Kipor Generators

[Frankieboy]

Hi,

Im looking at getting a generator and figured that a portable silent one would be most suitable as I dont want to annoy the neighbours.

The Honda ones are far from cheap and was wonderiong if anyone has had any experience of the Kipor ones.

Cheers

Frank

[denboy]

i have one next to,,,,,,,, useless

[DHutch]

Ive never owned a kipor (or one of the newer inverter based hondas) but from when ive seen them around being used they dont seam awfull.

- I dont think there quite and quiet and they dont seam to have quite as smooth an output (reports that victrons wont work with them, where they will hondas) but its all a case of horses for coarses.

 

What will you be running from it? Expected hours?

 

Might be worth looking at second hand EU1000 or older EX1000's on ebay? Although i would always listen to them run before handing over the cash.

 

 

Daniel

[bottle]

Hi Frank

 

Kipor, has been mentioned a few times before, I did a search and found these:

 

 

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php...ghlite=%2Bkipor

[nb Innisfree]

Hi,

Im looking at getting a generator and figured that a portable silent one would be most suitable as I dont want to annoy the neighbours.

The Honda ones are far from cheap and was wonderiong if anyone has had any experience of the Kipor ones.

Cheers

Frank

 

We have Kipor 2KW digital, been very good, our Victron Multiplus accepts it with no trouble though it won't accept any thing under 1KW (Honda and Kipor 1KW digital is actually less than this) As far as I can see it's identical to a Honda in performance, noise and spec and it's nearly a third of the price

[Phil Ambrose]

i have one next to,,,,,,,, useless

 

Ditto

 

Phil

[County4x4]

I have several friends in mower racing circles who have them in regular use at race meetings - and no complaints from any of them so far. Some of them have been in frequent use for several years now.

 

Andy

[PhilR]

I have several friends in mower racing circles who have them in regular use at race meetings - and no complaints from any of them so far. Some of them have been in frequent use for several years now.

 

Andy

 

Gosh. They must vibrate a lot if they can beat racing mowers off the starting blocks.

[nb Innisfree]

Gosh. They must vibrate a lot if they can beat racing mowers off the starting blocks.

 

They have two settings, hare or tortoise

[leolady too]

We looked at this question and agonised over whether to spend the extra for a Honda. The main reason for getting it was to use for power tools while repainting the boat. We decided on the Kipor on the grounds that we wanted it for that project so if it didn't last for years and years it didn't matter and it was much much cheaper. We've been using it for only a couple of weeks but it has been absolutely fine so far and very quiet. Famous last words I suppose. As others have said, it depends what it's for but for our purpose, so far, it's perfect.

[gbmud]

I believe that Kipor generators are made by the Chinese manufacturing company who make Honda genny's for them. If rumour is correct, they are a re-badged Honda generator - from the same production line? That would certainly help explain rumours of Honda going after Kipor generators (and even seizing them from UK suppliers) with a copyright writ in their hands.

 

My friend has a Kipor, a 2kW 'digital' one, which he uses to power his show stand. It is a 4 stroke, very reliable and will even run a 3kW tea urn when pressed - though it clearly struggles like hell doing so, the water gets hot enough. It is pretty far from silent once there is no other noise around but you can stand next to it and have a conversation without shouting. With it behind his Transit van at a show you cannot hear it running and can only tell it has run out of petrol when things like the till stop working.

 

One essential accessory would be a big chain.

 

Chris

[grahoom]

I believe that Kipor generators are made by the Chinese manufacturing company who make Honda genny's for them. If rumour is correct, they are a re-badged Honda generator - from the same production line? That would certainly help explain rumours of Honda going after Kipor generators (and even seizing them from UK suppliers) with a copyright writ in their hands.

 

http://www.motorboatsmonthly.co.uk/auto/ne...748mbmnews.html

[arpeeuk]

I've had the KGE3000ti for about 4 years now and had absolutely no problems. This one is a 2.3kva inverter generator and runs everything that I throw at it.

 

Well it did complain when I tried to power some welding kit but it was worth a try

 

As I paid way under half the price of the Honda, it only has to have half the life and I'll be happy.

