's worth having for battery charging on days when solar is inadequate. I didn't know you could get generators this cheap. One of what? Did you include a link? If you did, it isn't showing here on my lappy. It's one of these: I see they put the price up to £190 now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily Rose Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 15 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said: One of what? Did you include a link? If you did, it isn't showing here on my lappy. It's one of these: I see they put the price up to £190 now. Sorry, I was a bit of a silly billy. Did the copy but not the paste. Yes that's the one and here's the missing link https://www.screwfix.com/p/impax-im800i-700w-inverter-generator-230v/15760 Oddly a couple of other people replied, they must have psychic powers! Do you use it for charging your leisure batteries and, if so, how effective is it for that purpose? How quiet and how thirsty is it? Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MtB Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 1 minute ago, Lily Rose said: Sorry, I was a bit of a silly billy. Did the copy but not the paste. Yes that's the one and here's the missing link https://www.screwfix.com/p/impax-im800i-700w-inverter-generator-230v/15760 Oddly a couple of other people replied, they must have psychic powers! Do you use it for charging your leisure batteries and, if so, how effective is it for that purpose? How quiet and how thirsty is it? Cheers. Its not in regular use, just emergencies. Its fairly quiet but not as quiet as a Honda. Must quieter and more reliable than the little screaming cheapo chinese 2-stroke I had before though! It sips the juice parsimoniously, in accordance with its low power output. One big problem is it won't run my Numax three stage clever-dick electronic charger. The charger pops the overload protection when it ramps up to full current. I have to use a dumb charger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily Rose Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 26 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said: Its not in regular use, just emergencies. Its fairly quiet but not as quiet as a Honda. Must quieter and more reliable than the little screaming cheapo chinese 2-stroke I had before though! It sips the juice parsimoniously, in accordance with its low power output. One big problem is it won't run my Numax three stage clever-dick electronic charger. The charger pops the overload protection when it ramps up to full current. I have to use a dumb charger. That last sentence might be the showstopper. I have a C-Tek smart charger and a cheaper Stirling one as backup. If they don't work with it then it'll be no use and I don't really want another charger. I probably wouldn't use it much anyway. My mix of 2 or 3 hours cruising most days, 200 watts of solar and only two leisure batteries to be charged sees me right most of the time. Thanks for the info though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Brooks Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 7 minutes ago, Lily Rose said: That last sentence might be the showstopper. I have a C-Tek smart charger and a cheaper Stirling one as backup. If they don't work with it then it'll be no use and I don't really want another charger. I probably wouldn't use it much anyway. My mix of 2 or 3 hours cruising most days, 200 watts of solar and only two leisure batteries to be charged sees me right most of the time. Thanks for the info though. You may get more definitive advice if you gave the maximum charging currents of the two chargers. There is a lot of difference of input currents between a 10 amp and a 50 amp charger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 9 minutes ago, Lily Rose said: That last sentence might be the showstopper. I have a C-Tek smart charger and a cheaper Stirling one as backup. If they don't work with it then it'll be no use and I don't really want another charger. I probably wouldn't use it much anyway. My mix of 2 or 3 hours cruising most days, 200 watts of solar and only two leisure batteries to be charged sees me right most of the time. Thanks for the info though. It will depend on the 'amperage' of your charger. My 600w Honda Jennifer can run a 20 amp charger without problems. If you are looking to run a 100 amp charger then you will need something like a 2kw generator (depending on power-factor - some battery chargers have a Pf as low as 0.6) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily Rose Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 19 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said: You may get more definitive advice if you gave the maximum charging currents of the two chargers. There is a lot of difference of input currents between a 10 amp and a 50 amp charger. The Stirling one (bought as a cheap backup while I awaited a replacement for a failed C-Tek) is only 6 amps at its maximum setting so I'm guessing that would work but be rather on the slow side. The installed C-Tek charger, which is the one I would want to use, is 15 amps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Brooks Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 4 minutes ago, Lily Rose said: The Stirling one (bought as a cheap backup while I awaited a replacement for a failed C-Tek) is only 6 amps at its maximum setting so I'm guessing that would work but be rather on the slow side. The installed C-Tek charger, which is the one I would want to use, is 15 amps. I think that there is a good chance that either will work on a 1kVA generator. Where in Oxfordshire? If around Oxford I could bring my Honda for you to test them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoominPapa Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 1 hour ago, Mike the Boilerman said: One of what? Did you include a link? If you did, it isn't showing here on my lappy. It's one of these: I see they put the price up to £190 now. I had two of those. First one wouldn't start of a few months and was replaced under guarantee. Second lasted beyond guarantee period then expired in a huge cloud of oil smoke. YMMV. MP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murflynn Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 as others have said, chargers need a surprisingly high input current. I had a Honda 650 which, according to the published data for the genny and the charger, would struggle to power my 20A Paco 7 stage charger when connected to the 240v outlet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan de Enfield Posted August 18, 2019 Report Share Posted August 18, 2019 52 minutes ago, Murflynn said: as others have said, chargers need a surprisingly high input current. I had a Honda 650 which, according to the published data for the genny and the charger, would struggle to power my 20A Paco 7 stage charger when connected to the 240v outlet. The power factor of battery chargers is 'all over the place'. I was looking at a 'cheap one' on ebay and asked the supplier what the Pf was, and after checking with the manufacturer came back with 0.6. In theory your Honda 650 (the same as mine) is rated at 450 watts continuous so it should run a 30 amp charger (at 14 volts) However if the Pf is as bad as 0.6 then it will only run an 18 amp charger. Better quality (electronically sorted to give close to a Pf of 1) will be OK at 30 amps. I can certainly run my 20 amp (fairly cheap very old) charger of the little Honda. For my 50a Victron charger I use the Kipor 2000 (rated 1600w continuous) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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