 

One other thing, I know people who have the 1.0Kva version and we think the larger machine is quietest, probably because the pitch of the engine noise is lower.

 

Rik

[Doorman]

We have Kipor 2KW digital, been very good, our Victron Multiplus accepts it with no trouble though it won't accept any thing under 1KW (Honda and Kipor 1KW digital is actually less than this) As far as I can see it's identical to a Honda in performance, noise and spec and it's nearly a third of the price

 

We bought a 2.6KW Kipor Digital generator off the internet following the untimely death of our alternator whilst journeying up the Shroppie. Had it delivered to the kind folk at Norbury Wharf and it works a treat (even with a Victron invertor).

 

Seems that Honda have been profiteering from this company for some years. They've probably learnt that scam from some of their English commercial customers. We get ripped off here on 'Treasure Island' as a matter of course

 

P.S. Bought a 55amp recon alternator for our Vetus 3.10 engine at £30, some £550 cheaper than the quote for a 30amp Vetus original. Who's fooling Who?

[churchward]

There is of course a thread of truth going through the view that Honda have been upset at having their intellectual capital/copyright abused by KIPOR. The models that came out in red plastic like the Honda's do indeed have copied technology in them and these are the ones in the crushing reports. These models are different though to the ones sold in yellow plastic. They are far from Honda ones re-badged.

 

I don't know how the Honda's units are priced and they may indeed be over priced because they think they can get away with it but they are one of the few you will get any kind of lengthy guarantee from. Also whilst it sounds a "right on" view point that such large companies are ripping off other companies like KIPOR and the public at large but if you had an idea and spent mega bucks on research to make it work you too may be upset at the thought of someone else stealing that idea and reproducing it without payment to you.

[nb Innisfree]

There is of course a thread of truth going through the view that Honda have been upset at having their intellectual capital/copyright abused by KIPOR. The models that came out in red plastic like the Honda's do indeed have copied technology in them and these are the ones in the crushing reports. These models are different though to the ones sold in yellow plastic. They are far from Honda ones re-badged.

 

I don't know how the Honda's units are priced and they may indeed be over priced because they think they can get away with it but they are one of the few you will get any kind of lengthy guarantee from. Also whilst it sounds a "right on" view point that such large companies are ripping off other companies like KIPOR and the public at large but if you had an idea and spent mega bucks on research to make it work you too may be upset at the thought of someone else stealing that idea and reproducing it without payment to you.

 

IIRC yellow are pure sinewave, red modified sinewave.

[Doorman]

There is of course a thread of truth going through the view that Honda have been upset at having their intellectual capital/copyright abused by KIPOR. The models that came out in red plastic like the Honda's do indeed have copied technology in them and these are the ones in the crushing reports. These models are different though to the ones sold in yellow plastic. They are far from Honda ones re-badged.

 

I don't know how the Honda's units are priced and they may indeed be over priced because they think they can get away with it but they are one of the few you will get any kind of lengthy guarantee from. Also whilst it sounds a "right on" view point that such large companies are ripping off other companies like KIPOR and the public at large but if you had an idea and spent mega bucks on research to make it work you too may be upset at the thought of someone else stealing that idea and reproducing it without payment to you.

 

Fair comment, but, weren't the Japanese the biggest culprits of patent/copyright abuse back in the early days of their own economic development.

 

My complaint refers mainly to the likes of Vetus, who will try and charge a king's ransom for a 30amp alternator, simply because of it's compact design that will fit the 3 cylinder 3.10 engine. To try and charge £550 plus for a piece of kit that will barely energise a headlamp, is ludicrous. If ever I have to buy parts from Vetus, I feel that the cheque should be made out to Dick Turpin!

 

With reference to 'Rip-off' Britain, I worked for the Ford Motor Co., in the 90's and the company produced the Ford Escort, mainly for the English market. The American variant of the same model could be bought at some £1,800 cheaper in the states. Amazing when you consider the american workers were on a much higher rate of pay than their English counterparts.

One of the influencing factors was that in the UK we paid 'car tax' which was then added into the calculation for Vat, a tax upon a tax!

 

Only the naive Brits would tolerate this unfair taxation.

[Machpoint005]

i have one next to,,,,,,,, useless

A valuable and insightful comment, which I'm sure will help the OP come to a decision. What, exactly, will it not do? Are you trying to draw off more power than it can produce? If so, it's hardly the generator's fault. Will it not start reliably? That might be good to know. Some other problem, perhaps? Give us a clue, please.....

[nb Innisfree]

As far as I can make out our yellow Kipor 2kw digital sinewave generator is identical to the Honda equivalent. Apart from colour, same casing, same specs and same performance including decibels. Same goes for the 1kw and 3kw models. So if Honda's difficulty concerns the red models then what's the problem?

Edited August 19, 2009 by nb Innisfree

[WotEver]

P.S. Bought a 55amp recon alternator for our Vetus 3.10 engine at £30...

 

Where from?

 

T

[CampinGazz]

the early red kippors had soft valve seats, not a problem when run on petrol, but people who converter them to run on gas found out the valve seats would be shot very quickly.

 

not sure about the yellow kippors,

 

i've just bought the clarke version of this genny, from machine mart, i needed it fast and was up in scotland, and machine mart was the only shop i could find that did the suitcase gennies other than hondas.

 

it's a 1kw max output, 900 watts cont. it's a pure sine wave output and runs my sterling charger fine... which wouldent run on the non inverter genny i tried first,

noise... it's noisier than a honda under load, at idle it's about the same, it's not exhaust noise, it's mechanical noise, so obvious that the clarke genny at least hasnt got the same level of sound dampening in the case as the hondas.

[Doorman]

Where from?

 

T

 

www.rivercanalrescue.co.uk

 

The guy's name is Stewart, very helpful. Based on the Staffs & Worcs canal.

 

I must add that Stewart only had a Lucas A127 alternator available in a dissembled state. The total kit came with new bearings, slip ring & diode bridge (both soldered in place) and regulator. This kit was the best he could supply at such short notice.

 

Upon returning to our marina, I had a new 60mm long mounting spacer made to replace the shorter

original, which allowed me to mount the alternator correctly. All of this may seem too much just to

save the inflated cost of the Vetus 30amp original, but, the extra 25amp output is worth the effort

given the equipment we have as liverboards.

 

Mike

[Nige123]

Hi,

Im looking at getting a generator and figured that a portable silent one would be most suitable as I dont want to annoy the neighbours.

The Honda ones are far from cheap and was wonderiong if anyone has had any experience of the Kipor ones.

Cheers

Frank

 

 

I had one & it ran for 30 minutes then stopped working (electrics not motor)

 

I have an old Honda 1kw gen' that I've used for the last 20 years on the building & it always starts & still runs fine.....

 

so I sent the cheap "made in china copy" back & spent the money on a Honda E1000! it starts & runs when you need it & is quite unlike the Kipper one I had...

 

I used to sell Honda copy bikes made in China by Suzuki & they were good value for money but I could buy bikes for 75% less & I had one as a demo & they were utter rubbish & I would go so far as to say a DANGER to the buyer.......

 

if you ask me buy a Honda it's a quality item with back up & parts availability.....

[timetraveller]

Carrying on the thread, we bought a Kipor 2600 (yellow, pure sinewave generator) last week. The build quality seems to be very good. We fuelled it etc and have since powered, everything from drills and paint strippers to vacuum cleaners from it without any problems. It therefore seems to cope very well, and as far as noise goes we would say they are 'quiet', and the smart throttle works a treat. So at the moment considering the cost was a 3rd that of a similar Honda - we are happy. Of course time will tell, but then in the past we have bought 'major brand' products that have gone wrong almost straight away.

[Mick_B]

Have a KG1000 about 6 months. No problem powering anything on my boat including belt sanders planers etc. Agree there is a bit less sound proofing in the case but not a big enough differance to put me off Kipor. Case is similar with all controls in the same place but not identical. When you take off any panels the machinery inside looks identical as far as I can tell.